NORTHAMPTON — For the first time in more than three decades, the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance will have a location in the Pioneer Valley.
The 34-year-old independent state agency, based out of Boston, is tasked with advocating for and helping to provide access to services for those impacted by crime through policies developed with input from survivors, training, and individual assistance. The new center, located at 403 Pleasant St. in Northampton, will hold a grand opening ceremony Thursday at 11 a.m.
The center will cover Hampshire, Franklin, Berkshire and Hampden counties.
“We have been funding and working with domestic and homicide programs and sexual assault programs in those four counties for a very long time,” Executive Director Liam Lowney said. “We’ve learned that we need to be more on the ground working with them.”
Survivors won’t notice an immediate change now that organization has an office in western Massachusetts, but groups that work with MOVA are going to receive extra support, Lowney said. The nonprofit hired three full-time staff members to run the satellite office. Lowney said they have been in the office setting up the space and connecting with the group’s programs over the past several months.
Lowney praised the organizations in western Massachusetts like Safe Passage, New England Learning Center for Women in Transition and Hilltown Community Health Centers for their collaborative efforts to cover the large geographic area. The collaboration was something Lowney witnessed firsthand early in his tenure as executive director.
“We’re really excited about the opportunity to be there. It’s going to be a great thing for ultimately the survivors and the programs that serve them in that community,” he said. “We’re thrilled to be working with them.”
Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz called the satellite office “outstanding.”
“These critical services and training and support for victims are every much as important in the four western Mass counties,” Narkewicz said. “I’m pleased residents of western Mass will have closer access to the important services the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance provides.”
Attorney General Maura Healey will attend and is expected to announce over $9 million in grant funding to support and enhance services in 25 programs in the region that help victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, human trafficking, homicide, child abuse, drunk driving and other crimes.
Grant funding comes through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime, which secures money from nontaxpayer fines levied on criminal offenders in the federal courts systems.
Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan and Narkewicz are expected to attend as well as Berkshire District Attorney Paul Caccaviello and Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettnet.com.