Three organizations in Athens County were recently awarded the Violence Against Women Act, or VAWA, grant, which is used to strengthen domestic violence services in communities. The Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS) announced April 1 that $6 million in funds were awarded this year for a total of 93 grants to 46 counties in the state.
“The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grants assist local governments and non-profit community-based organizations in administering justice for and strengthening services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking,” Ohio OCJS spokesperson Bret Crow wrote in a press release.
The VAWA was signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1994 to create a federal approach to preventing domestic and dating violence against women. Since the passing of this bill, survivors are more likely to report domestic and sexual violence to law enforcement, and this has resulted in a higher number of offenders being arrested, according to a White House report.
The federal government allocates VAWA funds to the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, who review applications and decides which organizations should receive the grants.
Crow said this grant is competitive and applications are reviewed in a three-tiered process that involves fiscal guidelines compliance, peer reviewing and a final review by the OCJS director.
The grants also must be allocated in a certain ratio across the state. Crow said VAWA funds must be distributed with 30% going to victim services or community-based organizations, 25% for prosecutors, 25% to law enforcement, 5% to judicial courts and 15% is left to OCJS discretion.
Athens County saw three of the categories receive funding: My Sister’s Place, the Athens Police Department and the Athens County Prosecutor’s office.
My Sister’s Place is a non-profit organization that serves Athens County as well as Hocking and Vinton counties. Kelly Madewell, executive director at My Sister’s Place, said the program has an emergency shelter and offers case management and court advocacy for domestic violence survivors.
My Sister’s Place received almost $55,000 in VAWA grant funding this year. Madewell said they’ve been receiving the VAWA grant for many years, and it has allowed them to keep a licensed therapist on staff to provide better support to the community.
“We use it to pay for our counseling or therapy services,” Madewell said. “Right now we just have one therapist, sometimes we have two, so that we can provide therapy to people who are in the shelter, but also folks out in the community who need that. Free counseling for anyone who needs it.”
The Athens Police Department was awarded about $57,000, and Chief Magruder said they use the VAWA grant to pay to keep a social worker on staff to assist the officers in domestic violence cases.
Molly Burchfield has been the APD social worker for 29 years and has provided crucial aid to the department when handling these sensitive cases.
“I do assist some of the investigators on cases that they have, help with interviews, sit in on interviews with victims to provide some support,” Burchfield said. “Basically anything they may need help with.”
Chief Magruder said Burchfield connects domestic violence survivors with resources and supports them through the legal process, which allows the police officers to focus on the criminal aspect.
“Some officers just aren’t the best at having serious conversations or more in-depth conversations,” Magruder said. “Having someone like Molly who has expertise and knowledge and skill and experience in the department is why we apply for it and why she’s been such a great asset to the department.”
Burchfield said her role on the police staff is to ensure dating and domestic violence survivors are given help through this difficult time, even if their case doesn’t reach a criminal level.
“There’s actually a lot of clients that I serve where charges were not filed,” Burchfield said. “Those victims, prior to our program, really never got referred to anybody, so I go through the reports and I reach out to them to see if there’s any other alternate resource that I could get them connected to.”
The Athens Prosecutor’s Office also received almost $53,000 from the VAWA grant, but did not respond to requests for comment.
