Speaker Menin questions OCS on specific new resources for NGBV

Thank you so much, Chair Farias.

I want to thank you for holding this very, very important hearing and for all of the advocates and groups who are here today.

I know this is a very difficult topic, and so we really appreciate you being here.

So, I mean, I think my first question really has to do with the Office of Community Safety

having communicated that one reason for moving the mayor's office to end domestic and gender-based violence, or of course, NGBV, under OCS is that NGBV would have access to more resources,

be part of a coordinated citywide community safety strategy.

What specific additional resources will NGBV have access to under OCS that they didn't have before?

Absolutely.

One of the resources that I can point to, and thank you for that question, is that in this current fiscal year, we increased the budget for NGBV by $15.7 million, which is the largest increase that NGBV has received since 2018.

That's one significant type of resource that NGBV will have access to.

In addition, the creation of OCS more generally is a part of the administration's focus on ensuring that we are providing a comprehensive approach.

to public safety so that the people in places at the most risk for harm, the types of violence that are most intractable, have access to a coordinated approach.

We know, as I testified, that people who experience domestic and gender-based violence often live in neighborhoods with higher rates of gun violence.

We also understand the significant mental health and substance use relationship between the impacts of domestic violence on behavioral health needs and the relationship between mental health and substance use.

So combining OCS, combining NGBV into OCS allows NGBV and the other offices within OCS to work in a more coordinated way to build out a strategy that supports

all survivors even more effectively.