Bronx Independent Living Services (BILS) has received funding from the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators (NAVAA) through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), within the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, to promote community awareness of crime victims’ rights and services during 2013 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
The week of April 21 – 27, 2013, is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW). This annual observance, first designated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, seeks to increase general public awareness of, and knowledge about the wide range of rights and services available to people who have been victimized by crime. The theme for 2013 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is “New Challenges. New Solutions.”
Since 2004, the NCVRW Community Awareness Project has provided financial and technical assistance to 610 communities. OVC also promotes National Crime Victims’ Rights Week by sponsoring a Resource Guide that contains educational content, campaign materials, artwork, and public service announcements to increase general public understanding of crime victims’ rights and concerns and to educate crime victims and survivors about available resources.
NCVRW Community Awareness Project funding supports community collaboration on victim and public awareness activities, and innovative approaches to victim outreach and public education about victims’ rights and services during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week and throughout the year. Bronx Independent Living Services was one of the 77 projects recommended by the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators and selected for funding by OVC for 2013 from the 169 applications that were submitted nationwide.
According to Joye Frost, Acting Director of OVC, the Community Awareness Project helps generate widespread public awareness of crime victims’ rights and needs, and the importance of engaging all Americans in victim assistance efforts.
“Recent studies show that too many crime victims and survivors do not avail themselves of the many services in our communities that can help them through very devastating experiences. National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is our opportunity to support public awareness of crime victims’ rights and the critical, often life-saving, services provided by thousands of programs across our Nation to help crime victims,” Frost said.
According to Brett Eisenberg Executive Director of Bronx Independent Living Services “BILS will engage in a multilevel strategy for increasing public awareness. The public awareness campaign will explore facts, fears and personal solutions through the eyes of crime and abuse victims”.
“The support from NAVAA and OVC for our 2013 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities will help us help crime victims,” Brett Eisenberg said. “Members of our community are encouraged to help promote justice through service to crime victims by joining our 2013 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities and supporting victim assistance programs throughout the year.”
For additional information about 2013 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities or about victims’ rights and services in Bronx, New York please contact Brett Eisenberg Executive Director at 718-515-2800 or visit our Web site here. For information about national efforts to promote 2013 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, please visit the Office for Victims of Crime Web site here.
The National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators is a non-profit organization that represents the 56 state agencies that distribute funds from the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) to more than 4,000 direct victim assistance service providers. All of the funds for VOCA programs come from criminal fines and other penalties paid by federal criminal offenders and not from taxpayer dollars.
Bronx Independent Living Services (BILS) is a non-profit, community based organization dedicated to empower all people with disabilities to understand and exercise their civil and human rights in order to live fully integrated lives in mainstream society. BILS assists individuals by providing them the necessary tools to make informed decisions about their own lives through access to education, skills development, and access to the appropriate resources. On a systemic level, BILS is committed to facilitating social, economic, and civic change by advocating for the removal of architectural, communication, and attitudinal barriers that have limited the disabled community for far too long.
