On Wednesday, April 30, 2025, the Leadville/Lake County community lost one of our own to a senseless act of gun violence. This is the second such loss in Lake County in 8 months, making it all the more devastating. Our hearts are breaking for the family and loved ones of the victim, and for this community as we’re all reeling in the aftermath of yet another terrible tragedy.
Equally tragic, this is not an isolated event.
- According to the CDC, 79% of 2023 murders involved a firearm.
- Almost half of all women murdered in the United States are killed by a current or former intimate partner, and more than half of these intimate partner homicides are by firearm, according to Johns Hopkins University.
- A study reported in Time in 2022 revealed, “…People living with handgun owners were 7 times more likely to be shot by their spouse or intimate partner.”
- Women in the U.S. are 21 times more likely to die from gun violence compared to women in other high-income countries according to a 2019 study.
Earlier this year, the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) removed all 2025 funding notices from their website, jeopardizing the future of domestic violence and sexual assault programs across the country — including ALC. Bipartisan lawmakers are pushing the DOJ to reinstate this funding, but it’s unclear whether they will succeed. Preliminary budget drafts indicate billions of dollars in additional human services funding cuts are on the horizon.
Most recently, the Justice Department has cancelled over $800M in funding for gun-violence prevention, sexual assault and domestic violence services, victim advocacy, and related grant programs. Attorney General Pam Bondi says there are more cuts to come, and nonprofits and human services programs around the country are bracing for the fallout. Many programs mentioned in the articles linked here are already suffering.
DOJ and HHS funding cuts, along with other federal changes, are effectively gutting the national safety net — making our most vulnerable citizens even more vulnerable to experiencing violence, abuse, homelessness, addiction, mental health crises, and more. Rural communities like Lake County stand to be disproportionally affected by these cuts.
We’re pivoting and planning to make sure we can continue serving our clients as we have for over 40 years, but we can’t do this alone. We need your help to preserve victim/survivor services, and we need it now.
Here’s What You Can Do
Contact Your Elected Representatives
Demand that they protect and support funding for gun violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, victims’ advocacy, and other essential programming. These programs should be EXPANDED not eliminated. 5Calls and Resistbot are free apps that put you in direct contact with your reps by phone and in writing – with pre-made scripts built right in.
Donate to ALC
While we deeply appreciate donated supplies, what we really need right now is cash to help us navigate the rough waves during the storm ahead. You can donate online right here. Every donation helps, but recurring monthly donations are especially helpful in creating a cushion to fill funding gaps and helping us build our own safety net for client services.
In fact, we made the difficult decision to pivot away from our annual Empowerment Express fundraiser event this year, so we can redirect the money we would have spent on the event into funding additional client services. Please consider directly donating the money you would have spent on event tickets. Keep an eye out, too, for news about our upcoming online silent auction, which WILL continue this year.
Hold on to Hope
We may be in for a bumpy road, but we’ve been through challenges before. If we stick together and focus on what matters, we’ll all come out on the other side of this. Thank you for supporting us always. We and our clients appreciate everything you do.
With gratitude,
The ALC Team