History of victim services in Grant and Adams County, Washington.
1982 – Our Place/Nesto Lugar: A Center for Victims of Rape and Family Violence. Mission Statement: “The every person has the right to live in a violence-free environment; that we will make possible every option should a person resolve not to remain in a violent situation; and that society must be educated on breaking the cycle of violence.” Our Place’s motto is “Knowledge is Prevention.”
Our Place, Center for Victims of Domestic Violence and their non-offending family members provides crisis intervention, safe places, legal and medical advocacy, transportation, support groups, counseling, protection order assistance, information and referral and community education concerning the definitions, dynamics and effects of domestic violence and sexual assault. Our Place is a non-profit United Way agency serving Grand and Adams counties since 1979. All core and specialized services are free to clients regardless of income level. Our Place provides all services in a non-discriminatory and confidential manner.
What do do about domestic violence and sexual assault services?
Each county in the state is to have access to both domestic violence services (DSHS) and sexual assault services (OCVA).
Services ground to a halt quite suddenly in 1999. Interim arrangements were made for a hotline and basic services. nearby counties stepped up to fill the gap. OCVA and DSHS began the process of identifying new domestic violence shelter programs and CSAPs for both counties.
New Hope Domestic Violence Services began providing domestic violence shelter program services in 1999. CSAP services were still interim with a hotline and basic services on an interim basis with other counties stepping up.
Adams County Resource Center became the domestic violence shelter program and the CSAP for Adams county in 2000.
New Hope added sexual assault services as a CSAP to the domestic violence shelter program services and the Columbia Basin Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Consortium was started in 2004.
Adams County Resource Center had many challenges and lost their domestic violence contract as well as their CSAP accreditation status and contract in 2004.
New Hope began seeking funding with competitive grants to grow services. One of the first big grants to increase services was through the Domestic Violence Marginalized grant. We began establishing our presence in more remote areas of our county and outstations were born.
New Hope struggled to find a permanent home in Moses Lake. From Ivy to Broadway to Plum in a period of 5 years.
Outreach grew into preventative work. Mis Suenos was launched into a great program in the schools. It was primitive and hand made…the beginning of Primary Prevention work we know today.
With the closing of the North Columbia Community Action Council in 2012, Crime Victims Services for the county moved to a regional support agency. The region, they still exist, #8 serves Grant, Adams, Lincoln and Whitman counties.
Later in 2014, New Hope began providing crime victims services. Vick Gamboa, a previous NCCAC employee as a Crime Victim’s Advocate, had already come on board at New Hope as a Domestic Violence Housing First Advocate in 2012. She transitioned back to CVSC Advocacy at New Hope as the first CVSC Advocate for New Hope.
Simplifying things we dropped all the initials (DV, SA, CV) from our name officially in 2017. We are now known as New Hope. Technically we are Grant County, dba New Hope.
Enhancement and Expansion, FTE and Compensation, VOCA funding, DVPA, YHDP and other smaller grants allowed us to grow from 5 advocates in 2017 to 12 advocates and more support staff in 2019. Successful CSAP Accreditation in the fall of 2018 is something we’re very proud of.
Since 2010 staff and leadership saw an increasing level of child sexual abuse referrals coming into New Hope. While a CSAP is equipped to provide advocacy, we found that the other supporting services were letting kids down and letting us down.
Children’s Advocacy Centers were few across the state of Washington. In 2010 only 9 existed and Spokane was the nearest resource, Casey Family Services – now Partners for Families and Children.
New Hope formally put in a application for developing a CAC-Kids Hope in 2017. Getting through the development stage is a typical 5 year process. We were nationally accredited in November 2019.
