YWCA gets $216K from Hogan’s office
As many counseling services and other resources have had to move online during the pandemic, Gov. Larry Hogan’s office awarded a coalition of domestic violence organizations, including YWCA of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, a $1 million grant to help transition to online platforms to continue supporting victims of violence.
YWCA of Annapolis and Anne Arundel received $216,000 and will manage the overall grant between the coalition that includes MidShore Council on Family Violence, House of Ruth Maryland, Family Crisis Center of Baltimore County and TurnAround.
Domestic violence victims are commonly isolated from friends and family by their abusers, a situation compounded by the coronavirus pandemic requiring people to quarantine and distance. The pandemic has also made finding employment and child care more difficult forwomen who are often prevented frommanaging their finances.
“You’ve got a lot of peoplewhoare abusive who are now working from home. So whereas they might have gone to work during the day and that was an opportunity forthemto either call for help for just call for support, they can’t do that because their abuser is literally there 24 hours a day,” said Molly Knipe, CEO YWCA of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County.
YWCA, a social service organization, designed to help people in-person, spent $100,000 transitioning its counseling services to telemedicine platforms. For victims who don’t feel safe to call YWCA on the phone while their abuser is around, the organization created a new chat function with an “emergency escape” button that closes out of the browser. It also began relocating domestic violence victims in hotels and transitional housing by subsidizing their rent.
YWCA is working with five different providers from Baltimore City, Baltimore County and the Eastern Shore to create a unified website with a host of resources for victims looking for housing, employment and counseling. The “landing page” for providers and victims is still in design and funded by the new grant.
As part of the grant, the jurisdictions comprised a “Safer Future’s Collaborative” created in 2017 that will soon have an app allowing case managers to find where
victims live and locate housing, transportation, healthcare, food banks and job training services nearby.
House of Ruth Maryland will use the grant money to develop an extensive online training forum that any Maryland provider can access for free. The education aims to provide high-quality training and incorporate various professionals with different expertise in addressing domestic violence, sexual assault and trafficking.
“We need more than ever additional housing options and ways to connect to limited services and resources, and these dollarsmadethat anoption,” Knipesaid. “It’s allowing us to respond to COVID. The upside is it will be beneficial long after COVID is over to have these resources in place that can be used in perpetuity.”
YWCA is still operating despite recent COVID-19 restrictions and offers job skills training, education programs such as financial literacy, counseling, abuser intervention programs and other supports for women struggling in an abusivehome. The hotline is 410-222- 6800, and its website is www.annapolisywca.org.