Social programs say funds reallocated from Austin Police couldn't have come at better time
AUSTIN, Texas — A part of Austin city council's $150 million slash to the Austin Police Department's budget includes reinvesting in social service programs.
"I think we've shown that we're shifting away from over policing our communities challenges, and instead funding community solutions," said Council member Greg Casar.
The reallocation of funds, includes domestic violence shelters, who say the assistance couldn't have come at a more needed time.
City council's re-imagining public safety' initiative, redirects more than $20 million previously dedicated to police cadet classes, and overtime to fund programs like family violence shelters.
Juliana Gonzalez is with Safe Alliance, a local non-profit serving survivors of domestic violence. "We're seeing escalated reports of domestic violence, more reports of family violence. We're seeing more dangerous stories, and there's less capacity for us to help people in this moment," she explained.
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Since April, she says her agency has seen an 25% increase in calls on their 24-hour domestic violence hotline, "With the pandemic, we're seeing an increased volume in calls. We're offering more services than usual, and we're doing so under very difficult circumstances."
City council says the "re-imagining'"process could take up to a year. It's still unclear, which agencies will receive the additional funding.
Gonzalez says any kind of investment into the work they do will help save more victims of abuse.
"When we're talking about re-imagining public safety, and we're talking about keeping people who live here safe, I can't think of a better way to do so than to provide community based resources to the families we serve," she said.
