Domestic violence nonprofit offers more than shelter

Knowing the person calling SafePlace's 24-hour hotline for domestic violence and sexual assault could be just blocks away is unnerving to some volunteers, but not Family Shelter Director Melinda Cantu. She said that not much surprises her after 22 years in the field.

Callers usually seek refuge, but some ask what counts as abuse and even confess they are perpetrators. It is up to the caller to decide how to react, Cantu said, but the nonprofit offers resources citizens can use to make tough choices.

Cantu oversees the Kelly White Family Shelter, SafePlace's 105-bed facility where victims stay for an average of 47 days in living areas with a kitchen, dining room, living room and bedrooms.

"Our goal is to make sure that they're safer when they walk out than when they walk in, whether they stay for an hour or a couple of months," she said, noting shelter is just one of SafePlace's services.

SafePlace has helped the region since the first rape crisis center in Texas, the Austin Rape Crisis Center, was established in 1974.

Three years later, the Center for Battered Women opened the state's first emergency shelter for women and children, and the two merged in 1998 to form SafePlace. That same year, it expanded to offer support for individualswith disabilities and received $3.5 million from the City of Austin to build the Family Shelter.

Today, the nonprofit is funded mainly by government and foundation grants, and signs thanking donors decorate its resource center and charter school. Within SafePlace's gates, winding hallways surround volunteers' desks and rooms where clients tell their stories for what is often the first time.

The group's mission is to end sexual and domestic violence through safety, healing, prevention and social change—and community involvement is critical, SafePlace Executive Director Julia Spann said.

In addition to 141 staff, nearly 300 people volunteered in 2011, and 500 more helped with special programs. SafePlace focuses on prevention and encourages locals to speak out when they see abuse warning signs, Cantu said.

Spann points to Caring and Connecting, a middle- and high-school program that started in September providing abuse prevention resources to help Austin ISD coaches educate student athletes on the issue.

"We can't grow enough to address the enormity of this issue," she said. "Violence is pervasive, and the results are dire. If people just think it's up to the person or to the police to fix it, they're wrong. This is a societal problem, and every one of us has a role and a great opportunity to step up."

SafePlace also offers apartments where survivors exiting the shelter can stay for as long as a year while transitioning back into the workforce. Income-based rent rates range from $0 to $400 because victims often have poor credit and work history, Supportive Housing Advocacy Manager Erin Goodison said. She helps clients plan goals that enable them to move forward.

"We are there with them in their darkest moments," Goodison said. "Each person we serve is the expert on their own life, so we need to meet them where they are, and serve their needs."

Domestic violence statistics in 2011

• 12,843 Domestic violence calls the SafePlace hotline received
• 60,000 Austinites experiencing violence at the hands of an intimate partner at any given time
• One in three Teens in Austin report they have a friend in an abusive relationship
• 1,290 Calls to the SafePlace hotline related to sexual assault and rape
• 816 Number of rapes and sexual assaults reported to the Austin Police Department
• 20–40 Percentage of rapes and sexual assaults that get reported in the U.S.
• One in seven Teens in Austin physically hurt or threatened by a dating partner
• 1 million+ Texans who are currently in an abusive relationship (5.9 percent of state population)

Source: SafePlace, 2011 data

SafePlace, 267-7233, www.safeplace.org

This is an extended version of the printed article.