Survivors Deserve Action
As the Executive Director of Roberta’s Place, a domestic violence and sexual assault service provider in Grants serving our entire region, I see firsthand the urgent need for sustained funding for sexual assault services in New Mexico. Survivors come to us in crisis, seeking support, healing, and justice. Too often, chronic underfunding leaves systems unable to fully meet those needs.
For the past three years, the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) has allocated non-recurring funds for sexual violence prevention and survivor support. These investments have been invaluable to the work of both Roberta’s Place and the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, allowing us both to build capacity and demonstrate the impact these services can have on survivors. As a result, in 2025 alone programs across the state provided services to nearly 6,000 survivors. Of those survivors, 30% were children and youth navigating trauma, and 42% were from rural parts of New Mexico. This year we are requesting $2 million in recurring funds to continue and expand this work in the years to come. This request is not for new spending, but a necessary step to maintain what has already been built.
Survivors are reaching out from every corner of the state. Forty-two percent of those who accessed services this year live in rural New Mexico, where health care and supportive resources can be difficult to normally access. Of those who received services, more than 500 survivors or family members required services in a language other than English, proof that access needs to remain consistently inclusive for all the diverse populations within our state.
Funding like this has helped Roberta’s Place to establish the first ever SANE unit in Cibola County, so survivors of sexual assault do not have to travel hours to get the care they deserve- they can do it right in their community. We also started a transitional housing unit to help survivors transition out of emergency housing and get back on their feet after experiencing violence.
Advocacy organizations across the state are operating under immense pressure, continually forced to do more with fewer resources. Without legislative funding, survivors— particularly in rural and tribal areas—will continue to face barriers to accessing services. This is a pivotal moment to act.
I urge the lawmakers to act boldly and prioritize adding $2 million in recurring funding in the upcoming budget negotiations. Survivors deserve action. Let’s make the state a leader in addressing sexual violence and ensure every New Mexican has the chance to heal and thrive.