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Schenectady accepts roughly $1.18 million in state funds to reduce intimate partner violence
Summary
Law enforcement, the district attorney and probation outlined a multiagency program funded by a statewide STRIVE grant; the county portion will fund prosecutors, investigators, probation services and community supports focused on high-risk intimate-partner violence cases.
The Schenectady County Committee on Public Safety voted June 10 to accept approximately $1.177 million in state STRIVE (Statewide Reductions in Intimate Partner Violence) grant funds allocated for local programming to reduce intimate partner violence.
The county’s allocation is split among municipal and county partners, including the City of Schenectady, the Schenectady Police Department, the YWCA (the county’s designated domestic violence service provider), the District Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office, probation and the County Legislature’s public safety staff. District Attorney Robert Carney and Deputy Director of Probation Andrew Johnson briefed the committee on intended uses.
District Attorney Carney said the county’s DA office portion — $254,454 — would fund an entry-level assistant district attorney to support the Special Victims Unit, a confidential investigator, expert witness costs and equipment to support prosecutions. “It’s one of the hardest crimes to do something about, but giving us more resources to do better what we're already doing is something we welcome,” Carney told the committee.
Deputy Director Andrew Johnson said probation’s award is $150,000; most of that would offset an existing specialized domestic-violence unit position, expand cognitive-based interventions and increase home-visit and group programming aimed at changing behavior among probationers. “The request amount that our department has been awarded is a hundred and $50,000,” Johnson said.
Committee members moved and approved the grant acceptance by voice vote. The funds will require subrecipient agreements among city, county and nonprofit partners and will be subject to state grant terms and local contracting processes.
The STRIVE program is part of a $23 million statewide initiative; local documentation reported to the committee explained the program is intended to improve coordinated community response, increase offender accountability through high-risk teams and reduce homicides and serious violence related to intimate partner abuse.
