Douglas County proclaims October 2025 Domestic Violence Awareness Month, cites new safe house capacity

The Douglas County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday recognizing October 2025 as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and highlighted recent county investments in shelter and supportive services for survivors.

Steven Dodgill, Community Programs Administrator with the Department of Community Services, presented the resolution and read its findings to the board. He told commissioners that Congress designated October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in 1989 and that local partners had opened a remodeled domestic violence safe house; county staff said the board had invested in a new building and a contract to provide safe‑house beds in the county.

Representatives from local service providers joined the meeting. Sabrina Wright Hobert of the Scribe Center, who spoke in the meeting chamber, described the center’s extended‑stay shelter model and said it evaluates emergency shelter clients at 30 days and, when clients are working toward self‑sufficiency, can extend stays up to four months to support exits to permanent housing. “We not only want to help people get away from violent relationships, we want them to get and stay self‑sufficient,” she said.

Steven Dodgill said TESSA (the local shelter operator) provided nearly 7,000 nights of shelter to 462 individuals and families in 2024 and that the county’s new arrangement would provide 35 safe‑house beds through a contract (the transcript references a contract amount in the meeting; staff identified the contract and bed count during the presentation). Dodgill also cited statewide statistics referenced in the resolution, including Colorado domestic‑violence fatality statistics and CDC estimates of the economic cost of intimate‑partner violence.

Commissioners praised staff and community partners and moved and seconded the resolution; the board voted aye unanimously. No amendments or fiscal appropriations were made as part of the resolution vote; the resolution is a formal recognition and an encouragement for ongoing prevention and support work. County staff and partner agencies discussed ongoing service delivery and outreach.

Speakers on this item included Steven Dodgill (Douglas County Department of Community Services), Sabrina Wright Hobert (Scribe Center), and other nonprofit partners; the item included public comment opportunity but no additional formal board actions beyond the resolution vote.