State of Montana Newsroom
2021 Program Highlights Recipient - Victim-Witness Assistance Services
VWAS is a unique community-based victim services program that also provides system-based services to victims of crime in Cascade County. For 30 years, VWAS has provided free and confidential services to all victims of crime, has helped victims cope with victimization, and has ensured victims have a voice in the criminal justice process. VWAS advocates provide 24-hour crisis response services and work closely with law enforcement, hospital staff, City and County prosecutors, the Child Advocacy Center, the local shelter staff, and other community organizations to best serve victims of crime.
VWAS started as a college project in the early 1990s in response to the evident need for services to be available for victims in Cascade County. With the help of the late Lt. Jim Sharpe, VWAS started with a handful of volunteers, a desk, and a phone in the middle of an office in the Great Falls Police Department.
What started as a volunteer project to create a safe space for victims of crime has evolved into a fully functional non-profit that outgrew its small police department office, has employed up to four full-time advocates, and handles approximately 500 active cases at any given time. VWAS staff serve as the crime victim advocates throughout the criminal justice process, the community advocates for crisis response at the emergency room, trained advocates for the local accredited Child Advocacy Center, and as partners for law enforcement to call upon.
VWAS Director, Nichole Griffith, was selected to serve on the state Child Abuse and Neglect Review Commission and the new local Crime Task Force in Great Falls. Current VWAS advocates have been serving the community since 2007 and 2008 and are still going strong. In a career field that sees so much trauma, sadness, frustration, and turnover, VWAS finds strength in the opportunity to help others and provide support when needed most.
For more information about current and past Program Highlights recipients, please visit the MBCC Program Highlights page.
