Will Trauma Recovery Center Fall Victim to Budget Nightmare?

If the Board of Supervisors does not spare $1 million in city funding which is currently keeping the center alive, the mental health clinic on Mariposa in the Mission will shut its doors come March 1, says the TRC's director, Alicia Boccellari. 

One of the cruelest ironies of cutting certain services during budget crises for short-term savings is that it ends up costing the government much more in the long run. That was Public Defender Jeff Adachi's argument to keep the city from cutting his office's budget: He claimed hiring private attorneys to represent the clients would end up costing the city more than simply maintaining funding for the public ones (Adachi lost this quarrel with the powers that be, incidentally).

Boccellari is likely to make the same pitch regarding the 14-employee Trauma Recovery Center, which provides mental health services to more than 700 clients, and helps them to assist law enforcement in prosecuting those who victimized them. It remains to be seen whether she will be more successful. 

"It feels like we're doing good work, and it's not like there's anything else like it in San Francisco," Boccellari says. "It came as a shock to us." 

The Center has been recognized by awards from national hospital associations, the Board of Supervisors, and the District Attorney's office. Ginning up for its pitch, the Center points out:

• Victims served by the TRC are 56 percent more likely to go back to workforce than victims who don't, saving the state in welfare costs and lost tax revenue.
  

• Victims who seek services at the TRC are 69 more likely to cooperate with the police than those who don't, and 44 percent more likely to cooperate with the District Attorney -- ideally leading to getting more criminals off the street.
  

• Victims who visit the TRC are 41 percent less likely to become homeless than those who didn't seek treatment.
  

The center has had budget fights before. Its $1.5 million yearly funding from the state was chopped by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger two years ago, after which the city picked up the slack. In July, the city cut one-third of the the center's budget -- or $500,000 -- but the center has continued to provide its services with less staff and a longer waiting list. The center provides free services for victims of violence in the county within a year of the crime and to the family of homicide victims. 

Sen. Mark Leno introduced a bill last year to restore state funding to the TRC and replicate the program in a handful of other locations in California using the surplus of money paid by convicted criminals to the state specifically for victims' services. But even if the bill were to pass, the funding wouldn't be restored until next year, Boccelari says. Without the city chipping in until then, the center will close.

Boccelari is expecting some hearings by the Board of Supervisors on the cuts. "We have about 45 days to turn this around," she says. "The city is just faced with really horrible decisions right now."

Only the center's administering rape kits to sexual assault victims at General Hospital would continue, paid for by other funding streams.