Domestic violence shelters struggle after funding slashed

Vidya Rao

In a time of crisis, a shelter can literally mean the difference between life and death for a victim of domestic violence.

After 28 years of providing emergency shelter services to the South Shore community, the Quincy-based organization DOVE (Domestic Violence Ended) may no longer be able to be a safe haven for victims as a result of a major budget overhaul from the Department of Social Services.

“Because of these budget cuts and without restored funding, we will have to close on September 30,” says DOVE Executive Director Stephanie Flaherty. “It is a desperate time for us right now.”

But DOVE only has itself to blame.

DSS officials contend that there have been no budget cuts, and, in fact, the budget for domestic violence services actually increased over the last fiscal year by about $450,000, from about $20.4 million in FY 06 to about $20.9 million in FY07.

The problem, DSS officials explained, is that they reorganized the guidelines for funding service providers.

The new DSS guidelines were shaped by research using the input of domestic violence services clients, community activists and domestic violence experts in order to provide better services to victims, says Denise Monteiro, a DSS spokesperson.

Two years ago, DSS sent out letters to organizations informing them that they would have to re-bid for funding, following the new set of DSS criteria. Organizations were required to send proposals outlining the ways in which they would follow those criteria. Those that met the criteria were scheduled for continued funding, and those that did not lost funding.

“This is not a result of our budget being cut,” says Monteiro. “The whole face of DSS is changing. This has been a five-year process overall and the funding of domestic violence shelters is just one of 15 to 16 components of change.”

As for DOVE, Monteiro says they simply did not meet the criteria. “DOVE was the lowest on the totem pole,” she explains.

But that leaves DOVE between a rock and a hard place.

Flaherty says that DOVE, which receives 45 percent of its budget from the state, remains unaware for the reasoning behind the DSS decision to pull all funding from the organization.

“We’ve heard several different reasons from the media, but no one from DSS has contacted us directly, despite our efforts to reach out to them,” she says.

The story seems to be similar at Womansplace Crisis Center, a domestic violence services agency located in Brockton whose primary funder is DSS.

“The cuts were a surprise,” says Executive Director Jenny Vintura. “We aren’t clear right now as to the reasons why, but we will have phone negotiations with DSS on Friday.”

Womansplace receives DSS funding for two programs, one that serves victims through counseling and other services and one that runs a 12-bed emergency shelter. The latter did not get slated for renewed funding, resulting in an $180,000 loss for the organization, representing a third of its total budget. Though Womansplace can continue providing services, they may have to close the doors to the shelter. The United Way, a funder of the organization, has stepped in to provide temporary support, but Womansplace is now looking to the community for help in remaining open through their Save the Shelter campaign.

Womansplace and DOVE are two of seven domestic violence centers that may have to close due to this financial reshuffling.

“We gave these programs two years’ notification,” says Monteiro. “DOVE met almost none of the criteria and one of Womansplace’s programs did not fulfill our criteria either. We are about providing the best services possible — this is not personal.”

Though this may be true, the losers in this situation seem to be victims of domestic violence.

“The impact on us is catastrophic, but the real issue is that victims are faced with a situation of having nowhere to go,” explains Virginia Kurtzman, president of DOVE’s board of directors. “These are women and children that may have to return to their batterers because we’re closed.”

Both Womansplace and DOVE will continue to be open to provide community outreach, counseling and hotline services. Kurtzman says that DOVE is doing what it can to maintain at least some of the 18 beds that they currently have in their facility.

“It’s great that DSS wants more community-based services,” says Kurtzman. “But you can’t just eliminate emergency shelters with no transition. So we have to work diligently to make up for this tremendous mistake.”