{"id":244005,"date":"2026-07-15T14:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T14:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/244005\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T14:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T14:36:07","slug":"pennsylvania-doubles-dollars-devoted-to-rape-crisis-centers-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/244005\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania doubles dollars devoted to rape crisis centers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Whitney Downard, Pennsylvania Capital-Star<\/a>
July 13, 2026<\/p>\n

While most of the reactions to Pennsylvania\u2019s new $50.8 billion budget from elected leaders focused on its imperfections due to the need to compromise, the mood of the commonwealth\u2019s 47 rape crisis centers is much more celebratory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just astounded in the best way. I cried when I realized this was happening,\u201d said Gabriella Romeo, the public policy director at the Pennsylvania Coalition to Advance Respect. \u201cWe\u2019re very grateful for the legislative champions that helped bring this to fruition through the negotiating process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funding will jump from $12.1 million in last year\u2019s spending plan to $24.1 million, bolstering many centers that were devastated by last year\u2019s 135-day budget impasse. Due to the delay, many organizations laid off their employees \u2014 some nearly three-quarters of their staff<\/a> \u2014 and staffing levels have struggled to recover<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s $12 million investment in Pennsylvania\u2019s rape crisis centers is a powerful commitment to survivors of sexual violence across the Commonwealth,\u201d said Sadie Sterner, the executive director of Pittsburgh Action Against Rape. \u201cToday is a victory for survivors, and we are proud to continue this work alongside leaders who understand that supporting survivors is not a partisan issue, it is a shared responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Gov. Josh Shapiro didn\u2019t name PAAR by name, he spoke about visiting an organization in Pittsburgh in his Sunday night budget speech. saying he heard firsthand \u201chow hard it is to provide essential services to support victims of rape and sexual assault on a really tight budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I called the leaders in Pittsburgh (Sunday) morning, I thanked them for the education they gave me and so many others, and the work they do,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

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Republicans also lauded the investment, including Sen. Lisa Baker, of Luzerne County, who included funding for rape crisis centers as a highlight of the budget compromise.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs chair of the Judiciary Committee, I know the lifesaving work these centers offer survivors, and the importance of increased funding so they can continue to support individuals during horrific times,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

Last year, rape crisis centers got a $250,000 boost to funding that put them over $12 million after five years at $11.9 million.<\/p>\n

Where the funds will go<\/p>\n

At a June rally where organizations pushed for funding, center CEOs reported that a $12.5 million infusion would increase advocate salaries from $16 an hour to $21.50. Such an increase would help with recruiting and retaining staff, many of whom have a master\u2019s degree, said Romeo.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany, if not all, of these programs were understaffed because they simply didn\u2019t have the funds to be fully staffed,\u201d added Romeo. \u201cThey had to make tough choices when it came to being able to provide an equitable or living wage for the staff they had on hand, and still continue to provide services.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 47 centers vary in their programming, but offer services in all 67 counties, including 24\/7 hotlines, counseling and therapy, and someone to support a survivor during a forensic examination or in the courtroom \u2014 usually at no cost.<\/p>\n

Gov. Shapiro signs $50.8 billion compromise budget, despite some opposition in both parties<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThese types of jobs are very demanding. They\u2019re often experiencing secondary trauma and they deserve adequate wages,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen we have fully staffed programs, that\u2019s going to strengthen the response to survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some organizations may be able to expand prevention education services, which are often the first service to be cut, according to Romeo.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an historic investment, which will give us the opportunity to rebuild and restabilize these services, but we also recognize that we have to continue to protect this investment,\u201d continued Romeo.<\/p>\n

In the commonwealth, emergency rooms might have on-call advocates and law enforcement must direct people to their local rape crisis centers. University campuses must also have advocates and prevention education reviewed by local organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of our ultimate mission is to eliminate and prevent sexual abuse, assault and harassment. But we can\u2019t work toward that mission if we don\u2019t have uncomfortable conversations,\u201d said Romeo. \u201cWhy this funding is important, why these services are important and what other pieces of policy work do we need \u2026 to create safer communities across our state and work toward eliminating gender-based violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading Whitney\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

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Pennsylvania Capital-Star<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Whitney Downard, Pennsylvania Capital-StarJuly 13, 2026 While most of the reactions to Pennsylvania\u2019s new $50.8 billion budget…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-244005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}