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Albany County seeks expanded victim-witness funding and approves MOU with Laramie
Summary
The county attorney’s victim-witness program asked the board to submit a Wyoming Division of Victim Services grant (VOCA/VAWA) to fund personnel, training and language-access services (Spanish and Bengali), and the board approved the grant application and a $50,000 annual MOU with the City of Laramie to provide municipal-court victim services.
The Albany County Board of Commissioners approved a grant application to the Wyoming Division of Victim Services and a one-year memorandum of understanding with the City of Laramie to support the county’s victim-witness services.
Callie Swanbomb, the county’s victim-witness program coordinator, told commissioners the program’s mission is to ensure victims understand the criminal justice process and to provide consistent services across municipal, circuit and district courts. She said the program has three full-time advocates, one part-time vacant advocate position (to be posted), one partially grant-funded prosecutor for the special victims unit, and that the program serves roughly 900 victims annually and provides about 5,800 services.
Swanbomb described the county’s grant request as an effort to increase personnel support, provide training opportunities, expand language access through a contract with Language Line, and fund translations of core materials into Spanish and Bengali (staff said ~65% of translation needs are Spanish and ~20% Bengali). She identified emergency financial assistance and program materials among requested items. Staff noted the grant is an application for requested funds and that final awards (and likely cuts) will be known when the Division announces awards in May.
The board also approved a memorandum of understanding with Laramie that renews the city’s $50,000 contribution for FY 2027 to support program staffing and services for municipal court victims.
What happens next: staff will submit the grant application, return with a finalized budget when the award is known, and proceed under the MOU for service delivery to municipal court victims.
