By John Packett
and Kristi Hall-Jiran
GRAND FORKS -- We at the Community Violence Intervention Center are very excited to announce that we have been awarded a three-year federal grant to begin a collaborative project to make sure elderly people who are being abused get the services they desperately need.
Elder individuals are among the most vulnerable victims of abuse, facing many obstacles to reporting the abuse and often falling through the cracks with no one to provide them with safety, support or resources.
This three-year federal grant will let us proactively address violence against the elderly population -- violence that is expected to increase by more than 50 percent between 2005 and 2020.
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The grant will let us train professionals on responding to elder abuse, provide outreach and services to elderly victims and send project partners to intensive national training on elder abuse. In addition, the grant provides some money for collaborating agencies to participate in the project, including the local police, sheriff and regional human service center.
We also got word that we were awarded federal grant funds over two years to continue two existing long-term projects helping victims of violence.
The first project, the Coordinated Community Response Project, is a major collaborative project involving 12 local agencies working together to improve our response to domestic violence. This grant will help implement the project and send collaborating agencies, such as the local police and sheriff's departments, judiciary, health professionals and others, to major trainings on domestic violence. This project already has been very successful in enhancing our collaborative response.
The second project, Legal Assistance to Victims Project, provides critical legal representation and assistance to low-income victims of violence.
We are grateful that we are able to secure federal funds each year for critical victim services, and that these funds are spent largely within our local area. In fact, we are dependent on federal grants, which comprise about 50 percent of our operating budget each year.
Recent news reports have highlighted the three federal grant awards mentioned above, and it may be easy to come to the conclusion that CVIC has received a windfall and is doing fine.
The truth of the matter is, these multiyear federal grants provide for specific projects only and can't be applied to the deficit we currently face in 2008 nor to the shortfall we expect in 2009. Without these federal funds, we would have even more severe funding shortages and would be forced to drastically cut services to individuals and families in desperate need of help to ensure their safety.
We are truly thankful for our wonderful partnerships with grantors, community agencies and supporters. It is through these partnerships that we are able to offer lifesaving services to those in need and begin to build a community that works together to prevent violence.
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Packett, Grand Forks' chief of police, is president of the Community Violence Intervention Center's board. Hall-Jiran is the center's executive director.
