Hamilton County will expand help for people who have been victims of crime under a $500,000 federal grant announced by Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Pillich announced the award in an opinion piece published by the Cincinnati Enquirer, writing that her office partnered with the Cincinnati YWCA to win the funding from the federal Department of Justice to strengthen and expand services to victims in Hamilton County.
The centerpiece, according to Pillich’s announcement in the Cincinnati Enquirer, will be a new Victims of Crime Service Navigator. The navigator will be employed by the YWCA and co-located inside the prosecutor’s office, connecting victims with services and serving as a liaison with the criminal justice community. For victims following a case through interviews, grand jury proceedings and court appearances, the position is meant to provide a single point of contact inside the system.
The grant will also pay for practical support that can determine whether a victim can participate in a case at all. Pillich wrote in the Cincinnati Enquirer that the funding will allow the office to obtain laptops and specialized training for its victim advocates and to fund temporary transportation, shelter and child care costs for victims who need to come to court.
Pillich tied the award to a sharp rise in cases. She wrote in the Cincinnati Enquirer that felony domestic violence indictments have more than doubled since 2024. In the same piece, she cited a Cincinnati Enquirer investigation that found 1 in 3 people who used a gun to kill a current or former intimate partner statewide last year were legally prohibited under state or federal law from owning a firearm.
The grant builds on steps Pillich said she has taken in her 21 months as prosecutor, as she described them in the Cincinnati Enquirer. She wrote that she fought for county funding for an additional full-time victim advocate, sent five advocates to Ohio’s 2026 Victim Advocate Conference, obtained 250 Metro day passes for victim transportation to the grand jury, created a special victim waiting room near the grand jury, and brought in Basil, a therapy dog who comforts victims, witnesses and staff daily.
“When someone becomes a victim of crime, their life can change in an instant,” Pillich wrote in the Cincinnati Enquirer. “My duty is not only to prosecute the person responsible for the crime, but also to make sure the victim is not left to navigate the aftermath on their own.” She added in the Cincinnati Enquirer that she could not think of a better partner than the YWCA for the work.
For Hamilton County residents, the effect should be help with shelter, a ride to court, child care during proceedings, and a navigator to connect those pieces. The announcement did not give a start date for the navigator or a breakdown of how the $500,000 will be divided, details Cincinnati victims and advocates will be watching for as the program is put in place.