OKEECHOBEE — Our Village Okeechobee has received funding from the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators (NAVAA) through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), within the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, to promote community awareness of crime victims’ rights and services during the 2024 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.

The Project is part of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, an annual observance that takes place April 21-27, 2024. The awarded funding will be used to bring awareness to our community about the socio-emotional, socioeconomic, and trauma that crime victims face. This Community Awareness Project will be held in Okeechobee, with our final event to be held at the KOA Convention Center on April 27, which is at the end of Child Abuse Prevention Month and the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Month. The dinner this year is titled “I AM Our Village”. The theme for 2024 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is “How Would You Help? Options, services, and hope for crime survivors”. We will be discussing the role that all community members must play in creating a trauma informed restorative community. Our Village will be hosting several important community conversations in the coming months to highlight how YOU can and must make a difference in the lives of generations to come. All of us deserve a community which takes care of our own, in good times and in bad.

“The support from NAVAA and OVC for our 2024 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities will help us help crime victims,” said Leah Suarez, CEO of Our Village Okeechobee. “Members of our community are encouraged to help promote justice through service to crime victims by joining our 2024 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities and supporting victim assistance programs on a daily basis.”

First designated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, National Crime Victims’ Rights Week increases public awareness of, and knowledge about the wide range of rights and services available to people who have been victimized by crime.

Since 2004, the NCVRW Community Awareness Project has provided financial and technical assistance to more than 1500 community projects that promote victim and public awareness activities, and innovative approaches to victim outreach and public education about victims’ rights and services during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. Our Village’s program was one of the 105 recommended by NAVAA and selected for funding by OVC for 2024 from the 223 applications that were submitted nationwide.

For additional information about 2024 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities or about victims’ rights and services in Okeechobee, please contact Leah Suarez, CEO at 863-447-0473. For information about national efforts to promote 2024 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, please visit the Office for Victims of Crime website at www.ovc.gov.

The National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators is a non-profit organization that represents the 56 state agencies that distribute money from the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Crime Victims Fund to more than 4,000 direct victim assistance service providers. The money in the Crime Victims Fund comes from fines collected from offenders convicted of federal crimes and not from U.S. taxpayers.

If you would like additional information about our event, please reach out to Our Village or Leah Suarez at leah@ourvillageokeechobee.org or by calling 863-447-0473.