Domestic violence shelter receives boost of nearly $100K in grant funding
Soteria House staff member Jessica Ford and her sons, Prestin Houchins, 8, and Carter Ford, 5, check out the Clothesline Project Friday during the 2018 Logan County Domestic Violence Awareness Day Ceremony Friday at Union Station, and located T-shirts that Ford designed. (EXAMINER PHOTOS | MANDY LOEHR)
Also pictured in Saturday’s Examiner: Russells Point Police Chief Joe Freyhof speaks during the 2018 Logan County Domestic Violence Awareness Day Ceremony Friday at Union Station, while New Directions of Consolidated Care and Soteria House representatives, from the left, Hope Duran, Nina Christensen and Debbie Brownlee look on.
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HELP IS AVAILABLE Soteria House serves domestic violence and sexual abuse victims. Local law enforcement officials direct victims to representatives. Local crisis line: (877) 394-1046. New Directions: 593-5777 |
The problem of domestic violence can be daunting and overwhelming for those who work in the trenches alongside victims trying to escape volatile and potentially life-threatening situations.
However, a bright light shines from time to time for those who passionately pursue this line of work, representatives from New Directions of Consolidated Care attested during 2018 Logan County Domestic Violence Awareness Day ceremony Friday at Union Station.
Just this week, that hopeful spirit came in the form of a major boost in grant funding. New Directions Director Debbie Brownlee announced that the Soteria House shelter that serves Logan County victims of domestic violence and sexual assault will receive $486,500.84 in Victims of Crime Act Grant funding for the 2019 fiscal year, an increase of nearly $100,000 from last year.
“We feel very blessed to receive $100,000 in new funding,” she said of the VOCA funds through the Expanding Services and Empowering Victims Initiative of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office that was effective Oct. 1.
“It was a wonderful surprise to us, as we had been waiting for awhile to hear about this grant funding. When we finally did, it was such good news.
“This will provide for funding for two new positions, a full-time non-residential case manager in Logan County and a full-time legal advocate in Champaign County. We now will have 12 trained advocates working to help survivors of domestic violence. That is amazing. We have come a long way from having just two employees.”
Read complete story in Saturday’s Examiner.
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