Domestic violence programs strapped for funding

By Andria Simmons

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Five women had to stop job hunting and one lost a job when the Partnership Against Domestic Violence battered women's shelter in Gwinnett County could no longer help pay to keep their kids in day care last year.

Two dozen southwest Georgia women awaiting divorces can't proceed with them because the Liberty House of Albany has no money for legal services.

And nearly a hundred battered women from the Haven Battered Women's Shelter in Valdosta will not receive in-house therapy to help them deal with past abuse. The shelter had to lay off its only therapist three weeks ago.

"We're at bare bones," said Michelle Girtman, executive director of the Haven.

Declaring independence from an abusive relationship is becoming tougher than ever for battered women and men in Georgia. Among the many tough choices it was forced to make, the General Assembly cut funding for the state's network of 45 domestic violence shelters and programs by 14 percent last year. The budget crunch forced shelters to limit financial assistance to victims, eliminate jobs and double up on work shifts.

This year, at least $300,000 (roughly 6 percent) is likely to be subtracted from the budget and there are no plans to restore those funds next year. State legislators are trying to use federal stimulus money as a temporary fix. However, as state revenues continue to plunge, next year's funding is at risk.

Budget cuts are difficult to absorb, even in a strong economy. But in this recession, private donations are down as much as 60 percent while demand for services is up by as much as 50 percent, according to Nicole Lesser, executive director of the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence. (Donations received and demand for services vary from shelter to shelter.) The coalition is a nonprofit organization that advocates on behalf of a statewide network of domestic violence shelters and community-based programs.

Lesser said the state pays each shelter about $89,000 a year, which on average covers one-fifth of its costs.

"The state is getting a lot of services for the investment they have made and domestic violence programs are having to go out and raise the rest of the money from federal grants and individual donors," Lesser said. "With donations down as much as 60 percent, they are really struggling to keep their doors open."

A patchwork of federal funding and private donations make up 30 to 40 percent of the shelters' budgets. But the facilities rely more on state money because they can spend it on operating costs. Many federal grants cannot be used to pay for necessities like salaries, utilities and food.

For Patricia Dawson, a survivor of domestic violence who now works as a legal advocate for Liberty House of Albany, it's particularly heartbreaking to see fundingmelt away.

"My mom didn't know anything about a shelter," Dawson said. "I think if she did, she would have left sooner. And I didn't know about a shelter until I was already in the situation. People need to know that there is help."

Shelters are already very lean operations. It is not unusual for one shelter to serve victims from multiple counties. Liberty House of Albany serves 17 counties, the Haven in Valdosta serves nine and one in Augusta serves 10. A facility in Dublin serves seven.

Domestic violence programs in Georgia have historically been underfunded, but now need is outstripping demand by an ever-widening margin, said Kirsten Rambo, executive director of the Georgia Commission on Family Violence. State funding had remained stagnant for the past nine years, while demand for services has continued to grow.

Between 2000 and 2009:

• The number of victims and their children sheltered increased 9 percent;

• The number of nights victims and children spent in shelter increased 68 percent;

• Calls to Georgia's domestic violence crisis lines increased between 31 and 39 percent.

Shelter directors statewide report that residents are asking to stay longer because the recession has made it increasingly difficult to find jobs and low-income housing. Independence for battered women is tied to their ability to find transportation and a job, a grim prospect in today's economy.

"A lot of times those women have to go back into the violent home, because they can't work to support their families," said Vickie Stevenson, who runs the Project Renewal Domestic Violence Intervention Program in Conyers.

State Rep. Penny Houston (R-Nashville), who chairs the House Human Services Subcommittee of Appropriations, and state Sen. Renee Unterman (R-Buford), who chairs the Senate Human Development Subcommittee of  Appropriations, said lawmakers are trying to supplement the proposed $300,000 dip in funding this year with federal stimulus funding.

That money would serve as a stopgap this fiscal year, which ends June 30, but the budget for next year remains a question mark. If state legislators can obtain federal stimulus money to offset social services cuts, it would have to be spent by the end of September and it would have to be spent on a specific project.

Unterman said rising unemployment, which stood to 10.5 percent in Georgia last month, has created a need for more government services in areas besides just domestic violence, spanning healthcare and senior services to foster care and food banks.

"It's all social services and they're all competing with one another," Unterman said.