Taking Charge-Helping Domestic Violence Surviors Project

The Congressionally Selected Awards Program, authorized by the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (Pub. L. 111-8), helps improve the functioning of the criminal justice system, prevent or combat juvenile delinquency, and/or assist victims of crime (other than compensation). Funds should be used for the projects selected by Congress, in the amounts specified in the joint explanatory statement incorporated by reference into Pub. L. 111-8, and generally consistent with one or more of the following statutory purposes: improving the functioning of the criminal justice system, preventing or combating juvenile delinquency, or assisting victims of crime (other than compensation). Each of these purposes is framed using language drawn, respectively, from the former Byrne discretionary statute, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, the Victims of Crime Act, and the Violence Against Women Act. This project is authorized and funded through a line item in the FY 09 Congressional Budget and by the joint explanatory statement that is incorporated by reference into the FY09 Omnibus Appropriations Act.

Homestretch Inc. will support a comprehensive program serving battered women and their families in Fairfax County and the City of Falls Church, Virginia. The clients they serve are all mothers of children under the age of eighteen who have become homeless due to domestic violence or human trafficking. Homestretch will expand current services to survivors of domestic violence, with an emphasis on housing and social services. They will provide comprehensive services to as many as 40 women and their children who have become homeless due to domestic violence; obtain a safe home in which healing can occur from domestic violence, and provide the resources to facilitate that healing; help the women secure employment, legal services, and other assistance to become financially independent of their abusers; and assist the women secure safe, permanent housing.

NCA/NCF