By Raymond Billy

assistanteditor@jacksonvilleprogress.com

The Crisis Center of Anderson and Cherokee Counties recently received some good news courtesy of the Criminal Justice Division of the Governor’s Office.

The center was informed in October that it would receive funding through a Victims of Crime Act grant. The center had been told in July the $159,873 VOCA grant would not be extended but, upon further review, the Criminal Justice Division decided to give Crisis Center the money through its discretionary funds.

“We made our case with CJD and informed them that, without this organization providing the services to these victims in Anderson and Cherokee counties, these victims would not be able to receive service because there is no duplication of our services in these two counties when it comes to victims of family violence, sexual assault and child abuse,” said Donald Hammock, Crisis Center executive director. “When they found that out, they were more than eager to give us the funds through their discretionary fund.”

The VOCA grant is intended to help crime victims with needs such as emergency food, clothing shelter and tend to their emotional and psychological needs.

However, the news isn’t all positive for the Crisis Center.

In addition to the VOCA grant, the center also applied for the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention grant and Violence Against Women Act grant. The former is for the purpose of helping children who are at-risk for delinquency problems as a result of family violence, abuse or sexual assault and the latter would have enhanced the services provided in Crisis Center’s Safe House in Palestine.

The center was also denied the Other Victim Assistance Grant, which goes toward “counseling, crisis intervention ... legal assistance, victim advocacy, and information and referral” according to www.oag.state.tx.us, the state attorney general’s Web site.

Hammock said that not receiving the OVAG grant will prevent Crisis Center from adding personnel.

“Right now on staff, we have two full-time counselors and two part-time counselors. We did have, three full-time counselors and two part-time counselors. One counselor left to take a job at Stephen F. Austin. Due to the funding issue, we are not able to replace that counseling position at this time,” Hammock said.

Nevertheless, rumors of Crisis Center’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, Hammock said.

“There’s been rumors going around that the Crisis Center is closing. The Crisis Center is not closing. I’ve had a few calls from people who told me that they were going to bring stuff up here to donate but they heard that the Crisis Center was shutting down,” Hammock recalled. “We are not closing.”

However, the Crisis Center is struggling to support all of those who seek the organization’s help. Hammock said the center’s clientele has increased 20 to 30 percent each year in the previous three years. The executive director said that the increase is due to greater awareness by abuse victims about the help Crisis Center is capable of providing.

Hammock said having been denied three key grants, the Crisis Center needs more community support than ever.

“As a community, we have to stand up and say ‘we’re not going to tolerate abuse,’ and that we are going to be advocates for these victims and that we are going to have a proactive approach to help these victims to get the help that they need and hold these offenders accountable for the actions that they perpetrate,” Hammock said.