Lumina Alliance helps survivors of sexual, partner violence. That’s in danger, CEO says
As the federal funding freeze continues, one San Luis Obispo County nonprofit is feeling the effects.
Lumina Alliance, a local nonprofit that supports survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence, receives almost half its funding from federal funds. Now, it is asking the community to help it cover the gap the government created to stay afloat.
“It’s so much more than a donation,” CEO Jennifer Adams told The Tribune on Monday. “It’s a lifeline to these victims.”
Lumina Alliance provides vital services including emergency shelters, transitional housing, a 24-hour crisis line, therapy, mental health and medical support, advocacy and prevention programs. It serves more than 2,000 victims a year, as well as 1,000 more people who used services via its prevention program.
Of Lumina’s approximately $5 million budget, 47% comes from federal funds, Adams said.
“Losing almost half of our funding would decimate our services,” she said.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, Adams said the nonprofit’s federal grants have been floundering, if it has received any communication from the distributing agencies on the dollars at all.
Bracing for the worst case scenario, Lumina launched its Light the Way fundraising campaign to raise $5 million over three years — which would bring in around a third of their budget each year, less than the amount they would usually get from the now-threatened federal dollars, she said.
“The goal is to keep our doors open, to keep all of our services running, so that when victims of domestic violence and sexual assault need us, that we are there,” Adams said. “It is a ambitious goal, but it is what is needed to keep to keep our doors open.”
Adams said the nonprofit is already looking at other ways to “tighten the belt even more,” including downsizing its Grover Beach office and sharing the space with another nonprofit.
“These are real people,” Adams said, choking on her words through her own tears. “These are real people who are hurting and scared and have been traumatized, and they finally are reaching out for help, and for us to not be there to provide them means people could die.”
Federal funding streams to local nonprofit stopped
Lumina receives federal dollars from a variety of agencies both directly — such as the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice — and indirectly — like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Housing and Urban Development — as grants distributed through local and state governments.
Lumina has two multi-year contracts with the CDC totaling $290,000 to fund its domestic violence prevention and education program for the upcoming year, Adams told The Tribune in February.
In the past few months, the money was stopped, restarted, then paused again, Adams told The Tribune on Monday. Now, the last round of federal firings have left Lumina completely in the dark.
Last week, 10,000 employees were fired from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department — the umbrella agency to the CDC — effectively wiping out the agency’s Violence and Injury Prevention division, Adams said.
“Those were our main contacts for all of our prevention funding,” Adams said. “It’s kind of like just waiting for the next shoe to drop as they go through this process. It’s like, okay, what department is next?”
Lumina was also recently in the process of reapplying for a transitional housing grant for $550,000 through the Office on Violence Against Women, a branch of the Justice Department, when the application was suddenly taken offline, Adams previously told The Tribune in February.
Lumina has relied on the grant for the past decade to support 16 transitional housing units in the county. Come October, its current contract will expire. The grant application has still not been put back online, Adams told The Tribune on Monday.
“With all the the staffing cuts, it impacts how these grants are rolled out, whether there’s people to review them,” Adams said. “The whole system just gets interrupted, which means our funding gets interrupted, which means our programs are going to be impacted, and which means victims will not be able to get what they need in the moment.”
“It makes me sick to my stomach,” she said.
Light the Way: How you can help the Lumina Alliance stay alive
With nearly half of its funding threatened, Lumina is asking its community for help.
The Light the Way lifeline campaign aims to raise $5 million over three years to ensure Lumina can continue to provide critical services to survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence in San Luis Obispo County.
“Sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence — these issues live on in people’s families, and so they have generational impacts,” Adams said. “What Lumina Alliance does in stepping in and empowering victims and helping them to heal is also helping the next generation to not have to suffer from the impacts of these traumatic events.”
To donate directly, visit Lumina’s website at luminaalliance.org, and click the “donate” button.
Lumina’s website also shares other ways to help by getting involved as a volunteer on the crisis line or at an event and alternative ways to give through stocks or planned giving.
Anyone with questions is encouraged to email development@luminaalliance.org for more information.
If you or someone you know are a survivor of domestic violence, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233. The hotline offers a range of free services including confidential support from a trained staff member, help finding a local health facility, legal and medical advice and referrals for long-term support.
Survivor support and resources are also available through Lumina Alliance at luminaalliance.org or its Crisis and Information Line at 805-545-8888.
