Kansas City receives $1 million grant to help curb domestic violence via new programs
Kansas City’s municipal court has secured a $1 million grant to be put toward efforts to curb domestic violence across the metro.
The city’s domestic violence court on Thursday announced the grant will support the launch of two early intervention programs in an attempt to “break the cycle of violence for first-time offenders and in cases involving young adults,” according to a news release from Benita Jones, a spokeswoman for the municipal court.
The programs — the first of their kind in the Kansas City area — encompass a domestic violence awareness class and a relationship and sexual violence prevention docket, Jones said.
The class, modeled after a program in Atlanta, will be required for people facing a domestic violence charge for the first time and will be mandatory as a condition of their bond, according to the release.
The class in Atlanta, which was for male first-time offenders, showed a lower rate of recidivism for those who took the classes compared to those who did not, Municipal Domestic Violence Court Judge Courtney Wachal told The Star.
The Kansas City court is also working with an agency in New York to develop coursework for first-time female offenders, particularly those who were previously victims of domestic violence.
The second program, modeled off a juvenile offender program in New York, is focused on young adults and caters to both offenders and victims in domestic violence cases. Wachal said the curriculum will be focused less around age and more the development of young adults’ brains.
“These programs have been identified by those working in the domestic violence court as being necessary to address the unique needs and characteristics of first time offenders and young adult offenders and victims,” Wachal said in the release.
The three-year grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, will work in partnership with programs at the University of Missouri focused on data collection, she said. The first year will be focused on implementing the programming.
At the end of the three years, Wachal said they will reapply for funding. If that does not work, they plan to go to the city or seek other funding sources.
Kansas City’s domestic violence court handles the largest number of domestic violence cases of all Missouri’s courts, according to the city.
Previously, in 2015, the court started a “Domestic Violence Compliance docket” for those classified as the most serious offenders, according to the release.
Because of the docket’s success, Kansas City’s domestic violence court was designated a mentor court by the Department of Justice in 2017.
“The Kansas City court was the first municipal court in the nation to receive the mentor court designation and has been hailed a model for courts around the country looking to improve their domestic violence programs,” the release read.
