ROANOKE, Va. – It’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and local organizations are struggling to help survivors due to a lack of resources.
On Friday, 10 News spoke with local advocates who said their organizations are facing difficulty due to understaffing and funding issues.
Every day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines across the nation. Sometimes, those centers simply don’t have enough hands on deck to answer all of those calls, and Total Action for Progress (TAP) knows this all too well.
“The last year and a half, two years has been really a lot for advocates when you think about the sheer volume in this epidemic, that’s really growing,” Stacey Sheppard, TAP’s Director of Housing and Human Services said.
Sheppard went on to say that TAP does have staff working 24/7, but sometimes, they can’t always get to everyone.
“Daily we see needs that go unmet across the state. There are not enough shelter beds. There’s not enough housing. There are not enough community partners to meet the needs of what we have to do,” Sheppard said.
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, on one day in 2020 in Virginia, there were 606 calls made to the hotline, but on that same day, 109 requests for services were not met due to a lack of resources.
At the Turning Point, the Salvation Army of Roanoke’s shelter for survivors of domestic violence, Capt. Jamie Clay said they’ve increased pay to recruit more staff members, but that extra money comes out of their budget for other things, like food, clothing, and services for survivors.
“It takes money to be able to run turning point,” Clay said. “That means I need donors to be able to help us.”
You can learn more about Total Action for Progress here or the Salvation Army here.