October 25, 2024

The Broward State Attorney’s Office has been awarded a federal grant of nearly $500,000 – in partnership with Women in Distress – to fight domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said: “I am committed to advocating for and pursuing funding to ensure that our prosecutors, our law enforcement partners, and our community partners have the resources they need to fight crimes of violence and help victims and survivors.”

The grant, from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), provides a total of $499,998 over three years, including $50,000 for Women in Distress as a grant partner/subgrantee. We appreciate our grant writing team members, who successfully applied for this funding.

The grant is part of a federal Enhancing Investigation and Prosecution of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Initiative. Broward County is the second largest county in Florida with a population of 1.95 million. It is a diverse and minority-majority county.

The Broward State Attorney’s Office, in partnership with Women in Distress, plans the following:

• Enhance law enforcement and prosecution responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking as part of a coordinated community response.
• Work with law enforcement, prosecutors, investigators, and victim assistants dedicated to handling cases involving domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
• Support identifying, implementing, and evaluating trauma-informed investigation and prosecution strategies.
• Foster greater accountability, transparency, and building of community trust related to the investigation and prosecution of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking incidents.
• Provide and support training for law enforcement officers and prosecutors who handle investigations related to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, including but not limited to providing strategies to build a case based on trauma-informed, victim-centered, and offender-focused practices for Broward County.
• A working group will review, analyze, advise, and make recommendations. The group will include law enforcement officers, prosecutors, victims/survivors, and service providers, including Women in Distress, the Nancy J. Cotterman Center, Coast to Coast Legal Aid, community agencies including The Pride Center, the Urban League of Broward County, The Jewish Federation, Hispanic Unity of Florida, the League of Cities, the Islamic Foundation of South Florida, municipal representatives and community leaders.
• Collect and analyze data.
• Provide training to all involved parties.
• Determine future needs and areas in need of improvement.
• Increase outreach and provide information in English, Spanish, Creole, Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, and other languages.
• Lead public awareness campaigns with mall ads, public service announcements, and town hall meetings.