FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE VAW WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 1995 (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888 Gregory King CALIFORNIA RECEIVES $426,000 IN INITIAL GRANT TO FIGHT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE WASHINGTON, D.C. -- California will receive its first grant awarded by the Clinton Administration under the Violence Against Women Act, Attorney General Janet Reno announced today. The grant, totaling $426,000, will help communities fund women's shelters and crisis centers, hire prosecutors and pay for rape crisis therapists, victims' advocates and domestic violence hot-lines. The Violence Against Women Program funds were authorized for Fiscal Year 1995 under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, signed by President Clinton last year. Over the next five years, $800 million will be available nationwide to restructure the criminal justice system's response to all types of violence against women. California is the fourth state to receive an announced grant. Previous announcements were made in Rhode Island, Vermont and Montana. "These funds can make an important contribution to on-going efforts to fight crime in California," said Bonnie Campbell, Director of the Department's Violence Against Women Office at a Hayward press (MORE) conference with former chief of police Joe Brann, currently Director of the Justice Department's Community Policing Services (COPS) program. Campbell, former Iowa Attorney General and author of one of the nation's first anti-stalking laws, was selected by President Clinton to spearhead the Administration's efforts to fight violence against women. She oversees efforts to combine tough new federal criminal laws with assistance to states and localities. Campbell is travelling with COPS Director Joe Brann to review community policing programs and efforts to combat violence against women. "In order to reduce domestic violence, we must all work together -- as police, as prosecutor, as advocates, as professionals and as communities," Campbell noted. Violence Against Women grants may be used to train law enforcement officers, expand the number of personnel in law enforcement and prosecution agencies, develop more effective policies, protocols, orders and services to prevent violent crime against women and apply advanced technology to improve tracking and data collection systems. "At least 25 percent of these funds must be dedicated to enhance direct services for victims," said Campbell. For this fiscal year, each state will be eligible to receive the same level of funding. In future years, formula grants to states will be allocated according to population, with each state guaranteed a base amount. Additionally, four percent of each year's appropriation will be available to Indian tribal governments through a discretionary grant program, Campbell noted. ### 95-299