This past week, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that his office has distributed nearly $1 million in funding to domestic violence shelters and coalitions across the state to assist battered men, women and children in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 48 domestic violence shelters who received funding include The Domestic Violence Shelter here in Richland County.
“While we have been asked to stay at home, sometimes home isn’t the safest place,” Yost said. “Thanks to the General Assembly, this money will be used to keep life-saving services available to those who need to escape dangerous environments.”
The $950,000 in domestic violence grants and statewide training grants has been awarded evenly amongst 48 shelters across the state with an earmarked 10% ($95,000) going to the statewide domestic violence coalition. The Ohio Domestic Violence Network, a federally-recognized coalition for domestic violence programs in the state, received the training grant so that they can help ensure recipients of the funding abide by federal and state standards for providing trauma-informed services for survivors.
“For the first time ever, Ohio’s domestic violence programs have a stable source of funding from the state’s general fund,” said Mary O’Doherty, executive director of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. “We greatly appreciate the leadership of Rep. Laura Lanese (R-Grove City) who led the effort to make this happen. We also want to thank the Attorney General’s Office for supporting our work and being willing to administer these funds, and, most important of all, the General Assembly for including the line item in Ohio’s budget.”
Funds disbursed will be used to further the recipients’ mission of providing services, including prevention services, to survivors and co-survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and/or stalking.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Crime Victim Services Section works with partners to award this grant funding.
Source: Ohio Attorney General News Release
