7/18/2007 8:53:00 AM Raising the roof on domestic violence
The nonprofit Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Program serving Jefferson County is asking for $250,000 in location donations – with $28,000 needed by Sept. 3 – to build a transitional housing facility.
Domestic violence is felt throughout Jefferson County: in schools, places of employment, by law enforcement and the court system - and particularly in the households where people are physically, verbally and mentally abused.
Now a plan has been launched to attack the problem here like never before.
The county Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Program wants to build a "service and transitional living center" in Port Townsend. The first floor would house the program's offices and support services. The second floor would consist of four apartments where selected clients could live for up to two years as they transition back into what most would call a normal life.
Connor Daily, Port Townsend chief of police, chairs the DV/SA board.
"When [police] see domestic violence, the thing that strikes the officers is that this has been a problem that's been going on for a long time," said Daily. "To correct it, it's going to take a long time. What this facility offers is hope, for a long time."
Land has been purchased at the corner of 10th and Cleveland streets, near Jefferson Healthcare Hospital and the state Department of Social and Health Services offices. Donated money made the $149,000 purchase possible, said Cheryl Bozarth, DV/SA Program executive director for two years.
More than 90 percent of the building's estimated $1.5 million construction cost is expected to come from state and federal sources. Approval is still pending, but "we've gotten favorable responses," Bozarth noted.
Local support is now needed. There is a $250,000 fundraising goal, and $28,000 is needed by Sept. 3.
The capital campaign fundraising "kickoff event" is from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 7 at Sweet Laurette & Cyndee's Café, 1029 Lawrence St. People are encouraged to come and learn more about the project and how they can help.
"We really encourage generous members of the community to come out," Bozarth said. "We have a serious benchmark that we need to meet, timing-wise."
Project goals
The DV/SA offices have been located in Uptown Port Townsend for 15 years. The program operates an emergency shelter with 12 beds, where client stays are limited to a maximum of three months. Following that time, a client may be transferred into the Haines Street Cottages, also with a three-month maximum stay.
Shelter use has risen 52 percent, Bozarth said. The emergency shelter had averaged 802 bed nights per year; now it's more than 1,500 bed nights per year.
But when the DV/SA staff successfully helps clients break the chains of domestic violence, the clients still need a place to reestablish their lives in a transitional phase.
"The gap is that we don't have available transitional housing," Bozarth said. "There is an affordable housing emergency in the county. There has just not been anywhere for them to go once they are ready to leave emergency housing."
Clients eligible for transitional housing are no longer in imminent danger from an abusive spouse or partner and are in the recovery phase, Bozarth noted.
How it works
Transitional housing has been used in other programs, but not in Jefferson County.
"The twist we're putting on it is that all the services we're providing will be onsite: legal support, counseling support, financial management and parenting classes," Bozarth said.
Office space would be downstairs in the two-story building, with four residential units upstairs: a one-bedroom unit, a pair of two-bedroom units, and one three-bedroom unit.
Transitional housing is for people who are fleeing domestic violence, who have made significant progress in self-sufficiency plans, and who are no longer in imminent danger from their abuser.
Families would pay below-market rent and benefit from having the comprehensive on-site support and referral services. Jefferson County residents would have priority.
The new facility would have a two-year maximum length of stay. Some people might need only six months, Bozarth noted.
Most DV/SA victims have children, but the one-bedroom unit is for the single woman or the occasional man who needs help.
DV/SA clients typically don't have an income level that allows them to pay local rents. Clients might have bad credit or not enough time to get a better job that allows them to correct their credit, Bozarth said, and the transitional housing would give them a chance to rebuild.
"We're talking about having a third of the clientele who come out of our emergency shelter being able to transition into this housing," Bozarth said.
Funding sources
If the funding goals are achieved, groundbreaking could take place in spring 2008, with the facility opening early in 2009. The Port Townsend City Council has approved the city's status as sponsor of the Community Development Block Grant funding.
Along with the usual funding sources for this type of project, program supporters need local help.
"We're hoping that people will see this as a special project beyond the scope of what they would normally give, to be part of building peace within the community," Bozarth said. "We're encouraging them to give the most that they can - extraordinary gifts."
The project, and the regular DV/SA Program, is a fully deductible 501c3 tax program.
"I'm completely and totally supportive," said Jefferson County Prosecutor Juelie Dalzell. "It's been a long time coming.
Although the priority now is for cash to achieve the $28,000 benchmark by Sept. 3, eventually the project will accept in-kind gifts such as construction materials, furnishings, carpet and appliances - also all tax-deductible.
"If you have a place where you can build a life and have a two-year start on it, your hope and chances for success increase 100-fold," Chief Daily said. "It's the hope for success and then the chance to succeed."
(Contact Patrick J. Sullivan at psullivan@ptleader.com.)
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