Published: August 31, 2008 11:26 pm         

Agency raising funds for housing project

Harbor Hill to have additional services

ASHLAND — With Safe Harbor’s plans to create permanent supportive housing for victims of domestic violence moving along smoothly, the agency has turned its attention toward raising funds to develop additional supportive services at the center.

Director Ann Perkins said the agency hopes to include a child-care center, commercial kitchen and a learning center/computer room at the facility, which will be known as Harbor Hill.

The renovations to the building are being through a tax credits and community development block grants. The equipment and staffing needed for the child-care center, kitchen and learning center will not be covered by that funding source.

Perkins said the agency is trying to raise the funds through several means, including fundraisers and appealing to the county governments whose residents receive services. The shelter and its emergency services are state mandated but funding has remained flat for a decade, Perkins said.

By moving above and beyond basic services and offering more support services, the shelter hopes it will be able to break the cycle of violence and save taxpayers money in the long run. The additional services will be invaluable in helping to complete the agency’s continuum of care, Perkins said.

They are really about “going that extra mile,” she said. “This is kind of a big step for us, I consider this to be a very serious way to break the cycle of violence.”

The idea is to ensure women get the skills and assistance they need to be able to leave the shelter and make it on their own. The plan is to have fewer women return to the abusive relationships that brought them to the shelter and for their children not to fall into the same cycle.

The child-care center is especially important, Perkins said, because it will provide a safe place for women to leave their children during the working day and it will provide additional counseling and educational services to the children.

“These children are plucked out of their home with their moms. They are witnesses to the violence. If we don’t stop the cycle we’re going to be raising victims or perpetrators,” said Debbie Wright, public relations coordinator.

Approximately 150 children are sheltered each year with their mothers, and while school-aged children are immediately enrolled in local public schools the facility has never had anywhere for younger children to be cared for while mother’s are at work, Perkins said.

Traditional day-care centers are often not a good option for women at Safe Harbor, Perkins said. “The problem is day cares want you to sign a year contract,” she said. “The majority of our women are not in the program that long.”

The average stay for a mother at Safe Harbor is three to nine months, she said, so finding child care can be a real challenge. The cost associated with a private child-care program is often simply too much for them as well, Perkins said. “If we do this child care in Harbor Hill that will mean a huge help for our women,” she said.

“We are into empowering families to be independent and move on with their lives,” she said.

Perkins said the commercial kitchen will be used to help women learn to cook and the computer lab/learning center will help women develop the skills to go back to school or find a job that can support their families.

“A lot of our women don’t have the skills needed to look for the better-paying jobs,” Perkins said. “That’s where we want to start putting our emphasis on, getting a better paying job that is going to sustain them when they leave.”

While there is no set figure needed to provide the services, Perkins said she estimates it to be in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The fundraising drive has gotten off to a successful start.

The recent Lobsterfest was well received with more than 270 in attendance at the Bellefonte Country Club, according to Perkins.

The agency has also received funding from the Boyd County Fiscal Court. Perkins and Wright were invited to the court’s last meeting to discuss funding needs.

After intense discussion, much of it whispered and inaudible between Commissioner Carl Tolliver, Judge-Executive William “Bud” Stevens and occasionally commissioners Marvin “Coach” Meredith and David Salisbury, the court voted to give Safe Harbor a one-time donation of $25,000.

The agency and some fiscal court members were hoping to develop a long-term funding scheme for the agency, similar to the $50,000 over five years pledged to the Paramount Arts Center.

Stevens said the court would continue to discuss subsequent donations, depending on the county’s budget situation.

Perkins said the agency plans to address the remaining county governments in the FIVCO Area Development District, including the Greenup County Fiscal Court, Carter County Fiscal Court, Lawrence County Fiscal Court and Elliott County Fiscal Court.

CARRIE KIRSCHNER can be reached at ckirschner@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.

     

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