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Advocates urge trauma-informed approach, highlight funding gaps for victim services
Summary
Rochelle, policy director at the Coalition Against Domestic and ****** Violence, described statewide victim-service operations, confidentiality protections, and the lack of dedicated prevention funding in Washington. She urged the committee to ensure recommendations remain trauma informed and survivor-centered.
Rochelle, who identified herself as "the policy director at the Coalition Against Domestic and ****** Violence that serves Washington State," walked the committee through the coalition's role and the services its member programs provide. She described community-based advocacy's requirements — including free, low-barrier services and confidentiality protections — and highlighted that federal funding for sexual assault prevention is limited and distributed thinly across states.
Rochelle urged the committee to keep a trauma-informed, survivor-centered lens in developing recommendations and to consider prevention and system accountability, not only post-harm remedies. "Community based advocates provide free, confidential services to survivors, victims, and their loved ones," she said, noting the network served more than 52,000 individuals in 2024 and highlighting the coalition's interest in prevention, training, and oversight.
