New Life Center (NLC), one of the largest domestic violence shelters in the country located in the West Valley, is excited to announce it has been awarded a grant of $98,000 from the Governor’s Office of Youth, Faith and Family through the Arizona STOP Violence Against Women Grant. With the funding, NLC aims to address the issues of sexual violence and sex trafficking in western Maricopa County through the West Valley Sexual Assault Response Coordination Project.

“By developing and coordinating a multidisciplinary sexual assault response team (SART), we are hoping to mend the lack of sustained agency collaboration to meet the unique needs of victims of sexual violence and sex trafficking in Maricopa County,” said Jessye Johnson, NLC's chief strategy and administration officer.

NLC will also hire a SART project coordinator with the grant to lead the group, assist the organization with continuity of services for victims of sexual violence, and work across programs at NLC to ensure that all member agencies involved are providing trauma-informed, survivor-centered, culturally and linguistically appropriate assistance to survivors.

"In addition to our programming, NLC is a highly collaborative community partner and has existing relationships with many of the key stakeholders and agencies that will be an integral part of the success of this project,” said Johnson. “We partner with regional and local police departments, prosecution agencies, advocacy centers, and other direct service providers in the region.”

The Arizona STOP Violence Against Women Grant program supports a comprehensive, system-wide approach to domestic violence, sexual assault, and sex trafficking crimes, with an emphasis on underserved populations across Arizona. It is authorized under federal funds through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and administered by the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women.

“We are grateful to all our partners throughout the state of Arizona who are committed to supporting survivors of sexual assault," said GOYFF Director Maria Cristina Fuentes. “This funding is critical to supporting efforts that expand and strengthen trauma informed, victim-centered services. We look forward to seeing the impact of these dollars in the West Valley through the work of our partners at New Life Center.”

To keep up to date with the organization, follow it on Facebook and Instagram. To learn more about New Life Center and what it is doing in the community, visit NewLifeCtr.org.

About New Life Center
New Life Center serves more than 1,000 children and adults annually through an emergency shelter and outreach support program, where more than 70 percent of the shelter population is children. In 2017, New Life Center served more children and provided more bed nights than any other single facility providing emergency shelter to domestic violence survivors in Arizona. To learn more, visit http://www.NewLifeCtr.org.