FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Legal help for survivors of domestic violence in northern Colorado will shrink at the beginning of 2024 due to funding issues.
The Bringing Justice Home legal support group, a department of the Crossroads Safehouse in Fort Collins, will no longer receive grant money from the Department of Justice. The group has relied on the funding for years.
The Crossroads Safehouse has operated as a refuge for those fleeing domestic violence in Fort Collins and surrounding communities for four decades. Executive Director Lori Kempter told Denver7 it has been especially busy this year, as Colorado continues to see record-breaking levels of domestic violence.
"So, it's really important to us to provide some long-term wraparound services to support survivors in whatever their journey looks like," Kempter said. "For many domestic violence situations, if there are no other opportunities for what's next... people are forced to go back to their abusive partner. Because for them, the other option is homelessness."
Key among its wraparound services has been the legal support through Bringing Justice Home. The legal system can feel like one of the biggest barriers to survivors looking to escape their abusers due to its costs and complexity. Bringing Justice Home provides free legal services in civil cases like divorces and custody battles.
Haley Dunn, the managing attorney for the Bringing Justice Home team, said they have helped more than 270 people this year alone and "no one else is there to provide [help]." That is why she was devastated to learn they would not continue receiving funding from the Department of Justice.
"So many survivors are hearing from their abusive partner that, 'If you leave me, X, Y, and Z will happen.' And then they come to me and I say, 'No, X, Y, and Z won't happen,'" Dunn explained, saying the team's legal services have helped survivors keep custody of their children and move to safer places.
Bringing Justice Home has several individual funders who believe in its mission and have supported it financially. However, Kempter and Dunn said the Legal Assistance for Victims grant through the DOJ's Office on Violence Against Women has been vital to the existence of the Bringing Justice Home program, providing $600,000 over three years.
The grant was first declined a year ago, Kempter said. Crossroads used saved money to keep the program operating with the hope it would be approved again this year. But this past Friday, Kempter said they received notice that it would once again not receive the grant. She estimates they will only be able to keep providing the service through January 2024.
Kempter said she is still trying to learn from the DOJ why they were not selected to continue receiving the grant.
"It takes a good chunk of money to be able to operate that program, and unfortunately, that's just a service that we're not going to have in our community any longer," Kempter said. "I feel deeply for the survivors that we will not be able to serve in that way."
"I see every day the need for this in our society, and it terrifies me to think about some of these individuals trying to do it on their own," Dunn said. "And it's truly just devastating all around."
Denver7 reached out to the Department of Justice about this, but had not heard back as of the time of this publication.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available through Violence Free Colorado or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.
