Arizona receives $28.4 million in federal crime victim funds to pass on to local nonprofits and agencies
The award to the Arizona Department of Public Safety is the state's share of this year's Victims of Crime Act assistance formula grant, up from $27.9 million last year. The state chooses which victim service programs get subgrants.
Victims of Crime Act assistance grants for fiscal 2026, Arizona and four neighbors
Phoenix. The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded the Arizona Department of Public Safety $28,431,056 for services to crime victims. The state passes the money on as subgrants to local nonprofits and public agencies that work directly with victims, providing crisis counseling, emergency shelter, information and referrals, and help through the criminal justice system.
U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine announced the award on Oct. 15, according to KVOA and KTAR News, which reported the announcement by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona. The amount matches Arizona's line in the federal Office for Victims of Crime's chart of fiscal 2026 Victims of Crime Act victim assistance allocations. The state's allocation for fiscal 2025 was $27,882,418.
How the formula works
For fiscal 2026, the Office for Victims of Crime had $1.95 billion available from the Crime Victims Fund, of which $1,291,565,110 is divided among the states and territories by formula. Each state receives a base amount of $500,000, and the rest is distributed by population. Arizona, with an estimated 7,623,818 residents, receives 2.2 percent of the total.
Only states may apply, and each decides which organizations receive subawards, within the rules of the Victims of Crime Act. The money must at a minimum help victims of sexual assault, child abuse and domestic violence, and underserved victims of violent crime as the state identifies them. No more than 5 percent may go to administration and training. The funding notice puts out of scope any program that violates or hinders the enforcement of federal immigration law, and bars legal services to people unlawfully present in the country, except for legal help in obtaining protection orders for victims of crime.
Who can apply in Arizona
The department's most recent request for applications, for subawards running Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026, offered about $38.2 million in grants of about $10,000 to $1,250,000. Public agencies and nonprofits that serve crime victims could apply, among them domestic violence programs and shelters, sexual assault centers, children's advocacy centers and mental health programs. The money cannot pay for fundraising, lobbying, prevention or capital expenses.
The department wrote that its annual surveys of grantees keep ranking shelter, emergency financial assistance, emergency legal advocacy and therapy among the services crime victims most need.
The Justice Department did not say how the new money will be divided among local groups or when it will reach them, KTAR reported. On Oct. 18, the department's grants portal listed no request for applications newer than the one for the year that ended Sept. 30.
About this story
501c3.help wrote this story from the sources listed with it, not from material an organization sent. Our editors approved it on Oct. 18, 2026. Stories in The Nonprofit Herald are free, and nothing is asked in return. Editorial rules.
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