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March 28, 2024 2:27 am
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Victim Advocate Program Offered To MV Residents

By CYNDI GRAHAM

Moapa Valley Progress

Residents of Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley who find themselves victims to crimes now have a resource close to home to seek for help. The City of Mesquite has received grant funding to offer specially trained victim advocates to be that resource.

“Our victim advocates can assist victims of all crimes,” explained Michelle Reber, Human Resources Executive Assistant for the City of Mesquite. “That includes domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, child abuse, assault, theft, hate crimes, fraud, DUI incidents, and other crimes against victims.”

Reber explained that victims can receive assistance with emotional advocacy, temporary and emergency shelter, transportation, court accompaniment, assistance with protective orders, victim compensation forms, emergency room accompaniment, resource referral, and more.

While the list of victim assistance is broad, the program is set up to find the help that each individual victim needs, Reber said.

The northeast Clark County communities have faced the problem that victims in the area who need help had to go to Las Vegas to find it, Reber said. This became a hardship for many people who wanted and needed to stay close to home to keep a job or stay with family.

“We’re currently working on providing temporary shelter locally and transportation for victims in emergencies so they don’t have to go Las Vegas,” Reber said. “We want to provide an opportunity for crime victims to get back on their feet here and in the surrounding areas.”

Advocates can help victims to arrange Police to arrive at the scene of a crime. They can also visit victims in the hospital or go to court with them so they are not facing these difficult circumstances alone.

Reber is also working to recruit volunteers who can get involved and create a support system for victims.
“Our biggest hope is that victims can know there is someone here for them and that they have local support,” Reber said.

The program is funded by a grant to the City. Last year Reber applied for grant funding provided by the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) fund. The VOCA fund, created by federal legislation in 1984, is a dedicated source of funding for crime victim programs. Nearly 4 millions victims per year are served by more than 4,000 local and state victim service agencies funded by VOCA.

The grant allowed the City of Mesquite to hire Crimes Victims Advocates to assist domestic violence and sexual assault victims with support and emergency needs.

After being funded with a second grant, the city was able to hire its first full-time victim advocate last summer. The City also kept its two part-time advocates in place.

This gave the City the needed funds to start providing service to crime victims in surrounding areas of Mesquite including Bunkerville, Moapa Valley and the Arizona strip.
“We’re excited to get this program going!” Reber said. “We also plan to apply for additional grants to help expand the program even further.”

Local residents who have been a victim of crime may contact the victim advocates in Mesquite to get about the services available. All victim advocate calls are confidential. Victims may call the Mesquite Municipal Court at 702-346-5244 of email advocate@mesquitenv.gov.

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