Tester Secures More Than $4.4 Million To Support Domestic Violence Shelters, Crime Victim Services in Montana

Funding will come from the FY24 government funding bill

As part of his continued effort to support survivors in Montana, U.S. Senator Jon Tester secured $4,435,437 in funding to maintain and enhance crime victim services in Montana. Funding comes from the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking program, State and Territory Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions program, and the Improve the Criminal Justice Response (ICJR) grant program.

As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Tester secured this funding as part of the 2024 government funding package. Funding is awarded to support local community-based domestic violence shelters, child advocacy centers, and other service providers across Montana.

"Montana's domestic violence shelters and crime victim services provide life-changing services and treatments each and every day-and it's on us to ensure providers in rural states like ours have the tools and resources they need to continue serving their communities," said Tester. "I'm proud to have secured this funding to provide these top-notch organizations with the resources and support they need, and I'll continue working to ensure survivors in Montana have the resources they need to recover, heal, and thrive."

The funding will be allocated as follows:

• $750,000 - Haven Shelter (Bozeman, MT)
  • Funding will be used for the Gallatin Project to improve response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking crimes and strengthen services for victims of those crimes.
• $1,450,000 - Missoula County
  • Funding will be used for legal assistance, crime victim advocacy, and improvements to criminal justice response in partnership with YWCA Missoula, Mineral County Help Line, Angela Harris, LCSW PLLC, and Ries Law Group.
• $609,058 - Dawson County
  • Funding will be used to enhance response to response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking crimes in Dawson County.
• $500,000 - Montana Legal Services (Missoula, MT)
  • Funding will be used to provide legal services to crime victims two rural Montana counties (Lake and Mineral) and seven rural reservations (Blackfeet, Fort Belknap, Rocky Boy's, Fort Peck, Northern Cheyenne, Crow, and Flathead Reservations).
• $750,000 - Carbon County
  • Funding will be used to provide core services to underserved victims, including financial and transportation assistance, advocacy accompaniment for victims to SANE exams, and leading outreach and violence prevention education.
• $376,379 - Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
  • Funding will be used to support and coordinate victim services activities.

Tester has worked tirelessly to ensure that Montana survivors of violence have the resources they need to get back on their feet. He has been a longtime supporter of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and supported the passage of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act to continue and improve this critical law. Tester also recently co-sponsored the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act, a bipartisan bill to bolster funding for the Crime Victims Fund (CVF) by allowing surplus funds from False Claims Act cases to be deposited into the CVF.

He also recently secured $739.5 million for the Office of Violence Against Women and VAWA programs as part of the Senate's 2025 government funding package.