Jenny Stasio is co-executive director of Through These Doors, the domestic violence resource center in Cumberland County.

For many domestic abuse survivors, finding safety is not as simple as leaving their abuser. It is a series of hard, dangerous, deeply personal steps: finding a safe place to go, protecting children, keeping a job, securing documents, navigating housing and deciding who can be trusted with the truth.

No one should have to take those steps alone. Thankfully, here in Portland, federal Community Development Block Grant funding has helped make sure more survivors do not have to.

Through These Doors, Cumberland County’s domestic violence resource center, has used CDBG support to place a community-based advocate in Portland. That advocate works alongside local providers, meets survivors in community settings and connects people with voluntary, survivor-led support that fits their circumstances.

For survivors, that can mean safety planning, crisis support, housing resources or longer-term services. For our community, it means reaching people who may never have called a helpline, entered a shelter or known where to begin. This is exactly the kind of practical, locally driven work CDBG was created to support.

But today, CDBG funding for Portland is at risk.

Since 1974, the Community Development Block Grant program has operated on a straightforward premise: local leaders are often best positioned to understand what their communities need. Rather than dictating a single approach from Washington, the program gives cities and counties flexible resources to address housing, infrastructure, public services and neighborhood needs in ways that make sense locally.

That flexibility is especially important for communities like Portland, where housing instability, domestic abuse and gaps in local services often overlap. Survivors may need help with immediate safety, but they may also need support finding stable housing, understanding their options and staying connected to services after the immediate crisis has passed. CDBG helps local organizations respond to those realities without forcing every need into the same narrow category.

Unfortunately, CDBG funding has steadily declined over time. Congress has reduced funding by more than $1.1 billion since 2001. Adjusted for inflation, today’s appropriation is only a fraction of what Congress committed to the program in its early years.

Those reductions may sound abstract in a federal budget debate, but they are not abstract for us here in Maine. If CDBG continues to weaken, the consequences will be felt first by local officials and community organizations already trying to stretch limited resources. They will also be felt by people who need help before their circumstances become more dangerous, more costly or harder to address.

Sen. Susan Collins has long supported CDBG, and as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she will have a central role in determining the program’s future. Her leadership will be important as Congress debates the next federal housing and community development funding bill.

Protecting CDBG should not be a partisan fight. The program serves communities across the country, in every congressional district, because the needs it addresses exist everywhere. Housing instability, aging infrastructure, domestic violence, public health challenges and gaps in local services are not Democratic or Republican problems. They are community problems.

For Through These Doors, CDBG funding has helped us reach survivors in Portland who might otherwise remain disconnected from support. It has helped us coordinate more closely with local partners. It has allowed us to meet people where they are, including those who may not be ready to enter a shelter, contact law enforcement or take any formal action, but still need information, planning and support.

That kind of advocacy gives survivors options. It respects their autonomy. It recognizes that safety is not one-size-fits-all, and that the path out of abuse often takes time, trust and steady support.

We urge Sen. Collins to protect and strengthen this program so Maine communities can keep doing the work their residents need.