ROANOKE, Va. – There is a new leader at Total Action for Progress, and one of the president’s goals is to make sure people who experience domestic violence have resources available to feel safe.
Angela Penn is the TAP’s new president.
“It is different, it is exciting, it is a learning curve,” Penn said.
Penn worked for TAP for 20 years — working in real estate development, helping those who want to rehabilitate or buy homes in the Roanoke region.
“In Bath County, we did a community development block grant where we helped revitalize 27 homes and two neighborhoods,” Penn said.
As TAP’s new president for about a month, one of Penn’s goals is ensuring there are extra funding resources available to help domestic violence survivors.
“Continually provide domestic violence after the pandemic those numbers of course rose,” Penn said.
TAP staff said prior to COVID, they were getting one to two calls about domestic violence services a day.
Now it’s roughly about 8-12 calls daily.
It’s why Penn said they hired a fund development director to help getting donations to ensure programs like Sabrina’s Place can continue to help people.
“You can’t put someone in need of DV services on a waitlist,” Penn said.
One area Penn said she wants to address is affordable housing in the region.
Her goal is building relationships and working with partners like Habitat for Humanity to ensure work is done to make sure people can find housing that fit their needs.
“That is a problem we are all seeking to address,” Penn said.
Penn’s goal over the next 90 days is ensuring TAP is one the stop location to make sure people can get all needs met.
“If someone comes to get for services like taxes prepared, we don’t want that family to leave without knowing there are other services they should be getting access to,” Penn said.