Urgent Action Needed to Correct the OVS Contracting Crisis and Stabilize Victim Services
Dear Governor Hochul,
The 72 undersigned organizations represent victim assistance providers that offer life-saving and life-changing direct care and legal services to victims of crime, child abuse, intimate partner violence, sexual violence and family violence across New York State, in addition to four Statewide coalitions working on their behalf (e.g., the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, the New York State Children’s Alliance and the New York Legal Services Coalition). We write to urge you to take immediate action to rectify the sudden crisis that has erupted among New York’s victim services network following the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC)’s decision to rescind the Office of Victim Services (OVS) 2025–2028 Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) contracts.
As you know, without warning, providers received a letter from OVS on October 30, 2025, informing them that their contracts had been retroactively rescinded—with no advance notice or opportunity for input. Many organizations learned of this decision via a single email notice, despite its enormous implications for staffing, survivor safety planning, and service continuity. This abrupt and opaque process caused widespread confusion and uncertainty across New York’s entire victim services community, one that will have deep and stunning impacts on thousands of victims of crime across the entire state.
Further, this crisis comes at a time when victim service providers are already under immense strain. The ongoing federal government shutdown has frozen victim services reimbursements and halted SNAP benefits for many survivors, creating cascading financial and safety risks.
Victim service providers have already been facing cash flow emergencies, funding losses and subsequent layoffs, as well as mounting service gaps. Without immediate intervention, the Comptroller’s decision will compound those pressures—risking a statewide collapse of essential services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and other crimes.
While OVS and OSC have announced their plan to temporarily extend prior contracts (2022–2025 cycle) for 12 to 18 months, with a new RFA procurement at some point down the road to “ensure continuity of funding and services,” the reality is far more complex and harmful.
In fact, this approach further harms the communities in need of these vital services. For example:
- Twenty-five victim service providers that received OVS awards for the first time in 2025 do not have a 2022 contract to fall back on, so they will receive no new funding under OVS’ plan. Because these contracts began on October 1, 2025, many of these programs already hired staff, implemented wage increases and/or launched new project initiatives. Under the current OVS plan, these providers will receive no reimbursement for these expenses.
- Victim service providers that received more OVS funding in 2025 than in 2022 will now receive less funding under OVS’ plan. Because these contracts also began on October 1, 2025, many of these programs also already hired staff, implemented wage increases and/or launched new project initiatives. Under the current OVS plan, these providers also will receive no reimbursement for the increased level of expenses.
- Victim service providers that received no OVS funding in 2025, or a reduced level of funding, will receive more funding under the current plan. However, these providers have raised significant concerns that they will be unable to meaningfully and conscientiously re-hire staff and or expand programming when the increased funding will only be available for one year. There is no guarantee, under this plan, that this increased funding would continue under a new procurement.
In addition to these challenges, victim service organizations report that:
- Reverting to outdated funding levels midstream will force providers to terminate newly hired staff and rescind accepted employment offers, creating immediate financial exposure and ethical harm, while violating the principle of service continuity for survivors.
- Re-issuing another OVS RFA will conflict with another large procurement set to be issued next year (DCJS’ VAWA STOP grant procurement).
- Re-issuing another OVS RFA in the short-term will not give OVS the time it needs to rectify significant issues that arose during its 2025 procurement, including a shift of funding away from community-based victim service providers, gaps of victim services in certain geographic areas of the state, and significant issues related to application scoring.
Most importantly, without taking additional and immediate steps, there will continue to be instability and ongoing confusion in local communities and loss of crucial crime victim services as providers expend additional time and resources to administratively manage this avoidable crisis. The State needs our victim service providers to be able to prioritize support of New York’s victims, not on more administration.
To address this contracting challenge and prevent further disruption to survivor services, we respectfully ask you to:
- Ensure equitable treatment for all VOCA-funded organizations by funding all 2022–2025 and 2025–2028 VOCA recipients at the full value of their 2025 award or their 2024 award—whichever is greater, for a period of three years (2025-2028). We estimate the state will need an additional $25 million a year to implement this remedy. This funding should be released immediately to prevent service interruptions, layoffs and financial hardship.
- Require OVS to collaborate with its Advisory Council and providers to analyze OVS’ procurement process, scoring and funding priorities to reverse the State’s shift of funding away from community-based victim services organizations, to resolve existing geographic deserts with limited or no victim services, and prioritize stability of services going forward.
- Immediately establish a Task Force with the New York State Comptroller, OVS and victim service providers to evaluate the demand for victim services, the inability of victim service providers to meet such demand with current funding levels, the sustainability of New York’s victim services safety net and the benefits of moving toward a non-competitive funding model for victim services.
- Sign the Nonprofit Contracting bill (S7001 Mayer/A7616 Paulin) into law. Even before this situation arose, New York’s nonprofits have been dealing with inconsistent contracting requirements across agencies, burdensome processes and chronic delays in payments as we try to serve New York’s most vulnerable people. This bill will make a significant difference in our ability to serve our clients.
We respectfully request a meeting with your office to develop an immediate action plan to implement the resolutions outlined above. Survivors and crime victim advocates should not bear the cost of the State’s failure to administer a lawful procurement process, nor should they be left to shoulder the financial and operational burden of this breakdown. We urge you to act swiftly to restore fairness, transparency, and stability to New York’s victim services network. Timely action will not only correct this administrative failure but reaffirm the State’s commitment to protecting survivors and sustaining the community-based nonprofit partners who make that work possible.
We know you are committed to meeting the needs of New York’s victims and proudly support victim services and the work of our provider network. We hope to work with you to fix this situation in a way that will not cause more harm to those we seek to serve. We will follow-up with your staff to schedule the meeting requested above.
Respectfully,
The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault
The New York Legal Services Coalition
The New York State Children’s Alliance
The New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Access Justice Brooklyn
Advocacy Center of Tompkins County
Barrier Free Living
Build Up Justice NYC
CAMBA, Inc./CAMBA Legal Services, Inc.
Caribbean Equality Project
Catholic Charities Domestic Violence Program of Herkimer County
Catholic Charities of Fulton and Montgomery Counties, Montgomery County DV/CVS
Catholic Charities of Saratoga, Warren, Washington Counties
Catholic Migration Services
Center for Elder Law & Justice
Chances and Changes, Inc.
Chemung and Schuyler County Child Advocacy Centers
Child Abuse Prevention Center, Inc.
Child Advocacy Center of Putnam County
Child and Family Services of Erie County
Circulo de la Hispanidad
City Bar Justice Center
Cortland County Child Advocacy Center
Crime Victims Assistance Center, Inc.
Crime Victims Center
Crime Victims Center of Suffolk and Nassau
EAC Network
Empire Justice Center
Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project
Family Counseling Service of the Finger Lakes, Inc.
Family Services
Harriet M. West CAC/Saratoga Center for the Family
HELP ROADS/USA
Hope’s Door
Human Services Council
Jahajee: Indo-Caribbeans for Gender Justice
JustCause
Kingsbridge Heights Community Center
Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc.
Legal Services of the Hudson Valley
LI Against Domestic Violence
Mekong NYC
Mount Sinai SAVI Program
My Sisters’ Place
NMIC
NYLAG
Pace Women’s Justice Center
Rahama
RESTORE Sexual Assault Services, a program of Planned Parenthood of Central & Western New York
Rise-NY
Safe Harbors of the Finger Lakes, Inc.
Safe Horizon
Sakhi for South Asian Survivors
Sanctuary for Families
Shalom Task Force
Steuben Church People Against Poverty Inc., dba Arbor Housing and Development
Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service, Inc. (Crisis Services)
The CAC of Greater Rochester
The Chinese-American Planning Council
The Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services
The Korean American Family Service Center
The Legal Aid Society of Rochester, NY
The Legal Project
The Retreat
Urban Justice Center
Vera House, Inc.
Victim Resource Center of the Finger Lakes dba Survivor Advocacy Center of the Finger Lakes
Victims Assistance Center of Jefferson County
Violence Intervention Program
Volunteer Lawyers Project of CNY, Inc.
Volunteers of America Greater New York
Wellspring
Westchester Medical Center Victim Services
Womankind
YWCA Cortland
YWCA of the Mohawk Valley
