About the Women’s Center of Montgomery County (Full history)
ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW 2009
MISSION STATEMENT:
The Women’s Center of Montgomery County is a volunteer, community organization with a primary focus on freedom from domestic violence and other forms of abuse. Our programs, policies and procedures reflect our strong commitment to empowering women.
ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW:
With our primary focus on eliminating domestic violence and other forms of abuse, the Women’s Center of Montgomery County has been volunteer-powered since its inception, providing services which include: a 24-hour domestic violence hotline; elder abuse counseling and supportive services, individualized peer and group domestic violence counseling; telephone counseling, information and referral; legal advocacy; court and hospital accompaniment; stalking prevention on college campus program; emergency relocation funding for victims of domestic violence; prevention education, and outreach to the community and schools. Our programs are administered by more than 175 trained volunteers and a paid staff of 13 full and part-time employees in our six offices located in Elkins Park, Norristown, Lansdale, Colmar, Pottstown and Bryn Mawr, as well as a Medical Advocate at Abington Memorial Hospital. Established in 1992 as one of three pilot projects funded in Pennsylvania, our MAP program became a national prototype for suburban hospital settings and was recognized in 2007 by the GlaxoSmithKline Impact Awards committee.
In the Fiscal Year 2008-2009, we provided services to 3,825 unduplicated victims of domestic violence, with 8,413 service contacts and 5,575 counseling hours. 376 victims were assisted through our Medical Advocacy Project based in Abington Memorial Hospital and 252 victims through our Medical Advocacy Project based in Lansdale Hospital. In 2007, we were the fifth largest domestic violence service provider among the 61 programs funded by the PA Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Through our Legal Advocacy Project, we provided court accompaniment assistance and legal options counseling to 2,197 individuals in FY2008/09. We assisted 905 individuals seeking Protection from Abuse Orders (PFA’s). Approximately 76% of all individuals who were granted PFAs in Montgomery County were accompanied by a Women’s Center advocate. Additionally, we provided court accompaniment to 265 individuals in district court, criminal contempt and preliminary hearings.
Through our TANF-funded Relocation Assistance Program, we distributed more than $28,000 to assist victims and their families in their move to safety.
Through our Elder Abuse Project, we served more than 100 senior victims of family violence and care take abuse, providing legal advocacy and referral to the Abington Memorial Hospital gerontology program.
Additionally, the Women’s Center of Montgomery County received a two-year grant from the PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency, which began in January 2008, to establish a Stalking Intervention Program on college campuses. The goal of this project is to work with each of the colleges located in Montgomery County to help them create a comprehensive campus-specific protocol in response to stalking that will 1) promote awareness of stalking as a crime; 2) provide students with the resources and tools they need to combat stalking; and 3) communicate the message to offenders that stalking is a serious crime that will not be tolerated.
In April 2008, the Women’s Center of Montgomery County applied for a collaborative partnership grant with the Senior Adult Activity Center, (SAAC) to serve victims of elder abuse. Our application, which is summarized briefly below, was one of four grants selected in PA for funding through the STOP/Violence Against Women Act initiatives to assist victims of underserved populations.
In partnering with SAAC, which is the largest multi-service provider for senior services in our county, we believe that SAAC possesses the critical cultural competency for identifying the responses, protocols and resources we need to develop to address elder abuse and crimes against the elderly. With multiple locations, they, along with the Women’s Center of Montgomery County, can offer multiple points of service for seniors to access counseling, support group and court accompaniment. Additionally, through the implementation of its Meals on Wheels Project, SAAC has a means of access to households in which elder abuse might be occurring. By training these SAAC volunteers and staff to identify and respond to elder abuse, we would be expanding access to services to hundreds of senior citizens throughout our region, helping them to overcome the limits of transportation, geography, and social isolation.
Funding from this grant was utilized to begin the process of providing services to victims of elder abuse which include court accompaniment, counseling, legal advocacy, and support groups. We also included a component of outreach to other organizations who serve seniors, as well as the coordination of services with nursing homes and other senior centers in our county.
Each year we conduct more than 25 trainings for law enforcement officers. In FY 08/09, we provided training to 361 officers to educate them about our services and to improve our referral process for victims. Our collaborations with police departments throughout our county over the years have created a referral system that brings services to domestic violence victims immediately following police intervention. Under the Rights and Services Act, police officers are required to inform victims, with written notification, of the services that exist to assist them. In our county, we have taken this requirement one step further through the creation of a system known as the ‘police permission slip project. The Permission Slip Program was designed as an early intervention into domestic violence cases. It was implemented by the Women’s Center more than fifteen years ago with the support of the District Attorney’s office. Rather than wait until the domestic violence victim calls the Women’s Center for help, the Women’s Center, upon notification from the police officer, can make a call to the individual to provide information and support without breaching confidentiality protections. It was developed as a preventive measure; to prevent further acts of abuses AND to prevent the police officer from having to return repeatedly to the same house. Through cooperation with the Women’s Center, the police officer is able to offer proactive support to domestic violence victims in crisis. This model has been so successful that it has been replicated by other programs and other systems that work with victims of crime.
The success of our police trainings and collaborations can be seen in the increased number of permission slip referrals we receive each year. In 2008-2009, we received 1,160 direct police referrals through the permission slip program, which does not include the calls we received through our hotlines from victims who were given our number by the police. This was an increase of 132 additional referrals over the prior year.41 of our county’s 50 police departments made at least one referral to our program in the past year.
Finally, in FY 07/08, we received funding from the Philadelphia Foundation and the PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency for organizational capacity building efforts. The goal of this single-year project is to strengthen the internal operations of our organization, which includes our internal and external communications, the security of our data management and the efficient delivery of services to victims of domestic violence through enhancements to our existing technological capabilities and the creation of new technological resources that will more efficiently network our six satellite offices and enable more timely, secure information-sharing.
Organizationally, one of our greatest strengths is our volunteer labor force. Each year we benefit from more than 20,000 hours of volunteer labor, comprised of more than 175 trained volunteers providing direct services to victims of domestic violence. Each direct service volunteer must complete a 48-hour domestic violence training and supplement that training annually with at least 8 to 12 hours of in-service training. Our reliance on a volunteer labor force has been a key factor in our ability to withstand the budget cuts which have faced so many non-profits in recent years. The recruitment, training and retention of volunteers are therefore integral to our organizational operations.
In addition to our strong history as a founding member of the state coalition, the PA Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV), more than thirty years ago, the Women's Center of Montgomery County, possesses a number of unique assets and resources. Included among these are our 1) large and committed volunteer base; 2) strategic use of technology; 3) multiple locations; 4) reputation as a quality training provider, both regionally and locally; and 5) ability to provide direct service needs of a large and diverse number of domestic violence victims.
The specific array of services provided by the Women’s Center include:
1. Counseling Services: 24-hour domestic violence hotline/crisis response; safety planning; individualized in-person and telephone counseling; peer counseling; support groups; elder abuse advocacy and counseling; referrals to community information and resources including therapists, lawyers and other social service providers.
2. Information and Educational Services: workshops; professional training in domestic violence counseling and identification; monthly newsletter (circulation 1,200); community education programs in schools, businesses, churches, synagogues, and community groups to teach about abuse dynamics and identify methods to help victims of domestic violence ; workplace violence workshops; financial literacy workshops; healthy relationships program to teach teens and young children non-violent behavior.
3. Legal Advocacy: court accompaniment; legal options counseling; direct advocacy for women seeking temporary and final PFA Orders; assistance with Indirect Criminal Complaints; systems advocacy to effect change; access to PFAD at terminals in five of our offices.
4. Medical Advocacy: training to medical providers in universal screening, identification and early intervention; technical support to hospitals developing domestic violence protocols.
5. Stalking Intervention on College Campuses: training and outreach to help campus security, RA’s, and administration in offering services to college students who are victims of stalking. Creation of resources and tools to assist in documenting incidents and supporting victims.
Additional services include assistance with locating affordable and//or temporary housing, emergency cash assistance for victims escaping an abuser, assistance locating emergency shelter.