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1988 NOVA Newsl. 1 (1988)

handle is hein.journals/novan1988 and id is 1 raw text is: NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR VICTIM ASSISTANCE sm Newslett Volume 12, Number 1, January, Prevailing With Spirit: A Report on the Work of the Washington Headquarters' Staff by Marlene A. Young, NOVA Executive Director At the request of many members, the NOVA Newsletter will from time to time give a full report on the activities of the NOVA staff at the national headquarters. This issue of the Newsletter offers the first such report. At its January, 1988, meeting, the NOVA Board of Directors voted to adopt The Courage to Prevail as the 1988 Campaign for Victim Rights theme. It asks us to focus on the anguish of victimi- zation and to salute the victims and their loved ones who have survived that expe- rience. But the theme also reflects the struggle to survive that NOVA itself faces each year. This year more than any other in the recent past, NOVA is battling forfinancial survival. The Justice Assistance Act from which much of NOVA's funding has come was refunded by Congress but with none of its block grant program and only part of its discretionary grant program in place. At present, it appears that NOVA will receive a new training grant under the Victims of Crime Act but its much larger support from JAA funds may be cut sub- stantially. As a result, NOVA has had to cut ten paid staff positions since last Au- gust, leaving us with a full-time paid staff of only twelve individuals. (Fortunately, some of our management staff have con- tinued to work as volunteers in hopes that the situation will improve.) Ironically, the struggle comes at a time whenNOVA is delivering more serv- ices than ever before to its membership and to victims of crime and crises. From time to time, it is appropriate to inform NOVA's members just who and what their organization is. This is a good occasion to review our past, present, and future together. NOVA was founded in 1975. For its first five years, it functioned entirely with the aid of volunteer board members and staff, and it was financed almost entirely from individual dues and donations. In 1980, NOVA received its first grant from the U.S. Department of Justice and was able to hire its first paid staff; a few may remember our first Acting Executive Director, Steven Potter, and his Assistant, Cindy Plaisted. Since then, NOVA has gone through the strains of any fledgling organization trying to establish a national presence, a national headquarters, and a permanent funding base. Through it all, NOVA has adhered to its overall mission in all of its products and services to the victims' movement in the United States and throughout the world. That mission is to establish rights and services for victims of crime and crisis in every community they are found, a mis- sion it has been translated into four formal purposes. National Advocacy I am in earnest-I shall not excuse - I shall not equivocate - I shall not retreat a single inch; and I shall be heard! - William Lloyd Garrison. NOVA's first and formost purpose is to serve as anational advocate for victims. This advocacy is reflected in two ways. NOVA seeks to provide a voice for victims in local, state, and the federal governments. The effectiveness of that voice can be seen in the fact that over 1,500 pieces of state legislation relating to victim rights and services have been en- President Reagan greets Marlene Young at 1987 White House Proclamation Ceremony acted in the United States since 1980, much of it passed at the urging of NOVA members equipped with policy research developed by NOVA. It can be seen in the federal Victim and Witness Protection Act of 1982 which mirrored NOVA's general bill of rights written in 1980. It can be seen in the initial enactment of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, and its voice continues to be heard at the reauthorization hearings this year. It canbeseenin the 1985 U.N. International Declaration on Rights of Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power. It also can be seen in the state legislative tracking system that NOVA maintains as a service to the field (Continued next page) In This Issue: *New Lobbying Rules .............3 * European Insights .................4 Membership Drives .......7 The NOVA Newsletter is published as a service to the NOVA membership and to the general public. Views expressed here are those oftheir authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Board ofDirectors ofNOVA. O 1988 by the National Organization for Victim Assistance. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce copyrighted materials in the Newsletter provided the source and copyright are appropriately noted in the reproduction. er 1988

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