Layoffs part of UI transition of rape-victim services

IOWA CITY — With roots reaching into the same University of Iowa soil, a pair of Iowa City-based victim-service agencies are joining forces 50-plus years later — but doing so apart from the campus where both began in the 1970s, leaving some employees without jobs in the streamlining of operations.

The university has agreed to merge its 51-year-old Rape Victim Advocacy Program with the Iowa City-based Domestic Violence Intervention Program, which started after the UI’s Women’s Resource and Action Center in 1977 landed a grant to explore the issue of domestic violence in the community.

While DVIP will continue offering services for victims of intimate partner violence, the program by Sept. 30 will add in the sexual assault support services RVAP has offered since its founding in 1973.

The change, put simply, made sense — according to leaders with both organizations.

“RVAP and DVIP are both long standing agencies,” UI Vice President for Student Life Sarah Hansen said in a statement, referencing the groups’ similarities — including they both provide free and confidential services to the same eight-county region in southeast Iowa.

“Our shared goal is to position RVAP to thrive in the eight-county region it serves through this transition to DVIP,” Hansen said. “The UI will continue to partner with and support RVAP/DVIP both monetarily and through collaborative approaches to end sexual and domestic violence.”

The university has not provided The Gazette with a copy of an agreement to transition RVAP services to DVIP. When asked how much the university will pay DVIP for absorbing RVAP’s services, officials said, “The university will provide funding for specific advocate and prevention work. The details are still being determined.”

To a question of how much the change could save UI, officials said, “It is unclear whether there will be financial savings to the university with this reorganization, as details are still being determined.”

The university did confirm that through the transition, 12 current UI RVAP employees will lose their jobs, according to the UI Office of Strategic Communication. Six have been given layoff notices ranging from three to nine months — depending on how long they’ve been with the program.

Two were previously notified of their coming layoff “due to discontinuation of grants and declines in funding.” And four are term employees who already were on track to be done June 30.

The transition won’t disrupt services the organizations currently are providing victim-survivors. And it won’t restrict or affect UI student, faculty, or staff access to services.

RVAP past

Although RVAP today is fully embedded within the university, most of its clients have no UI affiliation — with just 11 percent of direct services and 7 percent of crisis calls between July 2023 and March 2024 coming from individuals with campus ties.

More than half — 54 percent — of RVAP clients over that period characterized themselves as “non-UI affiliated,” with some coded as “unknown.” And not only did most clients live off campus, 58 percent of RVAP’s direct services went to rural Iowa counties within its service area — encompassing Johnson, Cedar, Iowa, Washington, Henry, Des Moines, Lee, and Van Buren counties.

Over the last eight months, RVAP has fielded 473 crisis line calls — providing services to 489 total clients.

Founded in 1973 when a local group of volunteers going by “Women Against Rape” started a rape crisis line — the organization initially functioned as a community agency with UI affiliation. The founders used grant funding in 1998 to expand services to Cedar, Iowa, and Washington counties.

In the mid-2000s, RVAP was formally organized within the UI Division of Student Life.

DVIP history

Some of what now seems a natural merger stemmed from a change the state made in 2013 to restructure victim services, designating sexual assault and domestic violence agencies into six service regions. RVAP and DVIP both were assigned the eight counties in region six.

RVAP’s services today include counseling and therapy, support groups, and a 24-hour crisis line. Staff members make referrals and provide options and information — while also helping clients navigate medical, legal, and other systems by working with third-parties and walking clients through what can be challenging interactions.

DVIP, which opened its first shelter in 1980 and began offering counseling and a crisis line, increased over time its staffing, service area, and shelter space — building a 13-room shelter in 1993.

The organization in 2010 established a program to help families with housing and rent for a full year and in 2015 established “Cooper’s House,” providing kennel services in its emergency shelter for client pets.

DVIP broke ground on a new shelter last year. It will feature apartment-style units for families and include 70 beds, 30 more than the current shelter.

Under the new combined arrangement, DVIP will assume responsibility for all of RVAP’s rape-crisis services too — including calls to its crisis line, counseling, emergency financial assistance, and prevention education.

‘Inadequate state and federal funding’

Although the university didn’t share RVAP’s budget, UI officials told The Gazette about 10 percent of its funding was from the UI general education fund and 90 percent came via grants, fees, and donations.

The Iowa City merger comes as advocates against sexual and domestic violence in Iowa raise alarm about inadequate state funding and looming cuts. In February, advocates rallied at the Iowa State Capitol for “at least a $10 million investment in state funding for Iowa crime victims.”

In a joint release from the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the groups highlighted a 41 percent cut to Iowa’s largest source of federal funds for victim assistance — the Victims of Crime Act, facing a $700 million reduction this year. For Iowa, according to the advocates, that means its grant will be $5.4 million less than in 2023 — amounting to “the lowest level in over a decade.”

The organizations argued “years of inadequate state and federal funding have strained the capacity of these organizations to effectively provide comprehensive services, leading to reduced staff, limited crisis response, and gaps in the availability of the long-term support services most frequently requested by victims, particularly in rural areas.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com