Safe Horizon’s mission is to provide support, prevent violence, and promote justice for victims of crime and abuse, their families and communities. Safe Horizon grew out of a demonstration project at the Vera Institute of Justice that assisted victims and witnesses in Brooklyn criminal court in the mid-1970s. Established as an independent nonprofit organization called Victim Services in 1978, Safe Horizon began offering services in other family and criminal courts and developed additional programs to meet the emotional and practical needs of crime victims outside the courthouse as well. Today, Safe Horizon is the nation’s leading nonprofit victim assistance, advocacy, and violence prevention organization with more than 80 programs throughout New York’s five boroughs and a staff of 900 dedicated professionals. Safe Horizon partners with others who help crime victims: the New York Police Department, the New York State Crime Victims Board, the Office of the Mayor, other social service agencies, hospitals, corporations, and more - to ease the burden on victims and enhance the aid that is available to them. Safe Horizon’s hotlines and programs in community offices, shelters, courts, police precincts, and schools help more than 350,000 New Yorkers every year.