Ohio Domestic Violence Network

🚨Domestic violence shelters, r**e crisis centers, and other programs have been experiencing federal funding delays. Additional delays will force programs to lay off staff, reduce services, and close their doors, leaving survivors with nowhere to go.

Congress has already appropriated these funds for this year. The DOJ and HHS need to release them now.

Next week, ODVN will be on Capitol Hill alongside our local and national partners to deliver that message directly. But we need your voice too! Please take action and contact your member of Congress to urge the DOJ and HHS to immediately publish the delayed funding for 2026. Survivors can’t wait.

🔗Click this link to send a message directly to your Member of Congress: https://nnedv.quorum.us/campaign/162461/

ODVN was excited to present at the 34th Two Days in May Conference on Victim Assistance last week, hosted by the Ohio Attorney General's office. We presented breakout sessions on legal and legislative updates, ethics in victim advocacy, Ohio's protection order system, and centering survivor experiences in brain injury from violence.

On Day 2, we took the main stage for a plenary session on ORC 2903.216, Ohio's new law making it illegal to track someone without their consent. Kar'mell, a survivor whose advocacy helped bring this law to life, shared her story alongside a law enforcement officer and ODVN. We have had the privilege of working alongside Kar'mell for years and seeing her on that main stage was something special.

We also distributed over 16,000 copies of our rack card on ORC 2903.216 so advocates, law enforcement, courts, and others can take it back to their agencies and use it with victims of tech-facilitated stalking.
➡️ Download the rack card: https://tr.ee/techstalking
➡️Want physical copies mailed to your agency? We'll be adding them to our order page soon: https://www.odvn.org/order-print-materials/

ODVN offices will be closed on Monday, May 25 in observance of Memorial Day. We will resume normal business hours on Tuesday, May 26.
➡️ If you or someone you know needs help, click this link to find a local domestic violence program near you: https://www.odvn.org/find-help/
➡️ For 24/7 support, please chat, text, or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline through this link: https://www.thehotline.org/

May is both Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month. We celebrate the histories, cultures, and resilience of these communities. ODVN's coalition includes culturally specific programs serving both AAPI and Jewish communities, because meaningful support must reflect the communities it serves. This month and every month, we're committed to services that honor who survivors are.

If you or someone you know needs help, including from a culturally specific program, click this link to find a local domestic violence program: https://www.odvn.org/find-help/

This afternoon, ODVN’s Senior Director of Policy and Prevention, Lisa DeGeeter, testified in the Ohio House Judiciary Committee in support of S.B. 174, a major family law reform bill that keeps courts focused on the best interests of children and improves the safety of survivors in family court cases.

➡️ Click here to read our testimony: https://tr.ee/sb174testimony

📢 Exciting news! H.B. 566, the Break the Silence Act, had its first hearing this morning in the Ohio House Health Committee.

This survivor-led legislation would require Ohio’s emergency rooms and urgent care facilities to follow consistent privacy and safety practices when responding to domestic violence. Because right now there are no statewide standards, survivors can be questioned about their injuries without privacy, sometimes with their abuser still present.

Thank you to bill sponsors, Rep. Dontavius Jarrells and Rep. Josh Williams, for bringing this bill forward and testifying today.

➡️ Watch the hearing at this link: https://tr.ee/hb566sponsortestimony

Artemis Center’s ED Jane Keiffer today won the Special Courage Award at the Two Days in May conference in Columbus. Jane and Artemis Center were recognized for agreeing to provide sexual assault services in Montgomery County.

As comes to a close, we're grateful for every officer who responds to some of the hardest calls and every advocate working alongside them to keep survivors safe.

That collaboration between law enforcement and advocates continues next week at the Ohio Attorney General’s Two Days in May Conference on Victim Assistance, where Sgt. Roberta Bailey of the Dayton Police Department, ODVN Policy Director Maria York, and survivor and advocate Kar’mell Triplett take the main stage for "Tracked: Responding to Technology-Facilitated Stalking" — a session about equipping officers and advocates with the tools to respond when a survivor might suspect they are being stalked. For those attending this conference, we will see you then!

➡️ This new anti-stalking law and others are also included in the newly released Law Enforcement Handbook for Working with Victims of Domestic Violence! Check it out here:https://www.odvn.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/LawEnforcementBestPractices.pdf

When law enforcement and domestic violence programs work together, survivors can be safer and lives can be saved. That's why this National Police Week, ODVN and the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services are releasing The Law Enforcement Handbook for Working with Victims of Domestic Violence — a free, field-ready resource built to strengthen how officers respond to domestic violence across Ohio.

➡️ Check it out here:https://www.odvn.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/LawEnforcementBestPractices.pdf

Each year, intimate partner violence costs Ohio more than $1.2 billion in healthcare, policing, lost lives, lost productivity, and mental health care. And behind every one of those dollars is a person, a real family, and real community members that are impacted by the violence.

Law enforcement officers can be very first system to make contact with victims, and are sometimes the only ones who do. That means the way officers respond in those first moments can change everything.

That’s why, during National Police Week this week, ODVN is highlighting the newly released “Law Enforcement Handbook for Working with Victims of Domestic Violence,” developed in partnership with the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services.

➡️ Check it out here:https://www.odvn.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/LawEnforcementBestPractices.pdf