PA rape crisis centers, including Centre Safe, get ‘well overdue’ boost in PA budget
Pennsylvania’s state budget, which Gov. Josh Shapiro signed into law on Sunday, will allocate an additional $12 million to rape crisis centers, nearly doubling funding for those programs. The change, which brings the total funds for rape crisis centers to nearly $24.2 million, will help organizations across the state support survivors of sexual violence.
“It was really time to say, victims and survivors deserve more,” said Jennifer Pencek, executive director of Cente Safe, a Centre County nonprofit organization that serves survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.
State funding for rape crisis centers has remained stagnant for six out of the 10 previous budget cycles, while the cost of essential expenses like insurance has increased. Many organizations across Pennsylvania, facing financial strain, have been forced to downsize.
“They were underfunded, and because they were underfunded, they were understaffed,” said Gabriella Romeo, public policy director at the Pennsylvania Coalition to Advance Respect (PCAR).
Last year’s budget impasse created additional challenges. In February, PCAR wrote an open letter to Shapiro and the Pennsylvania General Assembly asking for $12.5 million in funding for the rape crisis line item.
That advocacy continued into the summer, as directors and staff from rape crisis centers around Pennsylvania made frequent visits with legislatures in Harrisburg, held rallies and garnered public support. Meanwhile, representatives from both parties embraced their efforts.
“It’s a whole team effort,” State Sen. Wayne Langerholc, R-Johnstown, told the Centre Daily Times.
State Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, who has long advocated for increased support for survivors of domestic violence, also celebrated the increase in funding. Conklin, who said he lost three childhood friends to domestic violence, attributed the change to the relentless work of advocates, in a recent interview with the Centre Daily Times.
“It’s well overdue,” he said, “and hopefully we can continue the increase in funding as years go on.”
Two budget line items — rape crisis and domestic violence — are critical to organizations that support survivors of sexual violence. While funding for domestic violence services remained flat, this year’s budget increase for rape crisis centers represents the largest single-year increase in state funding for those facilities.
Both line items concern comprehensive organizations like Centre Safe, which serve survivors of rape and domestic violence. Pencek said the recent increase in funding will directly benefit survivors of rape by bolstering services such as counseling, advocacy and support groups.
“All of our services really connect to both sexual assault and domestic violence,” she said, “the hope is that we’re able to make sure that the services that are connected to rape crisis are, you know, strengthened by this increase.”
Pencek is unsure when Centre Safe will receive the new funds, which the Department of Human Services must first release to PARC before PARC distributes them to the rape crisis centers around the state.
Centre Safe operates a 24-hour hotline at 814-234-5050 for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
