Story thread · 2 reports / 1 sources

“I was raped”: assembly member opens up in interview about cuts to survivor programs

nbcnewyork.com · 6hShare

For years she kept it a secret. But about a minute into an interview about cuts that could hurt survivors of sexual assault — she let it out. “These services save lives,” Queens assembly member Catalina Cruz said, growing emotional. “I know because it happened to me. I was raped.” Assembly member Cruz said she had not planned to disclose that she had been raped “in her mid-thirties” when she sat down with NBC New York in her Coronation office to discuss funding cuts to Rape Crisis Centers. The Hochul administration has been shifting millions in federal grant money away from dozens of longstanding, certified, specially-trained crisis centers that support sexual assault survivors 24/7 including children. “She has to find a solution,” Cruz said, referring to Governor Hochul, whose Office of Victim Services divvies out federal grant money. Cruz said cutting the free services would leave survivors of sexual assault to experience the “spiraling” and “suicidal” feelings she says she experienc

First report: Rape crisis centers plead with Hochul to reverse millions in funding cuts — nbcnewyork.com, 1d