FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: Colleen M. O’Toole, Prosecutor
2.2.2023 440.576.3694
Stephanie Sagraves, Victim Advocate
440.576.3523
Local Program Receives Community Awareness Project Funding for 2023 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week
JEFFERSON, OH – The Ashtabula County Victims of Crime Assistance Office under the Ashtabula County Prosecutor Colleen M. O’Toole has received funding from the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators (NAVAA) through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), within the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, to promote community awareness of crime victims’ rights and services during the 2023 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
The awarded funding will be used to distribute materials throughout the county and include survivor participation as part of a Community Awareness Project in Ashtabula County. The Project is part of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, an annual observance that takes place April 23-29, 2023.
“The support from NAVAA and OVC for our 2023 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities will help us help crime victims,” said Ashtabula County Prosecutor Colleen M. O’Toole. “Members of our community are encouraged to help promote justice through service to crime victims by joining our 2023 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities and supporting victim assistance programs on a daily basis.”
First designated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, National Crime Victims’ Rights Week increases general public awareness of, and knowledge about the wide range of rights and services available to people who have been victimized by crime. The theme for 2023 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is “Survivor Voices: Elevate, Engage, Effect Change”.
Since 2004, the NCVRW Community Awareness Project has provided financial and technical assistance to more than 1500 community projects that promote victim and public awareness activities, and innovative approaches to victim outreach and public education about victims’ rights and services during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. was one of the 89 recommended by NAVAA and selected for funding by OVC for 2023 from the 151 applications that were submitted nationwide.
For additional information about 2023 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities or about victims’ rights and services in Ashtabula County, please contact Stephanie Sagraves, Victim Advocate, 440.576.3523 or visit our website at ashtabulacountyprosecutoroh.gov. For information about national efforts to promote 2023 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, please visit the Office for Victims of Crime website at www.ovc.gov.
The National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators is a non-profit organization that represents the 56 state agencies that distribute money from the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Crime Victims Fund to more than 4,000 direct victim assistance service providers. The money in the Crime Victims Fund comes from fines collected from offenders convicted of federal crimes and not from U.S. taxpayers.
