SACRAMENTO, California — “Before I say anything, I want everyone here to take a moment and think about someone finally reaching out for help and there’s no one here to answer,” Jazz LedBetter said to a crowd of over 250 survivors of abuse and advocates against domestic violence and sexual assault.
LedBetter was speaking on the lawn of the state Capitol as part of an effort to press California lawmakers to include $100 million in the state budget that would cover a gap in money for domestic violence and sexual assault services caused by a drop in federal funds. The push comes as the Trump administration has prematurely terminated grants to domestic violence organizations, delayed payouts of over $200 million from the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women and tried to block assistance to trans and immigrant survivors.
LedBetter is a survivor of sex trafficking and spoke about how Woman Haven, a domestic violence services organization just north of the California-Mexico border, helped her heal.
“I didn’t have stability, I didn’t have answers, and I didn’t have a clue what the future held, but I had access to something that changed everything: I had access to a shelter, not just a place to stay, but a safe place to breathe, to think, to begin again,” she said.
Over 4,800 Californians were assisted by domestic violence services over a single day in 2025, according to data from the National Network to End Domestic Violence. But 605 requests for help went unanswered due to limited resources.
The crowd assembled before LedBetter called on Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to step up to support survivors where the federal government has let them down. They emphasized that they weren’t seeking additional funding but rather coverage for a drop in federal dollars from the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA). The Crime Victims Fund created by VOCA pulls from white-collar crime settlements instead of taxpayer dollars, but those prosecutions have been declining for a decade, leading the fund to decrease.
Sandra Henriquez, the CEO of ValorUS, California’s sexual assault coalition and co-organizer of Tuesday’s rally, said 50 state legislators had put out statements in recent weeks condemning specific, high-profile incidents of intimate partner violence.
“We are demanding that state legislators and leaders put their money where their mouth is and fund survivor services,” Henriquez told the crowd.
The state Senate’s version of the budget includes the requested $100 million due to efforts by Democratic Sen. Susan Rubio, herself a survivor of domestic violence. The Legislative Women’s Caucus has indicated its support for the measure, and Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, a Democrat, is pushing for its inclusion in her chamber, as well.
“As we advocate today, carry this with you: we will not allow California leadership to balance the budget on the backs of survivors,” Henriquez said.
California is one of the few states that has allocated VOCA stopgaps in the annual budget. But advocates are seeking a more permanent commitment.
The need hasn’t gone away, said Krista Colón, the executive director of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, which also organized the rally. She said the most recent annual data shows domestic violence hotlines in the state answered 149,000 calls for help.
Other sources of federal funding have also dried up this year. The Trump administration has attempted to ban grants from the Office on Violence Against Women from being used to promote ill-defined “gender ideology” and “illegal DEI” and prioritized funding for municipalities that cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
Culturally specific service providers, which have dedicated funding streams through the most recent reauthorization of the federal Violence Against Women Act, are being hit hard.
Patima Komolamit, the executive director of the Center for the Pacific Asian Family, said there is a misunderstanding of culturally specific organizations. Her nonprofit is focused on serving the 1.6 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across Los Angeles County, but her team helps anyone in need who approaches them.
She said the organization lost hundreds of thousands of dollars when the Department of Health and Human Services abruptly terminated a multiyear grant. Komolamit said she is waiting to hear back on multiple funding applications from the Office on Violence Against Women that should have been issued in October.
Without the stopgap measure, the YWCA Golden Gate Silicon Valley could lose $1.9 million that goes toward programs like housing domestic violence survivors and providing in-person support at hospitals when a rape survivor is being treated, said Adriana Caldera, the organization’s CEO.
“$100 million is not just a number. It is safety, it is healing, and for some, it is the difference between life and death,” said Tim Ruise, the community outreach coordinator at Strong Hearted Native Women’s Coalition. He highlighted May 5 as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.
“Do not leave our community behind,” he said. “We are still here. We are still fighting, and we are not going anywhere.”
Domestic violence services remain operational throughout the country. Confidential, anonymous help is available 24/7 through the National Domestic Violence Hotline at (1-800-799-7233) or online.