Grant from Vt. Women’s Fund

Thanks to a new grant from The Vermont Women's Fund, Safeline employee Nika Graci will be at Orange County family court each Tuesday, to assist victims of domestic abuse. (Herald / Tim Calabro) 1Sandy 1

Helps Safeline Help Women

The Vermont Women's Fund marked its 10th year of grantmaking this spring by handing out the largest amount of money it has ever awarded in a single year.

Thirty Vermont organizations that "work to break down social and economic barriers facing Vermont women and girls" were awarded a total of $201,186, according to a release from the Montpelier-based fund.

One of the 30 is Safeline, Inc., a domestic violence program that serves women in Orange and northern Windsor Counties. Safeline, with its headquarters in Chelsea, will receive $8303 to expand its "And Justice for All" program.

This week, Safeline Executive Director Nancy Lynch explained that the grant will be used to place client service coordinator Nika Graci at the Orange County family court every Tuesday.

Graci will team up with Safeline Atty. Zibilla Wolfe Sylvia to assist women who are at court to obtain restraining orders or for related legal matters.

Safeline added both Graci and Sylvia to its staff last year, in order to expand the kinds of services it provides to the women it has historically served—women in crisis.

Graci was hired to work with women who are no longer in abusive situations and who are ready to take steps toward economic stability, emotional support, education, and the like.

Graci, a graduate of Randolph Union High School and the University of Vermont, has done "tremendous work" with her clients, Lynch said. The just-awarded grant will make Graci a full-time employee, as she adds Tuesdays at the courthouse to her job description.

Its Own Attorney

Safeline became the first domestic violence program in the state to hire its own attorney when it added Atty. Sylvia to its staff last fall, Lynch noted. At this point, Sylvia provides legal counsel and advice, but is not representing women in proceedings.

Atty. Sylvia assists women at their family court hearings, but she cannot help with follow-up, because once one hearing is over, she is heading back into the courtroom with another client.

According to Lynch, it’s a bad moment to leave a woman alone. Perhaps she has just been told that her request for a restraining order had been denied. Or perhaps the judge has just agreed to give "a batterer" joint custody or unsupervised visitation rights, and the woman is worried that her children won’t be safe.

Thanks to the new grant, Graci will be there to help these women sort through the implications of these decisions, the required paperwork, and what the next steps might be.

Safeline, which started in the mid-1980s in Chelsea, moved to Randolph in 1999, and returned to Chelsea last year. The most recent move was, in part, to be closer to the courthouse, Lynch said.

Cases Increase

Last year, Safeline fielded more than 1000 "hotline" calls and its staff served more than 350 victims of domestic abuse, Lynch said.

"We are certainly seeing an increase in calls," Lynch said, but added that the increase did not necessarily mean that domestic abuse is on the rise.

The increase, she said, is likely due to:

• A growing awareness of domestic violence and an increased willingness for women to come forward for help; and

• Safeline’s expanded services and availability.

For more information on Safeline, call 685-7900.

Vt. Women’s Fund

Grant awards from The Vermont Women’s Fund will be presented May 8 in Montpelier.

As part of the 10-year celebration of grant-making, The Vermont Women’s Fund has launched a large-grant program to promote "economic justice and self-sufficiency for women."

Three organizations, Central Vermont Community Action Council in Barre, Mercy Connections in Burlington, and Vermont Works for Women in Essex Junction, will receive the two-year awards in this program.

With grants of $15,000 this year, and up to $15,000 in 2008, they will build model programs that can be replicated across the state, and that will, it is hoped, prove to be effective in fighting poverty.

The Vermont Women’s Fund has awarded $745,000 to 109 Vermont organizations in 10 years of grant-making.

Details about the projects supported by The Vermont Women’s Fund may be found at www.vermontwomensfund.org.

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