Federal funding for local domestic violence programs is not reaching underserved areas and people who most desperately need the services.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas studied data from every county in the United States and statistics from national domestic violence program directories and discovered that poor and minority women and women who live in rural areas do not receive the same public services -- counseling, access to shelters, legal aid and child-care assistance -- as white women who live in affluent areas with a major college or university nearby.

"We found that the funding process favors existing organizations, which may not be the most effective way of reaching communities with the greatest need," said Amy Farmer, economics professor at the Sam M. Walton College of Business.

Farmer, Jill Tiefenthaler, a professor of economics at Colgate University, and Amandine Sambira, former economics graduate student at the U of A, analyzed local and national data to determine whether the Violence Against Women Act, the federal law that protects and assists victims of intimate-partner violence, is effectively and efficiently serving all victims. The researchers' findings were published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.

In addition to demonstrating funding inequities based on race, income and geography, the researchers argued that the U.S. Department of Human Services does not have a comprehensive study showing which are the most effective and efficient programs. The absence of such information means the Violence Against Women Act does not specifically target funds to areas and populations with the greatest need.

"We know very little about what services are provided nationally and whether these programs are reaching as many women as possible," Farmer said.

Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 and an updated version in 2000 after years of work by grassroots organizations that were influenced by feminist thinking. Prior to the act, a coalition of groups relied on private donations, charities and miscellaneous governmental financing to fight domestic violence. Farmer argues that the history of grassroots organizations, which were concentrated in affluent areas and cities with a major university or college, has contributed to the lack of a "top down" understanding of the needs of domestic-abuse victims nationwide.

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