By Tiffany Ginyard
Baltimore Bureau Chief
(October 22, 2009) - House of Ruth Maryland, a shelter for battered women and their children, has received a $496,000 grant to move forward with their Safe Homes Strong Communities initiative, a program that will transition those made homeless as a result of escaping domestic violence situations.
House of Ruth developed this grant in partnership with St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center, an organization that provides housing services to low- to moderate-income people; Marian House, a transitional and supportive housing program that serves homeless women and Adelante Familia, a bilingual program that provides domestic violence victim support and counseling, crisis intervention, and abuser intervention to Spanish-speaking immigrant families.
A beneficiary of the Recovery Act of 2009, this grant will place 100 participants into low- to moderate-rent market housing in Baltimore City and the surrounding areas over the next two years. Although funds were received from the Department of Justice’s Violence Against Women Office, the Safe Homes program is open to both female and male victims of domestic violence, and also targets a growing Hispanic population.
“Working with Adelante Familia, who oversees case management, we wanted to acknowledge that there’s a large population [within the domestic violence demographic] that only speak Spanish,” said Janice Miller, clinical director at the House of Ruth. “We wanted to make 20 percent of the folks who are primarily Spanish speakers and provide them with the exact same services we provide primarily English speakers.”
Miller said the Safe Homes Strong Communities program was designed to put victims, who are gainfully employed but are in desperate need of safe shelter, on a faster track to regaining stability.
“So, to prevent them from losing their employment by having to come into shelter – to prevent them from losing all the support networks they have in place – these folks will stays in shelter for only a couple weeks while we locate the housing,” she said. “And then we place them – working with their landlords – so that they understand that we are providing them with services to help them get on their feet. Hopefully they will not lose their jobs because of all the turmoil and upheaval in their lives.”
House of Ruth has never turned away anyone seeking refuge from a domestic violence situation. However, space is limited. The organization offers emergency shelter for up to three to four weeks, and during that period case managers are diligently working with victims to identify possible support systems and to look for employment, enroll in job training, etc. If by the conclusion of that period there is still a threat to a woman’s safety, victims are considered for short-term transitional housing for up to three to six months.
But Miller says there are more people who would benefit from the short-term housing arrangements than the shelter has room for, which is why the Safe Homes grant is such a relief. “Because space is so limited, we want to make sure that the victims who are staying longer are here because they are really in need of ‘safe’ shelter and not just shelter,” said Miller. “This grant allows us to help more people to be able to become self-sufficient and independent.”
Safe Homes will place its first participant as early as November, placing a total of 50 employed domestic violence victims every year over the course of the next two years. For up to six months, Safe Homes will pay full or partial rent payments in a step-down fashion, offer participants safety planning and case management and facilitate access to legal counseling and health services. Upon completion of the program, graduates will have access to follow-up case management, including a connection with resources and services.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee, has been an avid supporter of domestic violence victims. Each year she fights to sustain and increase funding for the Violence Against Women Office, which supports programs authorized through the Violence against Women Act (VAWA), historic legislation that Sen. Mikulski helped pass into law in 1994.
“I have absolutely no tolerance for domestic violence,” said Mikulski. “That is why I strongly support legislation and grant programs that help protect women and their families from continued violence and abuse and give them the tools they need to rebuild their lives.”