Philadelphia’s sole rape crisis center is laying off staff and pausing services “due in large part to the ongoing state budget impasse,” leaders said.
WOAR Philadelphia Center Against Sexual Violence did not specify how many employees would be affected, but said the staff reduction would effectively freeze the nonprofit’s 24-hour hotline, therapy and counseling, court and medical accompaniment and prevention education services. The group called on state lawmakers to deliver “a swift resolution to the budget crisis that jeopardizes care and safety” in a statement released Monday.
“Survivors and staff alike now bear the burden of political inaction,” Joanne R. Strauss, the president of WOAR’s board of directors, said in the release. “Every day without services is a day that survivors are left unsupported and staff are left searching for certainty about their futures…