Up to $45K available for victims, families of crimes. How you can qualify and apply for reimbursement

PEORIA (25News Now) - Domestic Violence Awareness Month is here, and we are highlighting one of the ways survivors can rebuild.

OSF HealthCare says there is money on the table to help with financial troubles.

OSF Strive Trauma Recovery Clinical Supervisor Samantha Schubach said, ”There’s funding just sitting at the state level families don’t know they can apply for. It needs to go to our community. It needs to go to our clients.”

Illinois is seeing a high and steady rate of domestic violence-related homicides.

According to the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV), in 2022, the state saw 57 people die at the hands of someone they loved in 45 separate incidents.

Of those 57, a third were 17 years old or younger.

The eldest person was 79 years old.

The majority of the victims died by gunfire.

For those survivors and their loved ones, there’s money available to help with life after the violent incident.

“It’s more than just homicides it’s sexual assault, assault, you can be shot, you don’t have to die from it. There’s adolescent and adult assault within those ranges,” explains Schubach.

Illinois Crime Victims Compensation provides money through the Illinois State Attorney’s General’s Office for families directly impacted by violence, and each family can receive up to $45,000 to cover expenses.

Schubach said, ”It will also help cover missed time at work, or medical expenses or mental health expenses. It’ll help cover if they need to move or do house repairs because something happened during the crime. It’s reimbursement for the expenditures that accrued related to that crime.”

OSF’s Strive is one of the few local agencies that can help families apply for that funding. While it may take time to get through the process, there are millions of dollars available.

Schubach said families can receive the money if the crime happened within the last three years and there have been some cases where the Attorney General’s Office approved funding for crimes dating back five years.

Copyright 2023 WEEK. All rights reserved.