COMMENTARY: Sexual assault is not going away, but funding to help survivors might. That has to change.

“Mary” is a 34-year-old Missouri mother, daughter, sister, aunt, co-worker, neighbor and friend. On a Tuesday in February, she became something she never thought she would be: a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence.

That day, Mary began a very difficult healing journey that can take years … a process that often includes fear, uncertainty, shame and distrust. Her first step was to bravely seek help at an emergency room.

While Mary is not real, her story is, and there are approximately 45,000 stories like hers reported each year across Missouri – and tens of thousands more that are unreported.

For more than 50 years, Missouri has kept a promise that when a survivor makes a call for help, they will be met with support on the other end. As one of the first states in the nation to establish a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), Missouri pioneered a coordinated response that has become a lifeline for survivors that has been adopted in other parts of the country.

That lifeline remains vital today. Unfortunately, critical funding for services for survivors is headed in the wrong direction – down rather than up.

Organizations such as YWCA Metro St. Louis respond when calls are received from first responders, law enforcement, emergency room personnel and survivors themselves. The YWCA SART program, the only one in the St. Louis region, serves more than 1,000 survivors a year and has just been honored with a Purple Ribbon Award from Alliance for HOPE International.

Beginning in the emergency room or police station and often continuing for many months, YWCA provides services at no cost to survivors 24 hours a day, guiding them along a difficult and emotional journey in the wake of their trauma. SART members and volunteers are trained to compassionately walk alongside victims, delivering crisis support in the hours after an assault; individual and group therapy; medical and legal advocacy; housing; and other services.

These crucial services for survivors are funded in part by multiple federal and state programs. At the federal level, the Crime Victims Fund, established in 1984, is designed to provide funding (not taxpayer dollars but rather fees collected from convicted federal criminals who pay fines, assessments and penalties) for victims of all crimes. But the size of the Crime Victims Fund has declined significantly over the last several years.

To address this, the U.S. House passed the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025 with overwhelming bipartisan support in January, thanks to the leadership of Missouri Rep. Ann Wagner, the bill’s lead sponsor. The act will help put this important funding source for survivors on better footing, but it seems to have stalled in the U.S. Senate. We urge Missouri’s U.S. senators to push the bill forward.

At the Capitol in Jefferson City, budget allocations for providers of services to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence are trending in the wrong direction. Although the budget bill continues to work its way through the Missouri legislature, it appears the funding could be less than in previous years. Fighting crime is absolutely vital to the strength of Missouri, but fighting crime also includes supporting the victims of crime.

That is why it is important to let your elected officials know they need to prioritize funding for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. A more stable and reliable funding landscape will enable service providers to continue to serve survivors.

When funding decreases, fewer service providers in Missouri will be available to help survivors like Mary, which negatively impacts the reporting of these crimes. This is truly devastating, especially in light of the early February closure of Preferred Family Healthcare’s St. Charles Domestic Violence Shelter.

Please remind our elected officials that if they care about crime, they also must care about crime victims. Missouri has a long and storied history of supporting sexual assault and domestic violence survivors. Now is not the time to abandon survivors like Mary.

Dr. Cheryl Watkins-Knott, president and CEO, YWCA Metro St. Louis, is a physician by training, champion for women, innovator, entrepreneur and strategic leader in the St. Louis region.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual assault or domestic violence, call YWCA’s 24/7 Crisis Help Line at 314.531.7273.