A legal aid group turns away 60% of survivors, and a rape crisis center gets no City money, they told the domestic violence hearing

The community groups that testified at Thursday's domestic violence hearing described services shrinking while demand grows. The Police Department defended its own victim services office (our story); the groups argued the money would go further with them.

Why it matters: the Council is weeks from voting on a 2027 budget with an $882 million gap. The hearing put on the record what these groups say they need, and at least one alderperson said where she'd find it.

What the groups said

From the hearing's transcript (meeting page):

• Life Span, a legal aid and counseling agency for survivors, still has to "turn away 60% of the people who are accessing our services," its executive director said, while serving more than 1,300 people last year (watch).
• The same agency's federal Office on Violence Against Women legal aid grant, $250,000 a year for more than 20 years, which pays for three attorneys and a paralegal, ended Sept. 30. The federal government hasn't issued awards for the next round, she said (watch).
• Resilience, a rape crisis center, said hospital-based sexual assault crisis services in Chicago are down 25% since 2021, and that only 17 of the 26 hospitals with around-the-clock emergency rooms now partner with a rape crisis center (watch).
• Resilience gets no City money, its CEO confirmed (watch). Its state money comes from a $25 million line split among 31 centers statewide; its share this year is about $1.6 million to $1.7 million, she said (watch).
• The founder of a smaller group, Beautifully Scarred, said it often runs on her own money, Block Club Chicago reported.

What alderpersons said

Jeanette Taylor (20th) asked how many cases each police specialist carries and whether the office is "a smart investment" compared with "people who've been doing it for decades" (watch). She said she isn't arguing to defund anything: "I'm here to preach a fund campaign." If the Office of Victim Services grew by $1.4 million, she said, "equitably, that should be allocated to rape crisis services" (watch).

She also said housing is survivors' first need, describing a constituent who called her office wanting to leave an abuser and stayed because there was nowhere to go (watch).

Nicole Lee (11th), who called the hearing, closed by resisting what she called "binary conversations": the hearing was "not about an exercise of picking one group's pockets to go to the other," and the goal is "sustained funding" (watch).

Where the City's money stands

• The police office: $4 million in 2026, about $2.5 million for domestic violence, the department said Thursday. We have not found its 2027 line in the budget documents we've read.
• Community providers: the Department of Family and Support Services, which funds community domestic violence and gender-based violence groups, told the Budget Committee on Nov. 6 that those providers would be funded at least at 2026 levels (watch). Lee said Thursday the department had committed to replacing $400,000 in expiring federal pandemic money for these programs (watch).
• Rape crisis centers: nothing we've found in the 2027 proposal adds City money for them.

What our records add

Lee's resolution is the only item on this subject in front of the Police and Fire Committee, and a hearing on it can't move money (R2026-0026326). Any shift has to happen in the budget itself: the Council's public hearing is Dec. 8, and the 28 alderpersons who rejected the Mayor's plan have said they won't vote for "new spending" (our story). Shifting money within existing budgets wouldn't add spending; adding money for rape crisis centers without a cut elsewhere would.

What's next

Committee members asked the groups to send their funding letter to all 50 alderpersons. We'll report whether any budget amendment follows.