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Federal Money To Help Wheeling YWCA

Women and their children will continue to get help while they transition from a life of abuse, due to a $250,000 federal grant to the YWCA of Wheeling.

Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced the grant recently. It’s money from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women for the Transitional Housing Grant Assistance Program.

Patricia Flanigan, director of the Wheeling-based YWCA’s Family Violence Prevention Program, completed the grant application.

The federal grant program was impressed with the YWCA program’s “victim-centered approach … that allows victims to select the course of action that suits their individual needs,” according to a news release from Capito’s office. “The YWCA of Wheeling will use these funds to provide housing and supportive services to help victims shift from transitional to permanent housing.”

The money comes at a time when it’s desperately needed to keep the YWCA’s program going, Flanigan said. Without it, “we could not continue to provide transitional housing … and it would have been detrimental to the women and children” who are already in the program, Flanigan said.

Currently, the YWCA offers transitional housing and services for three years to 14 women and their children “who are healing from domestic violence situations, and ultimately leaving behind everything they have,” Flanigan said.

The Family Violence Prevention Program pays for transitional housing in an apartment or home, where a woman and her family has their own room but share community areas with others, said Flanigan. It provides food, resume and job-seeking services, and other support, as well, depending on the woman’s needs and goals while she’s building a new life — not by choice.

Flanigan said there’s a proliferation of domestic violence crimes in the local area, including dating violence, sexual assault and stalking situations, with which the program deals.

Each year, the YWCA also provides more than 2,000 nights of shelter for women and children in an undisclosed, emergency safe shelter called the Madden House. However, the Family Violence Prevention Program is different in that it provides long-term transitional housing and services.

“It’s a very important bridge that hooks this huge gap when someone leaves a violent household. It’s the connection that keeps you moving into a calm life, to not having an unnecessary threat of violence around you. It’s a stable environment to … help get strong on your own feet, then the other things fall into place,” Flanigan said.

To access YWCA services, call the hotline at 800-698-1247. For more information, visit the YWCA website at ywcawheeling.org.

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