Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Domestic Violence Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Women and Children's Horizons seeks higher CDBG support for legal advocacy, asks $18,000 for parking lot repairs
Summary
Women and Children's Horizons asked the CDBG advisory committee to increase its legal-advocacy grant to $24,900 and to fund an $18,000 repaving of a 2,400-square-foot parking lot serving nonresidential services. Executive Director Sue Sipple said federal VOCA funding cuts and other lost grants forced staff reductions and increased caseloads.
Women and Children's Horizons asked the Kenosha Community Development Block Grant advisory committee to increase funding for its legal-advocacy services and to repave a small parking lot serving nonresidential client services.
"My name is Sue Sipple, and I'm the executive director at Women and Children's Horizons," Sipple said, describing a program that helps domestic-violence and sexual-assault victims navigate the criminal-justice and civil-court systems. She said about 71% of the people served annually receive legal advocacy and that roughly 600 victims are helped in a typical year.
Sipple said the legal advocate funded in part by CDBG is based in the district attorney's office and reaches out to victims identified from arrest lists, accompanies survivors after SANE exams and helps clients complete restraining-order and crime-victim compensation paperwork. "We don't provide legal advice. We're not attorneys, but we do understand the process," she said.
Sipple asked for $24,900 for the legal-advocacy position, up from $20,100 in the current year. She said federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding and other grants dropped sharply, a change that forced layoffs and closure of a western Kenosha outreach office. "Two people were doing that legal advocacy work before. Now it's just Jeanette," Sipple said, describing how duties consolidated onto fewer staff and lengthened wait times.
On a separate facility request, Sipple asked for $18,000 to remove cracked concrete and repave a roughly 2,400-square-foot parking area behind the organization's nonresidential building, replace damaged wheel stops and improve snow removal and accessibility. In the application, the group described the surface as uneven with loose pieces that present trip hazards and complicate winter clearing.
Committee members asked about operational impacts if additional funding were not provided; Sipple said the agency remains operational but expects longer client wait times and that it is seeking other grants and donations. She noted the organization had previously received CDBG support for similar facility and program needs and asked the committee to consider an increase given recent funding losses.
The committee did not take a formal vote during the presentation; applicants were told allocation decisions will be made at a subsequent meeting.
