February 11, 2025
UPPER MARLBORO, MD – Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center, Inc. (MCVRC) has received funding from the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators (NAVAA) through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), within the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, to promote community awareness of crime victims’ rights and services during the 2025 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
The awarded funding allows MCVRC to host its 4th annual Community Awareness Project – the Make a Difference 5k and Resource Fair. National Crime Victims’ Rights Week will take place from April 6-12, 2025, and MCVRC will wrap the awareness week with their event. The planned walk portion of this event consists of a 3.1-mile or a 1-mile walk, giving participants an option of which length best suits them. Additional engagement opportunities include learning about available resources; a healing garden pavilion, and a memory wall.
MCVRC will bring together hundreds of individuals, families and resource partners on Saturday, April 20th at Watkins Regional Park to spread awareness of victims’ rights, remember lost lives and honor heroes. On-site registration will begin at 8am with the 3.1-mile walk kicking off immediately after the 9am ceremony. You can sign up today – https://givebutter.com/MakeADifference4
“The support from NAVAA and OVC for our 2025 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities will help us help crime victims,” said Joanna Mupanduki, Deputy Director. “Members of our community are encouraged to help promote justice through service to crime victims by joining our 2025 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities and supporting victim assistance programs on a daily basis.”
First designated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, National Crime Victims’ Rights Week increases general public awareness of, and knowledge about the wide range of rights and services available to people who have been victimized by crime. The theme for 2025 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is “Connecting < KINSHIP > Healing”.
Since 2004, the NCVRW Community Awareness Project has provided financial and technical assistance to more than 1500 community projects that promote victim and public awareness activities and innovative approaches to victim outreach and public education about victims’ rights and services during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. MCVCRC was one of the 98 recommended by NAVAA and selected for funding by OVC for 2025 from the 115 applications that were submitted nationwide.
For additional information about 2025 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities or about victims’ rights and services in Maryland, please contact MCVRC at 301-952-0063 or visit our website at mdcrimevictims.org. For information about national efforts to promote 2025 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, please visit the Office for Victims of Crime website at www.ovc.gov.
The National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators is a non-profit organization that represents the 56 state agencies that distribute money from the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Crime Victims Fund to more than 4,000 direct victim assistance service providers. The money in the Crime Victims Fund comes from fines collected from offenders convicted of federal crimes and not from U.S. taxpayers.
For more information contact:
Casey Rosil, Communications and Media Specialist
240-335-4037
crosil@mdcrimevictims.org