Urgent Call to Action: Contact Senator Cirino and Senator Dolan June 3, 2021
Dear Friend:
This is urgent. Will you use your voice in support of survivors today?
Over the past few years, Cleveland Rape Crisis Center has experienced significant funding cuts. Tomorrow morning, the Senate Finance Committee will meet to determine their recommendations for the state budget for the next two years.
We’re calling on residents of Cuyahoga, Lake, and Geauga Counties to contact Finance Committee members Senator Dolan and Senator Cirino, today. You can use the sample message and contact information below to urge them to include Cleveland Rape Crisis Center in their recommendations. This funding would support targeted services for youth at risk of human trafficking.
Your voice can make a difference.
Thank you for taking action and supporting survivors!
Sondra Miller
President & CEO
Cleveland Rape Crisis Center
Contact Information
For residents of Cuyahoga County:
Senator Matt Dolan
Dolan@ohiosenate.gov (cc: Sarah.Totedo@ohiosenate.gov)
(614) 466-8056
For residents of Lake and Geauga County:
Senator Jerry Cirino
Cirino@ohiosenate.gov (cc: Jacob.Dowling@ohiosenate.gov)
(614) 644-7718
Sample Message
Dear Senator [insert your lawmaker],
My name is [your name]. I am a constituent writing you from [your city] to urge you to financially support the work of Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.
Cleveland Rape Crisis Center operates the 24/7 Human Trafficking hotline in Northeast Ohio and is a lead service provider. Over the past four years, the Center has answered 767 hotline calls and provided crisis intervention, counseling, and justice system advocacy to 1,248 people.
The Center’s new Drop-In Facility fills a gap in services for survivors of Human Trafficking. Specifically, the agency has a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Youth Services (DYS) to provide targeted services for youth coming out of detention. These youth are among the most at-risk population for trafficking in the state. This site will provide the following intensive onsite services:
- Basic Needs – clothing, hygiene, daytime shelter; linkage to health care
- Trauma Recovery – mental health counseling, addiction rehabilitation, victim advocacy
- Self-Sufficiency – workforce training, life, and parent coaching; case management
There is currently no funding tied to this MOU. Please support an amendment to Sub. House Bill 110 to provide $300,000 each fiscal year for these services through the DYS budget.
Cleveland Rape Crisis Center provides direct services to more than 10,000 survivors in Cuyahoga, Ashtabula, Geauga, and Lake Counties each year. Another 55,000 individuals are engaged through outreach, prevention, and training activities.
The Center received a 71% cut in VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) funding over the past few years, totaling more than $3 million in lost revenue. Your support today will make sure that our communities most vulnerable citizens will have access to the services they so desperately need.
Thank you for your consideration,
[Insert your name]