Leahy:  Vermont Agencies

(TUESDAY, Sept. 23) -- The State of Vermont will receive four separate federal grants totaling $592,338 from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Sen. Patrick Leahy announced Tuesday.  The funds will help at least four different state agencies administer and improve existing programs.

• The Vermont Office of the Attorney General will receive $125,000 from the DOJ to continue its highly successful Telemarketing Fraud Prevention Program.

• The Vermont Department of Corrections will receive $267,777 from the DOJ’s Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Program to partner with the Vermont Friends of Recovery, a statewide coalition of people who help aid recovery from drug and alcohol addiction and mental illnesses.  The funds will also be used to establish an Offender Reentry Recovery Network in the state’s two Community Restorative Justice Centers in Burlington and St. Johnsbury.

·        The Vermont Department of Public Safety State Forensic Lab will receive a $29,805 DOJ grant to improve quality, timeliness and credibility of forensic science services.  

• The Vermont Network Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault will receive a $169,756 DOJ grant to coordinate victim services and increase public awareness and prevention efforts throughout the state.  In early September, the Network received $300,000 from the DOJ to provide some legal assistance to victims and survivors of sexual assault through the rape crisis centers in Vermont.

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