FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         VAW
THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 1995                             (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
                                                     Gregory King
                                                  

          WASHINGTON RECEIVES $426,000 IN INITIAL GRANT
                    TO FIGHT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

                                 
     WASHINGTON, D.C.  --  Washington will receive its first
grant awarded by the Clinton Administration under the Violence
Against Women Act, Attorney General Janet Reno announced today. 
The grant, totaling $426,000, will help communities fund women's
shelters and crisis centers, hire prosecutors and pay for rape
crisis therapists, victims' advocates and domestic violence hot-lines.
     The Violence Against Women Program funds were authorized for
Fiscal Year 1995 under the Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act of 1994, signed by President Clinton last year. 
Over the next five years, $800 million will be available
nationwide to restructure the criminal justice system's response
to all types of violence against women.  Washington is the fifth
state to receive an initial grant.  Previous announcements were
made in Rhode Island, Vermont, Montana and California.
     "These funds can make an important contribution to on-going
efforts to fight crime in Washington," said Bonnie Campbell,
Director 
of the Department's Violence Against Women Office at a press
conference 
                              (MORE)
attended by Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, and Joe Brann, Director of
the Justice Department's Community Oriented Policing Services
(COPS) program.  
     Campbell, former Iowa Attorney General and author of one of
the nation's first anti-stalking laws, was selected by President
Clinton to spearhead the Administration's efforts to fight
violence against women.  She oversees efforts to combine tough
new federal criminal laws with assistance to states and
localities.  Campbell is travelling to Seattle with COPS Director
Joe Brann to review its community policing programs and efforts
to combat violence against women.  "In order to reduce domestic
violence, we must all work together -- as police, as prosecutor,
as advocates, as professionals and as communities," Campbell
noted.
      Violence Against Women grants may be used to train law
enforcement officers, expand the number of personnel in law
enforcement and prosecution agencies, develop more effective
policies, protocols, orders and services to prevent violent crime
against women and apply advanced technology to improve tracking
and data collection systems.  "At least 25 percent of these funds
must be dedicated to enhance direct services for victims," said
Campbell.
      For this fiscal year, each state will be eligible to
receive the same level of funding.  In future years, formula
grants to states will be allocated according to population, with
each state guaranteed a base amount.  Additionally, four percent
of each year's appropriation will be available to Indian tribal
governments through a discretionary grant program, Campbell
noted.  

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