YWCA’s Stepping Stones expands counseling and advocacy after $1.5 million renovation

Liz German, CEO of the YWCA, told the McLean County Health Committee that Stepping Stones, the county’s contracted violence crisis program, has expanded its counseling space and continued offering counseling, advocacy and prevention education to survivors and their loved ones. German said Stepping Stones served 270 counseling and advocacy clients in the fiscal year that ended June 30, handled 214 non-client hotline or walk-in occurrences, and responded to 90 hospital calls. "We went from 4 to 8 counseling rooms," she told the committee, describing an expansion that added private counseling space and improved soundproofing. The program serves people ages 3 and up and provides a mix of services, German said, including medical advocacy, legal advocacy, assistance with short-term housing or lease exits when someone needs to leave an unsafe situation, and family or couples counseling when related to assault or abuse. German said Stepping Stones also provided prevention education in schools and on college campuses, and noted a recent federal grant with the Office on Violence Against Women that funded two educators focused on junior-high, high-school and college-age relationship education. German told the committee Stepping Stones had a previous waiting list of about 65 clients during federal funding shortfalls but that the list has shrunk; she said there were about three people on a short, one-week waiting list at the time of the meeting. She said the reduction followed both new hires and that the state allocated an additional $20,000,000 to violence crisis centers to cover a funding gap caused by declines in VOCA and VAWA federal dollars. The expansion project, German said, cost approximately $1,500,000 and was funded by a combination of local donors, state dollars and federal dollars. She said the new space created a discrete intake and waiting area designed to keep clients separated from other building traffic. Committee members thanked German and asked questions about special projects and service demand. Member Taylor noted past support from the Mental Health and Public Safety Fund when grants did not materialize and asked whether the staffing shortages that produced the previous waiting list had resolved; German said recent state funding and an added counselor had stabilized staffing. German invited committee members to tour the expanded space during off hours and said the program continues outreach during Sexual Assault Awareness Month and through school-based prevention work. The committee did not take action on Stepping Stones; German's presentation was an informational briefing.