Huntsville, Ala. - U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer (D-Ala.) presented a $250,000 check to Crisis Services of North Alabama today from the Department of Justice's Violence Against Women program. The federal funding will allow Crisis Services to hire two new attorneys for its Legal Assistance Program to provide legal representation and advice to victims of domestic violence.

"I am pleased to be able to present this check to Crisis Services today," said Cramer. "In many domestic violence cases, victims who don't qualify for legal aid or who cannot afford an attorney to represent them must wait 8 months or more for legal assistance services. For these victims, many of whom are in serious danger, this is unacceptable. With this funding, Crisis Services will expand its legal assistance to these victims."

Cramer serves on the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the Department of Justice and was able to help Crisis Services of North Alabama obtain this grant. Crisis Services will use this $250,000 to provide civil legal assistance to five counties in North Alabama: Jackson, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, and Morgan Counties, which have a combined population of 589,597 people.

"This grant is critical to our community and critical to domestic violence victims," commented Kathy Wells, Executive Director of Crisis Services of North Alabama. "It literally helps us to save lives. Victims often have no access to financial and other resources, and without adequate legal representation, it puts them in danger -- physically and financially. Unfortunately, we lost the funding we had for the attorney on staff at our Legal Assistance Program. This program provided legal representation and advice for over 1,000 victims of domestic violence in the year 2000. After losing the attorney, we weren't able to continue those services and the pro bono attorneys in our community can only do so much. So, this grant will allow us to hire 2 attorneys and we'll be able to expand our program providing legal services to victims of abuse. Good legal representation is crucial to protecting victims and saving lives and that's what it is all about."

The Department of Justice funding will allow Crisis Services of North Alabama to expand its Legal Assistance Program to include services to sexual assault and stalking victims as well as to provide free legal representation to domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking victims in legal proceedings including protection order hearings and other matters arising as a result of violence.

Cramer added, "I commend Crisis Services for their work to ensure that domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking victims receive the highest quality legal representation available. By increasing the agency's role in the community, women across North Alabama know they've got a place to turn for help during times of crisis."