CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson City Police Department has received federal funding to promote community awareness of crime victims’ rights and services during 2019 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (April 7 – 13, 2019).
The funding will be used to host a free, self-defense class for women, co-host the second annual Tutu March for first responders and community movie night, as part of a Community Awareness Project in Clemson. The funding comes from the U. S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) through the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators (NAVAA).
First designated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, National Crime Victims’ Rights Week increases general public awareness of, and knowledge about the wide range of rights and services available to people who have been victimized by crime. The theme for 2019 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is “Honoring Our Past. Creating Hope for the Future.”
“The support from OVC and NAVAA for our 2019 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities will help us help crime victims,” said Debra Shockley, Law Enforcement Victim Advocate for Clemson City Police Department. “Members of our community are encouraged to honor the past achievements of programs that aid crime victims and survivors, and join us in creating hope for a future where all crime survivors are treated with dignity and respect, and receive the services they need and deserve.”
Since 2004, OVC’s NCVRW Community Awareness Project has provided financial and technical assistance to more than 1,000 community projects that promote victim and public awareness activities, and innovative approaches to victim/survivor outreach and public education about victims’ rights and services during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. Clemson City Police Department was one of the 92 projects recommended by NAVAA and selected for funding by OVC for 2019 from the 200 applications that were submitted nationwide.
For additional information about 2019 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities or about victims’ rights and services in Clemson, please contact Debra Shockley, Law Enforcement Victim Advocate at 864-624-2012. For information about national efforts to promote 2019 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, please visit the Office for Victims of Crime website at www.ovc.gov/ncvrw.
The National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators is a non-profit organization that represents the 56 state agencies that distribute money from the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Crime Victims Fund to more than 6,300 direct victim assistance service providers. The money in the Crime Victims Fund comes from fines and other monetary penalties collected from offenders convicted of Federal crimes and not from U.S. taxpayers.
