Save the Date: June 5 Is the National #DayOfAction for Federal Funding of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Services

Domestic violence and sexual assault programs across the country are facing potential funding cuts as well as challenges accessing funding they have already been awarded. Federal funding is essential to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and the programs that support them. These resources provide critical services that ensure safety, stability, and recovery for victims and their children. Any change or reduction to this funding would jeopardize these vital services, leaving survivors without the life-saving support they need to escape violence, recover, and heal.

On this national day of action, contact your members of Congress and urge them to protect existing victim services funding and to support increased funding for victim services across the country. 

Use this toolkit to learn more about this important topic, call your members of Congress, write your own emails, and develop your own social media posts. While every email helps, personalized content is more impactful!

How To Contact Your Members of Congress

Who is your Member of Congress? 

You can find your Senator at https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact and your Representative at https://ziplook.house.gov/htbin/findrep_house?ZIP=. 

Call their office 

To contact your Senators and Representative by phone, call the US Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to these offices, or find their phone numbers on their websites. 

Email their staff directly

If possible, we recommend this method of contacting your Member’s office, as it allows you to build a relationship with the staffer who is working on our issues for the Member of Congress and share your concerns directly with them. See here for a staff contact list. We suggest emailing their women’s issues staff, their judiciary staff, their legislative directors, and their appropriations staff.

Email through their website 

To contact your Senators and Representatives by email, go to their website and click on the ‘contact us’ link.

Call and Email Scripts

House and Senate Call Script:

I’m calling from [XXXX program in] XXX town/state to urge Rep./Sen.XXX to take immediate action to protect and support increased federal funding to serve victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. Federal grants from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) are essential to our program. 

Right now we’re facing major problems with proposed cuts, delays, grant terminations across the field, programmatic restructuring, loss of staff, delayed posting of NOFOs, and lack of communication that are causing serious uncertainty and alarm. We need reliable, stable, and timely federal funding to continue to provide safety, support and services to people experiencing violence. Please ask Rep./Sen. XXX to commit to protecting this critical funding and investing in lifesaving resources.

House and Senate Email Script:

I am writing to urge Rep./Sen. XXX to help us maintain our FY25 federal funding and fight for increased FY26 federal funding so that we can maintain services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. [I work at XXX program in XXX town/state serving victims in (list of) counties. Our program provides an essential public safety response to violent crime in our community.] 

I’m writing to urge Rep./Sen. XXX to fight for funding to support grant programs from the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women and Office for Victims of Crime and the HHS Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services and the CDC Division of Violence Prevention which are essential for our program to serve victims. Proposed cuts, recent grant terminations, delays, programmatic restructuring, loss of staff, delayed postings of NOFOs, and lack of communication are causing grave insecurity and alarm. If our program [loses funding/has to reduce services/is terminated], we could have to lay off staff and turn victims and survivors away from services they desperately need.

To combat domestic violence and sexual assault effectively and directly serve victims, we need our grants to be reliable, stable, and timely. Please ask Rep./Sen. XXX to protect these grants, push for immediate restoration of rescinded funds, and ensure robust investments in FY26. Victims and survivors, their families, and their communities depend on it.

View the full June 5th Day of Action Toolkit for social media posts, sample scripts, and talking points.

Together, we have the power to demand change. Join us on June 5 to make your voice heard and stand up for the survivors who rely on these critical services. Your action matters—let’s make it count.