South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has announced that more than $26 million in federal and state grants will be distributed to organizations supporting crime victims throughout the state. The South Carolina Public Safety Coordinating Council approved the funding earlier this year, with projects set to begin on October 1, 2025.
The Department of Crime Victim Assistance Grants, operating within the Attorney General’s Office, manages four types of grants: Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grants, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grants, State Victim Assistance Program (SVAP) grants, and Supplemental Allocation for Victims Services (SAVS) grants.
“These state and local agencies and non-profit groups do so much to help people who are going through traumatic circumstances. With these funds, we are able to support agencies throughout the state as they assist victims of violent crime in their recovery,” said Attorney General Wilson.
Recipients include private non-profit organizations, sheriff’s offices, police departments, solicitor’s offices, and state agencies. The City of Anderson Police Department will receive $93,520 in VOCA and VAWA awards for domestic violence investigations and victim advocacy. McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence is allocated $251,907 from VOCA and VAWA funds to provide forensic interviews and medical care for sexual assault victims across 12 counties in the Pee Dee and Coastal regions. HALOS, a Charleston-based nonprofit supporting kinship care families across 10 Lowcountry and Midlands counties, is awarded $114,177 through VOCA.
Barbara Jean “BJ” Nelson, Director of the Crime Victim Services Division at the Attorney General’s Office said: “The grant staff of the Crime Victim Services Division in the Attorney General’s Office is honored to work with the hundreds of caring, dedicated professionals who help victims of crime every day in South Carolina. Our goal is to have the most effective and the most compassionate victim service system across the United States.”
Roughly 88 percent of these funds come from federal sources while state money makes up the rest. Both VAWA and VOCA are administered by the US Department of Justice; VAWA is funded by Congressional appropriations while VOCA relies on non-taxpayer money from federal fines and penalties collected into the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
A complete list of award recipients can be found here.
