Orange County Rape Crisis Center prepares to make major cuts

The Orange County Rape Crisis Center has been around since 1974, offering free, confidential support for survivors of all types of sexual violence.

Heading into its 50th year of service, the nonprofit organization will soon be faced with several cuts, from staff to programming.

Starting in October, the nonprofit will cut 50% of its staff. In turn, the nonprofit will reduce its therapy caseload by 60%, most cases will be moved to a waitlist, prevention programming will only be available to some grade levels, its popular Trauma Care Collaborative professional network for therapists will be discontinued and it will also close its Latino/e/x Outreach and Engagement programming.

Executive director Rachel Valentine said there will be no changes to its 24-hour helpline.

“We’re survivors,” Valentine said. “We’re going to survive, but it’s going to be a lot less services, a lot less robust, a lot less than what survivors really deserve.”

Valentine said the crisis center has seen a decrease of more than $400,000 in government contracts in the last three years. At the same time, the number of survivors coming to them for support has increased by more than 80%.

“When we found out that it was going down even more, even felt like getting punched in the gut,” Valentine said. “That’s not a personal reaction as an employee. That’s a reaction as a survivor – as survivor who is getting the message loud and clear that this is no longer a priority for our government.”

The agency receives a large portion of its funding from the Crime Victims Fund. It’s a pool of money collected under the Victims of Crime Act. The funding comes from fines and fees collected from those convicted of federal crimes.

“Most of that money actually goes to law enforcement,” Valentine said. “A very small sliver of it goes to victims services. We’re in that small sliver. That sliver just keeps getting smaller and smaller.”

Valentine said that fund is dwindling, leaving organizations like the Orange County Rape Crisis Center to make tough decisions.

“This is a movement that was started by survivors, is led by survivors,” Valentine said. “We’re not going to let rape crisis services go away. However, with those funds over the last 20, 30 years, we’ve been able to grow from just a crisis line to this robust set of services that people rely on.”

Associate director Laing, who did not want to share her last name, said funding should be available for services like this.

“Why do we have to compete for grants for you to serve survivors?" Laing said. "It should be something that is a line item in every community’s budget.

"We shouldn’t have to be at this juncture and having to figure it out. It should be something that’s expected.”

This is also not the first time the center has been faced with cuts. It faced a similar situation in 2021. About one-third of its staff was laid off. Those remaining were furloughed or had their hours cut.

“This is the same issue … but this time, it feels like we’ve got our knees knocked out from underneath us,” Valentine said.

Valentine said she’s now turning to the community for their help.

“The message from our government funders is clear- if Orange County wants thriving victims’ services, they will have to figure out how to support it themselves,” Valentine said.

More information about the OCRCC and how you can support their efforts visit their website: ocrcc.org.