Every two minutes someone in this country is sexually assaulted.
By the time I finish my opening remarks today that will be three more people.
Now I wish I could stand here and tell you that in my lifetime we turned a corner.
That the powerful are finally being held to account.
But look at what we've seen.
Jeffrey Epstein survivors have spent decades fighting to be heard while powerful men protect each other.
At Cornell, Jane Doe reported two years ago that seven fraternity brothers assaulted her over several hours, and she is still waiting for justice.
And just this weekend, a comedian stood on a national stage, called women in shorts at the gym, whores, and waited for the world to laugh with him.
Three stories, one clear message to survivors.
We don't believe you.
It doesn't matter.
Our fear and pain is just a joke.
Now, we're here today to sound the alarm that the federal government is turning that message into policy.
The administration has proposed cutting the Office of Violence Against Women by 29%.
It has moved to terminate billions of dollars in federal grants to hundreds of organizations.
It has cut housing assistance, It is forcing immigrant survivors to choose between being unsafe at home and deportation.
Every one of those cuts has an address and too many of those addresses are right here in Seattle.
Clinics, cutting hours, transitional housing, emergency shelter for survivors at risk, legal help for refugee and immigrant survivors is drying up.
These aren't distant stories, these are our neighbors.
And in King County, more than a third of families seeking emergency shelter are fleeing domestic violence.
Domestic violence makes up nearly one in three cases Seattle police refer to the city attorney's office.
And in 2019, Seattle has had more cases of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls than almost any other city studied in the country.
We know that domestic violence is the single greatest predictor of future violent crime.
When an abuser has a gun, a woman is six, five times more likely to be killed.
We cannot be serious about public safety in this city without also being serious about gender-based violence.
And I stand here as your Seattle city council member representing the office of position eight and as a survivor myself.
I know what it costs to say those words out loud, but I know what it means when someone believes you and when someone is there to walk alongside of you.
Every survivor in Seattle deserves that.
That means not only the ones with the right lawyer, the right zip code, or the right papers, it means every survivor.
Washington D.C.
may be walking away, but Seattle will walk alongside.
And that's why this coalition is here today.
Advocates, providers, and survivors standing together against domestic violence, against sexual assault, and against sex trafficking.
So today, we launch Seattle Stands with Survivors every step.
We are asking for $8 million in ongoing funding in the 2027-2028 budget for survivor services, accountability and justice, and prevention investments.
And because we know that this budget year is tighter than ever, whatever we do not win this year, we will be back next year and the following year until we win.
Let's talk a little bit about what kind of investments we're looking at.
First, for survivor services.
What survivors need most is often simple.
A deposit on an apartment, a bus pass, childcare for a court date.
Mobile advocacy and flexible financial assistance meet survivors where they are and trust them to decide what they need.
That trust is the difference between a program and a lifeline.
We'll invest in counseling for survivors and their children, medical care and support groups and where people can heal together.
And as federal funding for housing vouchers and survivor shelters gets clawed back, we'll expand rental assistance and rapid rehousing because no one should have to choose between an abusive home and no home at all.
We need programming for native survivors, for queer and trans survivors and for immigrant survivors.
Last year alone, our hotlines funded through the Seattle Human Services Department answered more than 1,700 calls from survivors with limited English proficiency.
Every one of them deserves someone who speaks their language picking up that phone.
Now, our second bucket is accountability and justice.
Too often, when survivors come forward, the system meets them with doubt.
They get blamed, questioned, and sometimes even prosecuted.
Survivors deserve an advocate beside them at every step.
That means more sexual assault nurse examiners.
So no one waits for hours for care after the worst night of their life and someone who's calling to check in weeks later.
It means legal aid and legal advocacy across criminal, civil, and family court where survivors fight for custody, protection orders, and their futures.
I do want to be very clear that not every survivor will pursue justice and accountability through the criminal legal system.
So investment into culturally responsive restorative justice alternatives is a part of this strategy.
But as it stands right now, our system is simply not resourced enough to give survivors the dignity of having a choice on how they want to pursue that justice.
And our third area is prevention.
Gender-based violence is not inevitable.
It is learned, which means it can be unlearned, and it also means it can be stopped before it starts.
So we'll work with the Department of Education and Early Learning and Seattle Public Schools to bring healthy relationship and consent education into classrooms and sports teams and clubs.
We'll fund bystander intervention training so all of us know how to step in, and we'll fund public awareness campaigns so every survivor in this city knows where to turn.
If we want a generation that doesn't laugh along when someone makes jokes punching down at women and girls, whether it be on national TV or in a locker room, we'll have to teach it.
So whatever we don't win in this year's budget, we will be back next year.
And I want to also announce that I will be sponsoring a statement of legislative intent to coordinate and align this work across the city over the next year.
And as chair over the Human Services Committee, I will make sure this gets the sustained attention that it deserves.
I want to be clear that this is a multi-year campaign.
and I am committed to this work through the end of my term on Seattle City Council and for the time that will continue after that.
And I want to also uplift that we did not build this alone.
The Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence, who is here today, a membership organization representing more than 30 organizations doing the work day in and day out, has built this campaign alongside us.
These are the people who walk alongside and answer the phone at 2 a.m.
I want to thank the elected officials who are here standing with us today, my colleagues on Seattle City Council, Councilmember Foster, who is also Vice Chair of the Human Services Committee, Councilmember Eddie Lin representing District 2, where the majority of these organizations doing the work are, as well as Public Safety Chair Kettle.
Thank you for standing with us today.
I would like to thank also King County Council Member Jorge Barón for being here, School Board Member Top, wherever you are, there you are, as well as State Representative Farivar and City Attorney Evans.
Every survivor who comes forward takes the risk of not being believed and Seattle's answer has to be, we believe you and we're there for you.
Seattle stands with survivors every step.
And so now, I want to make sure that you hear today from the organizations that are doing this work day in and day out, our key partners.
Survivors don't experience the city, county, state, or our schools separately, so we can't fix those systems separately, which is why I'm so proud there's a strong coalition together.
So our speakers today represent the broad swath of people engaged in this work.
and they will speak to the current status of the system, what is facing our system, and where we'd like to go together.
Now, at this point, I would like to hand it over to our Seattle City Attorney, Erica Evans.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Rink.
Hi, everyone.
My name is Erica Evans, and I'm your elected Seattle City Attorney.
A year ago when I was campaigning for this role, I was very clear, very clear that to the survivors of domestic violence, that they deserve to be heard and to be seen.
And so when I took this role at the beginning of January, frankly, I was sad.
Sad to learn that I inherited a 5,000 case backlog and that out of those 5,000 cases, 1,700 of them were domestic violence cases.
That's 1,700 survivors and families, 1,700 lives awaiting justice.
Since taking office, I've restructured our domestic violence unit.
we've assigned an additional prosecutor on the team and they have switched slowly to a vertical model, meaning that those prosecutors are the ones to have the case from start to finish, from filing to trying the case in court.
But what is very clear that when we see administration after administration of the city attorney's office carrying backlogs, there is an absolute need for more prosecutors in the city attorney's office.
A few months ago, I sat down with a survivor of domestic violence.
And to protect her identity, I will call her Sarah.
And in Sarah's case, my administration charged domestic violence against her abuser.
And what Sarah said sitting across from me in my office, she asked me why it took almost two years for her case to be filed and for it to go to trial.
She said waiting two years made her feel as if Seattle didn't care about what happened to her.
Another thing as I listened to Sarah is I heard how she felt through the process.
There was so many resources being given to the abuser.
As she showed me the scar across her forehead from him, she said there was an attorney for him.
He was getting the ability to get counseling and anger management.
But what about her?
What services were available for her as she was going through the process being the one that was abused and traumatized?
I knew I needed to come speak with you all today and stand with these leaders to tell Sarah that her story mattered, that she mattered, and that her voice mattered.
With the federal cuts that Councilmember Rink has said are clear that are coming and have already cut survivor services, it is incumbent on us to making sure we are standing up and doing everything we can for survivors of domestic violence.
So to Council Members Foster, Council Member Lynn, Council Member Rink, and Council Member Kettle and the other leaders and our partners that are here today, I'm grateful that each one of you is recognizing the need for meaningful interventions in survivor safety.
Because when we work together, there is hope.
and I'm optimistic about the great things that we can accomplish together as a coalition.
And so on that very note, I am so excited to turn things over to Councilmember Dion Foster, who has some breaking news to share with us all today.
Councilmember Foster.
Good morning everyone and first let me just express my immense gratitude to you Councilmember Rink for your leadership, for your commitment and to all of the survivors who are here with us today, all of the community groups who have been fighting for justice for people for so long.
We stand here with you but we also stand here because of you.
And thank you so much City Attorney Evans for your leadership.
As we've heard today and as we'll hear more from speakers this morning, survivors of all forms of gender-based violence are facing an uphill battle, not just here in Seattle, but across the country.
And whether that violence takes the form of assault, stalking, rape, or any other crime, it has no place in our community.
and our approach to addressing this violence has to be multifaceted, as Council Member Rink already spoke to.
That means we need strong investments in prevention, in victim services, transitional housing to support survivors.
And it also means that we need to have a comprehensive approach when a crime is committed.
We need to make sure that when someone is referred for prosecution, victims aren't waiting months for a decision about whether or not their case will proceed.
To have a comprehensive approach means that victims know that when they've experienced domestic violence, when they've called somebody for help, that their case is gonna be reviewed, that their case is gonna have the opportunity to move forward, and that it won't sit and wait two years to see justice.
There are real consequences for that wait.
When a case is filed 14 months after the fact, that means survivors are left to try to keep themselves safe without the tools that the criminal legal system provides for them.
and that's not justice.
But unfortunately that is what's happening today with the case backlog that City Attorney Evans just described.
And I believe we have a responsibility to address this and to ensure that these cases as well as the almost 5,000 other cases that are sitting in this backlog are reviewed and a thoughtful decision is made to determine how to proceed with those.
That's why this fall I'll be proposing a one-time budget ad in the budget process to help address this backlog and ensure that these cases are reviewed in a timely manner so that they can proceed and that victims can actually receive accountability and justice through our system.
Each one of those...
I heard the Erica clap.
Each one of those cases is a person.
and each one of those cases deserves a person to review the evidence, determine the appropriate action, and make a thoughtful referral decision in a timely manner.
That decision should be made by a skilled professional and we shouldn't risk the statute of limitations running out on very serious public safety cases, the things that are some of the most important decisions that we make at the local level, domestic violence and DUIs.
So I'm really looking forward to this budget action this fall, but also the long-term work and the collaboration that's going to be needed to ensure that we receive and we have a full and a comprehensive vision of justice.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Councilmember Foster.
And now at this time, I'd like to invite up some of our key partners in this work, Amaranthia Torres and Leah Ehrlman from the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence.
Thank you, it's great to be here.
Thank you, Council Member Rink, so much for your leadership in standing with survivors and your partnership on this exciting campaign.
Thank you to Council Member Foster and to City Attorney Evans for standing with us.
Oh, you can't hear.
Oh, mic is off.
Thank you, Kira.
How about now?
Can you hear me now?
No, okay.
Technical difficulties, bear with us.
This is why you need advocates in the audience.
Just need to talk louder.
Okay, this is why you need advocates in the room with you as they can flag what's going on and help you understand and guide us.
Thank you.
Okay, I'll try again.
Thank you, Councilmember Ring for your leadership in standing with survivors and your partnership on this exciting campaign.
Thank you to Councilmember Foster and City Attorney Evans for standing with us and thank you to all the elected leaders and member programs here today for your support.
It will take all of us working together to truly end gender-based violence in our communities, and your presence here today is meaningful to us in that effort.
In the book Truth and Repair, renowned trauma expert Judith Herman states, survivors want the truth to be recognized and the crime to be denounced by those in their communities who matter to them.
But this means that survivors must actually matter to their wider communities.
Our work as a coalition is to care for and mobilize over 30 local programs who work to build communities where survivors and their experiences actually matter.
We are so grateful to be surrounded by those member programs here today and it's what our work is in this field.
Local programs support survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and trafficking every step of the way so they aren't alone in their journey towards safety, justice and healing.
They go to court and they go to hospitals.
They work with landlords, police and schools.
They lead support groups.
They safety plan.
They bear witness.
They hold space.
This work, we know that this work is vital, but that the funding landscape doesn't even come close to meeting the scale of the problem.
and as you'll hear from the speakers today, local providers are facing unprecedented cuts at a scale we've never seen before.
As programs cut back on staff and core services, it is really imperative in our field and the survivors who depend on it to have a long-term and sustainable plan for funding.
We're asking, let's invest in gender-based violence specific prevention so we can shift the conditions that allow abuses of power and objectification to flourish.
Let's invest in legal advocacy so survivors are guided through the various pathways to justice, whatever that might be for them.
And let's invest in survivor services so that courageous disclosure of abuse are met with robust support.
These investments equal public safety and meaningful support to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and trafficking is a fundamental responsibility of a healthy community.
Survivors deserve a wider community where they truly matter and let's work together to make it so.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Next up, we will hear from the Sexual Violence Law Center.
We will have Riti Mukupadie join us.
Perfect.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
Thank you, council members.
Thank you, City Attorney Evans.
Thank you, Rep Quarvar for being here and for standing with survivors today.
and with the Sexual Violence Law Center, where we provide free legal services and representation to survivors of all forms of gender-based violence.
And I want to start my portion of the program with a number, 19.7.
That's the average number of legal problems a Seattle resident who has survived domestic violence or sexual assault will experience almost three times more than what the average low-income person would experience.
So think about that.
Not just one problem, nearly 20 problems.
So imagine your house is on fire, and while you are trying to save yourself and your kids, the bank is calling you, your landlord sends an eviction notice, ICE is barging down at your door, your boss wants proof that your house is still burning, and the person who set your house on fire is now telling everyone that you are the reason the fire got started.
That's what survivors face.
Protection orders, custody hearings, housing, immigration, debts in their name that someone else ran up.
And nearly 80% of survivors are forced to face these critical legal needs because they cannot afford an attorney.
We've all watched what happens when systems meant to protect survivors fail.
from Brock Turner to Bill Cosby, from Jerry Sandusky to Larry Nassar, from Harvey Weinstein to Jeffrey Epstein, their victims were, and some continue to be, silenced, ignored, and dismissed.
And now, Cornell's Jane Doe.
Raped by seven men, with nearly 50 more complicit.
At every turn, she's been failed by systems and institutions with an obligation to protect her.
Different cases, same lesson.
Survivors cannot rely on the criminal system alone.
Justice denied shows up costing more and hurting more.
That's why community programs and legal services like ours matter.
It's the collaborative network here that quietly keeps people housed, safe, employed, and in school.
We don't make the headlines, but we do make the difference.
This funding is common sense.
When a survivor can access an SVLC attorney, outcomes are better for both them and the community.
A survivor who is protected can work.
A child in a safe home can stay in school.
and the stakes here in Seattle are real.
Last year, funding allowed SVLC to provide services to over 1,300 survivors statewide.
400 of them were here in the Seattle metropolitan area.
Civil legal aid is a quiet infrastructure of safety, privacy, and stability.
and when it isn't available, the harm doesn't disappear, it shows up in shelters, emergency rooms and courtrooms and at a greater cost and greater pain.
So our ask is simple for Seattle, invest in survivors.
It's a difference between a survivor who gets safety, stays housed and rebuilds and one who continues to be harmed because basic services are not funded.
and for some it's literally the difference between life and death.
Thank you.
Thank you, Reedy.
Next we'll hear from Ria Yeo from Legal Counsel for Youth and Children.
Ria, here you are, please.
Good morning, my name is Ria and I'm the Executive Director for Legal Counsel for Youth and Children, where we protect the interests and safety of youth in Washington by advancing their legal rights.
We accomplish our mission through direct legal representation, strong community partnerships, and systemic advocacy.
Last year, we represented over 1,000 youth and young adults across Washington State through four program areas, child welfare, juvenile court, youth and family immigration, and youth homelessness.
LCYC also receives funding from the City of Seattle to support survivors.
And that has allowed us to provide legal support to over 150 youth.
And of the youth we've served, 36% were LGBTQIA, 16% identified as X or other gender identity, demonstrating the over-representation of LGBTQ youth in need of our services.
The vast majority of those youth were under 18. So these are child survivors needing to access court and legal systems because they are survivors of gender-based violence.
40% of youth experiencing homelessness served by LCYC have also experienced domestic violence.
LGBTQIA youth are disproportionately likely to become homeless as a result of conflict and lack of support due to parental rejection.
It is estimated that 40% of youth experiencing homelessness in the United States are LGBTQIA+.
Beyond youth homelessness, we know that gender-based violence is also disproportionately experienced by immigrants without legal status.
They do not have access to the breadth of resources that help survivors access safety.
For instance, undocumented clients cannot receive federal benefits such as Social Security Survivors Benefits or SSI.
They cannot apply for housing vouchers dispersed through HUD, including vouchers for former foster youth who are frequently victims of gender-based violence.
our program is continually at capacity so youth are stuck on wait lists they're being left with unimaginable choices to live in an unsafe situation at home or flee and sleep on the streets risking trafficking being picked up by ice or other horrific experiences no young person should have to make that choice no child should have to make that choice The earlier safety and stability can be achieved, the more likely we not only prevent the abuse, but also instances of homelessness, mental health crises, and entry into child welfare and juvenile court systems.
By investing now, we can interrupt cycles of abuse, particularly for LGBTQIA and immigrant youth.
We urge the Council to support Councilmember Rink's budget amendments to ensure that no youth is left waiting for the support they need to be safe.
Thank you.
Thank you, Rhea.
I do also see some folks who have joined us.
If you want to come on in, please feel free to stand with us.
Thank you.
Just want to invite folks if they haven't had a chance to come on up.
And next we'll hear from Noreen Hill from Mother Nation.
Thank you.
Greetings to everybody this morning.
My name is Noreen Hill.
I'm from the Oneida Nation.
I'm the Executive Director, Founder of Mother Nation.
And we're going to talk about the missing and murdered Indigenous women's issues that are going on here in Seattle.
The national data of MMIW cases for Seattle is at the heart of all MMIW crisis that's happening right now.
Across the nation, Seattle is the number one city for missing and murdered indigenous women cases.
and across the country.
Seattle is part of the crisis that's happening and the epidemic that we're going through as a Native American community.
I stand here in these ancestral lands of the Duwamish people.
We stand here as nations.
We stand here with our ancestors, everybody that's here today.
I want to thank the leadership that's here today, that's listening, that made time in their schedules to be here.
I support all of the sister agencies that are here with us.
We do the work at Mother Nation for 13 years now.
And we have a lot of grassroots survivors that help us lead the organization from what they had required to endure during their time.
Across the nation, we have the highest numbers in sexual assault, domestic violence, and trafficking.
We have the highest numbers across the city of Seattle.
We have the highest numbers across Washington State.
Mother Nation's work is rooted in healing.
and cultural support and advocacy for survivors for domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and MMIW.
Guided by our elders and decades of experience addressing intergenerational trauma, we support our sisters and families with culturally grounded survivor center services.
Mother Nation has supported 45 families now through our MMIW work since taking on this unmet need four years ago.
through this national data that's out there, there's 50 to 70 families that have reported MIW in this city.
And we have taken on 45 of that, if it's even included in that data.
So we've always been here to address the unmet needs of the community that we service.
We came on the scene 13 years ago, I was working out of my car.
I did three years of advocacy in the streets of Seattle.
We got calls from tribes because members in their community were not eligible for services, so we took on those situations as well.
We have a mobile advocacy team at Mother Nation that supports these families.
When relatives are found, whether they're alive or they're still here, passed on, we support those families to the full wraparound healing services.
Our Yahawi team supports those that are wanting the services wrapped around for them that are still here.
So we participate in the searches, we provide ceremonial support, attend court proceedings, we assist with funeral and transportation costs, we help bring loved ones home, we create and distribute missing person flyers.
Our prevention work also reaches out to the younger generation of middle school kids.
including self-defense and projects that give youth opportunities to define what MMR means to them and their families.
We are currently building a healing transitional village in South Seattle as a prevention of MMIR to address that opioid fentanyl epidemic and the MMR epidemic to support unsheltered women and families coming out of treatment due to violence.
Families have come to us from South Dakota, North Dakota, Nevada, because this is where their relatives end up is in this city.
So they come to Seattle looking for that support.
We seek financial support for a coordinated Seattle effort amongst gender-based violent agencies, strengthening the network of providers that stand with survivors and families across our region.
This collaborative effort is supported by the City of Seattle Council folks here, King County representatives and other leaders that are here.
We appreciate their support.
Mother Nation brings an essential Indigenous survivor-led voice to this coordinated response.
Flexible support will allow Mother Nation and our community partners to respond where needs are most urgent, strengthen community-grounded services, and continue advocating for resources for survivors and families.
We respectfully invite you to invest in this broader community response by supporting Mother Nation and the coordinated network of gender-based violence agencies.
We hope strengthening a safety net committed to ensuring survivors and families do not have to navigate this crisis alone.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much, Noreen.
I do want to invite, and being mindful of time, we are starting committees, so for my Seattle City Council colleagues, you might want to head upstairs into council chambers and give this venue.
But if we can give a thank you again to the Seattle City Council members who have been here.
Thank you both.
We have two more speakers to hear from today to just really cover all the aspects of this work.
Next, I'd like to walk, pardon me.
Next, I'd like to invite up Dr. Sharisha Deniretti from the Aurora Commons who operates the SHE Clinic.
Thank you so much.
My name is Sharisha Danneretti and I'm the Associate Chief Medical Officer of UW Medicine and the co-founder of the SHE Clinic which is co-located within the Aurora Commons and I appreciate the opportunity to speak on the behalf of Aurora Commons today and I want to thank Council Member Rank for recognizing the importance of supporting community-based services for survivors of violence and trauma.
Our partner Aurora Commons is a vital entry point into Seattle's network of care for our neighbors experiencing homelessness and poverty.
Located on Aurora Avenue in North Seattle, the Commons offers a welcoming space where individuals build trusted relationships, meet basic needs, and access services and resources that would otherwise require navigating multiple systems and traveling across the city.
But what makes Aurora Commons so essential is more than the services available in one location.
It's the sense of belonging and community that neighbors experience and the trusted relationships they build over time that make care feel accessible.
Safe, Healthy, Empowered, or SHE Clinic provides low-barrier, trauma-informed, non-judgmental healthcare for people who have experienced trauma and sexual violence, many of whom have not been well-served by traditional healthcare systems.
Through walk-in care embedded at the Aurora Commons, we provide primary care, sexual health services including HIV and hepatitis screening, reproductive health care that supports patient autonomy, and medications for opiate use disorder.
Just as importantly, we connect patients with trusted care navigators and community services.
The success of this model depends on the relationships, trust, and consistency.
Unfortunately, reductions in federal and state funding have forced us to reduce clinic hours, disrupting continuity of care and our ability to maintain a consistent presence.
We have also had to reduce our women-only hours, which provide a particularly important safe space for women who have experienced violence and trauma.
Councilmember Rink's Seattle Stands with Survivors Every Step initiative recognizes the importance of community-based services for survivors of gender-based violence.
Our experience at Aurora Commons and the SHE Clinics highlights how essential these trusted, accessible services are.
and how vulnerable they can be when funding becomes uncertain.
At a time when federal and state resources are increasingly constrained, sustaining community-based care is more important than ever.
Aurora Commons and the Shee Clinics are more than service providers.
They are trusted spaces where relationships are built, barriers to care are reduced, and some of our most vulnerable neighbors can find safety, support, and connection.
Thank you for this opportunity to share our experience.
Thank you so much.
And our last speaker from today is Meenu Rana Stewart, representing the UW Medicine Harborview Assault and Trauma Center.
Meenu?
Hello.
Good morning, everyone.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to come.
My name is Meenu Rana Stewart.
I'm the director of the Harborview Abuse and Trauma Center.
I am also a survivor.
There is no denying that significant progress has been made in the field of gender-based violence.
We've educated communities about the devastating impact of the violence.
Through the dedication of many, many people, including survivors themselves, we've raised awareness, strengthened support, and have taken important steps to make our communities safer.
And these achievements deserve to be recognized and celebrated.
At the same time there is still work to be done.
There are gaps that remain that need to be filled to ensure no survivor is left without support.
Progress is not completion.
Jane Doe's continue to exist.
The need for prevention, early intervention, medical and legal advocacy, emergency medical forensic care and specialized therapy services for survivors remains significant.
At the same time, providers are facing huge reductions in funding at local, state and federal levels.
I wanted to share with you a little bit about impact that HATSE has faced in this last year.
So we provide a continuum of services to providers and to the community.
One of the services we provide is key partnership with Seattle Public Schools to provide education around prevention and gender-based violence.
Some of the work we've done is supported the district with creating legislatively mandated curriculum that went unfunded to provide education to students around boundaries and consent We have also trained Seattle Public Schools staff on how to have caring conversations when they are concerned about a student We have also, unfortunately, had to provide post-vention services to schools, families, and school communities when sexual misconduct or assault has occurred.
Unfortunately, in the last year, we've had to reduce our prevention program by 70, that's seven zero percent.
Another unique service that we provide is forensic medical care for survivors in the immediate aftermath of an assault.
We provide sexual assault forensic medical care and domestic violence non-fatal strangulation exams.
These exams occur in tandem with a medical social worker who supports victims or survivors through the exam and also facilitates referrals to care following the exam.
A statistic that I want to share with you about the survivors we see who have experienced non-fatal strangulation is that they are at 7.5 times higher risk of being murdered by their partner than any other form of violence towards women.
We hope through providing these exams in partnership with Medical Social Work, we can reduce that number.
And Harborview is the primary provider, actually the sole provider to City of Seattle residents through sites at Harborview and five other partner hospitals so that survivors can access care in their own communities.
Another unique service at Seattle residents receive that is not available anywhere else in the state of Washington is follow-up care after a forensic exam where they have the opportunity to meet with a nurse and a social worker to ask questions that you don't think of during an exam, to get education about trauma impact and reactions, and to get additional resources and support that maybe have not been offered yet.
I just wanna end with saying gender-based violence is a safety and public health issue that affects all of our communities, particularly our vulnerable and marginalized residents.
No community goes untouched.
No one is immune to its impact.
It does not discriminate and neither should our commitment to preventing and supporting those who are affected.
Investing in gender-based violence services is an investment in safety, dignity, equality, and stronger, safer communities.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Can we give it up again for all of our speakers today in this entire coalition?
One of our speakers said it really perfectly earlier when they talked about how this system has been working quietly to meet people's needs and in many cases survivors are moving in silence to keep themselves safe.
We're coming forward today to send this message that Seattle will stand with survivors at every step and we have work to do to achieve exactly that.
I hope for those who have come from media today spend time talking to each of the provider organizations that are represented here about the nature of the work that they do and also the challenges that are coming our way.
We're raising the alarm on these federal policy changes, funding changes that threaten the existing services that we have here.
and we're sending a message that this is a priority in this year's budget.
I'm encouraged that a number of my council colleagues have joined us today to really prioritize investment in these services.
And at this time, I'll close and happy to take any questions.
But again, can we give it up a final time for the coalition that's here?
Awesome.
That appreciate it.
Do you have any, do you think I saw a word again?
The million dollar question, or maybe eight million dollar question of the matter.
In this time, we know it's a challenging budget.
I want to uplift a couple of points about the mayor's transmitted budget and what it means for gender-based violence services, because as a number of one-time ads were included last year, some of those are continuing on, some of those are sunsetting.
And some of the investments we made last year in gender-based violence services are sunsetting unless we take action to be able to change that.
Notably, the effort we're talking about here, we don't want to just be pursuing one-time funding.
This system needs ongoing, sustainable funding for services.
And I want to be very clear about that, which is why we're sending a strong message today.
So as we're deliberating on the budget, it's a big exercise, and what are our priorities?
I'm optimistic I'm hopeful with the council support we've seen today and from also what has been uplifted by these providers that we're going to find a way to push for these investments if we do not get eight million dollars this year we'll be back next year pushing for more but I want to emphasize it is tremendously important that we take steps now to fill the gap that now has been made in the transmitted budget and that we are working towards ongoing sustainable funding for the system and the services it's what survivors deserve
I know the President of Austin has said that he went from funding.
He goes through the Chief's backlog.
How much is that?
Thank you.
Councilmember Foster's not here, otherwise I'd invite her to speak to exactly that point.
I am speaking on with this broader campaign as $8 million really focused on those services and investments.
As council members are working across the city to determine their council priorities, this was something that was identified.
I know she's finalizing those figures, but given that they are definitely complementary to each other, it felt important that we announce those two efforts today together.
So I assume we're going to get a list of the $8 million kind of breakdown of what we want to take.
And I was wondering if part of that was going to be giving money back to the Office of Civil Rights because they had their kind of ultimate domestic violence so they're coming to act in this proposal.
Absolutely.
I've met with members of the Office of Civil Rights to talk about that program.
It's something that helped inform this proposal here, understanding that that was part of the funding that is not continuing on in the mayor's proposed budget.
That paired with there was a proposed sunsetting of a $500,000 investment in gender-based violence services, as well as $400,000 in commercial sexual exploitation.
So yes, very interested in restoring that funding to the Office of Civil Rights.
Going once, going twice.
I'm also happy to close this out today and encourage members of the press to please talk to the providers that are represented here today to learn more about their work.
Thank you all for taking time this morning.
Thank you.