It’s National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and one non-profit organization is seeking more survivors to take advantage of a service to help them through their situation.

ACCESS Assault Care Center Domestic Violence Services Coordinator for Boone and Greene Counties Alicia Ross says one area that there is funding available for domestic abuse victims in Greene County to use is the home financial assistance program. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio this program must be initiated by the survivor to help them either get into a rental or pay for utilities because of the incident they experienced. Ross points out the ease of the program, once the survivor makes that initial contact.

“We’ll do an assessment with them, and then they’ll be assigned an advocate, and then that advocate will actually work one-on-one with the landlord to do a lot of that application process. So the client themselves might not have to fill out a whole bunch of paperwork. It’s more of them signing documents and maybe getting us some income verification. But all-in-all, we’re doing most of the paperwork and so it’s not too much on their end.”

Ross notes that last year, Jefferson Police Department responded to 60 domestic violence-related calls for service, but she believes there’s even more than that.

“But what we know about domestic abuse is that very few people actually report it to law enforcement. The ‘x-factor’ is four. So 60 times four (is) 240, I believe. Technically, there were probably about 240 cases, but only 60 of those were reported.”

Additionally, Ross says the Greene County Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Abuse is posting information across the county with resources and contacts for those individuals that may need assistance. Contact the Domestic Abuse Crisis and ACCESS Housing Crisis Hotlines for assistance 24 hours per day.

 

Domestic abuse crisis: 855-983-4641

ACCESS Housing Crisis Hotline: 855-696-2980