March 22, 2021
For Immediate Release
GRANT SUPPORTS CHILDREN EXPOSED TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Gladys E. Langroise Advised Fund in the Idaho Community Foundation Awards Funds to Women’s and Children’s Alliance
Boise, ID – The Women’s and Children’s Alliance (WCA) has been awarded a grant of $5,000 from the Gladys E. Langroise Advised Fund in the Idaho Community Foundation. The funds will be used to support the emergency and transitional shelter program which is projected to house more than 120 children this year exposed to domestic and/or sexual violence.
Research indicates that more than 15 million children in the U.S. have been exposed to domestic violence at home at least once. When there is intimate partner violence present in the home, the child’s risk of abuse increases significantly. Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Ada County 911 has had an 11.4% increase in calls for service related to child abuse.
“Children who witness domestic violence or are victims of abuse themselves are at risk for long-term physical and mental health problems — lasting even into adulthood,” says Bev La Chance, WCA Grants Director “The WCA provides the tools for healing those impacted by the trauma of abuse and to break the generational cycle of abuse.”
Since March 2020, the WCA has had 24 emergency intakes into shelter — more than four times the average number of that in 2019 and years prior. And last year, safe shelter was provided to women and children for a total of 11,132 safe bed nights.
In addition to safe shelter, the WCA offers childcare, counseling, case management, court advocacy, life skills classes, financial education, and various other integrated services and programs to women, men, and children victimized by abuse.
About the WCA
The Women’s & Children’s Alliance provides safety, healing and freedom from domestic abuse and sexual assault. The WCA operates secure shelters and provides professional counseling, legal advocacy, crisis services and case management to survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. For more information, visit www.wcaboise.org.
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