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No other organization has a direct focus on these urgent needs as the CVP. Statistics and information detailing young people's experiences with violent crime and their aftermath are staggering:
- In 2006, over 12,000 child victims or witnesses of domestic violence were turned away from shelters in New York State due to lack of space;
- One study of children, aged 9 to 12, who observe or are victims of violence found that they showed more behavioral problems than other children;
- In a 2007 study, approximately 15.5 million children lived in households where domestic violence occurred at least once in the previous year;
- In a 2007 study by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, in reports of sexual assaults, 67 percent of female victims and 88 percent of male victims were under the age of 18;
- In the same 2007 study, over one quarter of all victims of violent crimes reported in 2000 and 2001 were juveniles;
- Various sources on child victimization research have found that children suffer crime at higher rates than the general population;
- Almost forty percent of adolescents have witnessed violence in their lifetimes;
- Each year, over three million children are exposed to violence committed against their female caretakers;
- In a study by pediatricians at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, 79 percent of children witnessed violence first-hand and 49 percent had been direct victims of violence;
- A child's exposure to domestic abuse committed by the father against the mother is a strong risk factor for transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next;
- Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults;
- According to the National Institute of Justice, from 1995 to 2003, 1.8 million adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 were sexually assaulted, 3.9 million were severely physically assaulted and 8.8 million had witnessed another person being shot, stabbed, sexually assaulted, physically assaulted, or threatened with a weapon.
To provide assistance to children and families with children that experience violent crime, the CVP will conduct two primary activities: (1) providing short-term financial assistance in the form of emergency grants for food, shelter, medical expenses, and legal and mental health counseling; and, (2) providing long-term assistance, in the form of educational grants and scholarships, financial planning help, permanent housing grants for purchase or rental, and facilitating access to emotional counseling and professional legal advice. These activities will be conducted in the interest of providing relief to the economically disadvantaged in attempting to level the playing field and give children a better chance.
The CVP focuses on children and teenagers, for whom the cost of violent crime is extremely high and potentially life-altering. Early experiences of violence often lead to developments that negatively effect the rest of a person's life: for example, post-traumatic stress disorder, drug and alcohol abuse, youth delinquency, major mental health problem. And the problem is pervasive. Violent crimes disproportionately affect low-income households, those with the least ability to handle the enormous costs. While the CVP will not set a maximum annual income for beneficiaries, the focus will be helping those who fall into the category of "poor and distressed."
The CVP plans to receive client referrals from law enforcement agencies, the National Crime Victim Information and Referral Hotline and state victim resources, as well as other organizations that routinely provide information to crime victims. The CVP will determine eligibility based on whether a child is affected, his or her need and the availability of other funds and/or services. The allocation of funds and services to each client will be determined on a case by case basis.
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