El Paso County Commissioners on Nov. 24 approved several grant awards totaling multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars to sustain victim-services programs across county courts and law-enforcement divisions.

Key approved grants included:
- A Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Justice and Training Program award for the 60th Protective Order Court (award $104,765.40; required match reported). Budget and court staff emphasized the court’s protective-order docket and the program’s role in handling family-violence and related matters.
- A Victim Assistance (VOCA) grant for the County Attorney’s office (award $120,948; 20% match), to pay for two victim advocates.
- An Office of the Governor Victims of Crime Act award for the District Attorney’s office (award $219,044.16; county match required) to support prosecution-sensitive services, outreach and victim advocacy staff.
- A VOCA formula award for the Domestic Relations Office (award $138,803.09; $36,000 match), to fund supervised visits, guardian-ad-litem services and supportive supervision for family-law cases.
- A Sheriff’s Office Victim Services award (award $103,045.60 with required match) to fund an in-house licensed counselor and a victim advocate; the sheriff’s office said the counselor program provided hundreds of hours of free counseling over the past year.

Budget and Finance analysts explained that several of these grants are on multi-year sustainability plans (requiring reduced grant ask year over year) and that county matches have increased in recent years. Commissioners approved acceptance of all presented awards and noted the need to plan for future budget impacts where grants decline under sustainability plans.