Founded in 1974 as a rape prevention program, Project Woman now serves as a domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking prevention and intervention agency for Clark, Champaign and Madison Counties. Project Woman provides services through the Emergency Shelter Program, Advocacy and Survivor Assistance, Behavior Health, Chrysalis Transitional Housing and Community Advocacy and Education. These wrap-around services provide recovery to survivors of domestic violence and help prevent them from returning to their abuser.
Families in poverty experience greater risk of domestic violence from the social and economic stressors related to poverty. National data on income indicates that survivors of domestic violence demonstrate 60% lower earning potential which creates a greater risk of experiencing poverty as a secondary impact to the trauma of violence.
Ohio Family Violence Prevention Project reports that within these three counties, approximately 2,000 women between the ages of 18 and 64 are physically assaulted by a current or former partner. Among the 52,150 children ages of 0 to 17 throughout these three counties, 1.8% live in homes where intimate partner violence is occurring. Approximately 7.8% of the 7,440 teenage females ages 15 to 19 experience physical dating violence, and 7.1% are forced to do sexual things by someone they are dating. Without access to a local dedicated domestic violence emergency shelter, advocate and case management, Clark, Champaign, Madison, and surrounding counties' domestic violence survivors would risk returning to an abusive environment and experiencing additional injury or even death.
Recovery and Survivor Assistance provides not only physical shelter and safety, but also provides tools and skills for recovery and for maintaining a life free from violence. Project Woman's two emergency shelters, in Springfield and Urbana, are furnished with a common kitchen, living spaces and bedrooms with single and bunk beds to accommodate different family sizes. The offsite shelter is used to accommodate special needs to preferences for survivors based on individual circumstances. Staff refer survivors who are not appropriate for service or survivors with needs exceeding Project Women's Expertise to appropriate local providers.
Survivors meet with Advocates to complete a danger assessment, a safety plan and an individual service plan. Advocates provide immediate safety planning and crisis stabilization. They advocate for the survivor's needs and rights, facilitate protection orders and safety planning, provide education and assistance navigating the court system and connect survivors to Legal Aid. During the 2018 program year, Project Woman provided 8,374 nights sheltering survivors and their children, and facilitated in the development of 412 safety plans.
Throughout
all service offerings, Project Woman treats each survivor as an individual and reinforces empowerment to break the cycle of abuse.
Project Woman is dedicated to ending domestic violence and sexual assault by providing services and programs to protect, educate, and empower.
United Way is proud to fund an agency that is making such an impact in the community of Clark County. If you are interested in learning more about, or getting involved with Project Woman visit their
website
or call
937-328-5308
(Clark County) or
937-772-9164
(Champaign County).
