ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland will put nearly $60 million into programs for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and other crimes this fiscal year, Gov. Wes Moore announced Friday. The total meets, but does not exceed, the funding level state law has required since 2023, and providers asked for far more than the state awarded.
The Fiscal Year 2027 money, announced Oct. 9, is administered by the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, or GOCPP. It pays for crisis intervention, counseling, legal advocacy, emergency shelter, court accompaniment and other direct help for survivors. Six organizations are receiving awards for the first time this year, according to the governor’s office, which did not name them.
Demand outstripped the money. GOCPP received more than $81 million in requests from 144 organizations, and Executive Director Dorothy Lennig said providers sought more than $20 million beyond what was available, forcing what she described as difficult funding decisions.
“The safety of all Marylanders is my number one priority,” Moore said in the release, tying the funding to the state’s drop in violent crime. Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller said every survivor should know they are not alone.
Why the number is $60 million
The figure is not arbitrary. For years, Maryland’s victim programs depended heavily on the federal Victims of Crime Act, or VOCA, fund, which is fed by fines and penalties from federal criminal cases. As those deposits fell, providers faced deep cuts. In 2023 the General Assembly passed the Victim Services Stabilization Act, which requires the state to make up the difference so that victim service programs receive a combined $60 million a year from federal and state sources.
That means Friday’s announcement keeps the statutory floor in place rather than adding new money above it. With requests topping $81 million, roughly a quarter of what providers asked for went unfunded. The governor’s office did not say how this year’s total splits between federal VOCA dollars and state general funds.
Who relies on it in Southern Maryland
The release named no Southern Maryland recipients and gave no county breakdown. But GOCPP’s interactive grant map, which lists awards active as of Feb. 1, 2026, shows which local organizations carry the region’s victim services and how much they currently receive through the state’s Victims of Crime Act program:
- St. Mary’s County: Southern Maryland Center for Family Advocacy, $726,265; the State’s Attorney’s Office, $427,987; and the Department of Social Services, $113,464. The Center for Family Advocacy also holds separate rape crisis ($138,976), domestic violence prevention ($116,099) and family violence ($129,459) grants.
- Charles County: Center for Abused Persons, $422,599, and UM Charles Regional Medical Center’s forensic nurse examiner program, $97,905. The Center for Children holds a separate $615,863 federal VOCA award for child abuse and homicide victims, and the Center for Abused Persons has a $158,143 rape crisis grant.
- Calvert County: Calvert Safe Housing Network, $215,572; the Calvert County Health Department, $75,575; and CalvertHealth Medical Center, $47,736. The Health Department also holds rape crisis ($132,026) and domestic violence prevention ($116,098) grants.
Together, the eight state VOCA program awards in the three counties total about $2.1 million. Those are current-year figures; GOCPP has not yet posted FY27 awards by county, so it isn’t yet clear whether any Southern Maryland provider’s funding will rise or fall.
Local demand is not shrinking. In St. Mary’s, Sheriff’s Office data released this week show domestic violence rising even as other crime falls, a trend officials highlighted at the start of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The state’s other recent grant rounds have also reached the region, including a gun violence prevention award to the St. Mary’s County Health Department in September.
Survivors in Charles County can reach the Center for Abused Persons’ 24-hour crisis line at 301-645-3336. GOCPP’s grant map lists contact information for every funded program in Calvert and St. Mary’s counties as well.
