(The Center Square) – Combating domestic violence and protecting victims in southwest Alabama is the focus of a distribution of state funds.
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey announced $131,000 in grants are being distributed to a trio of agencies that will be aimed at supporting efforts to arrest and prosecute domestic violence offenders, while training officers on how to respond to those calls.
“Domestic violence has no place in society because of the harm done to victims,” Ivey said in the release. “These grants will help provide funds necessary to ensure those who commit these offenses are punished and those who are victims have a safe place to turn.”
Funding, according to the release, will be used to ensure victims of domestic violence are given resources to help them elude the often-violent situations.
According to the release, the funds will be distributed through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, with funding streaming from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“ADECA joins Governor Ivey in supporting these agencies and the services they provide to help victims and to assist in prosecuting abusers,” ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell said in the release.
According to the release, the Family Counseling Center of Mobile Inc. is set to receive $44,558 to support its community outreach initiatives. The funds will be used to promote awareness to domestic violence in Clarke, Mobile and Washington counties.
The funding will also be used by the counseling center to train law enforcement agencies, medical personnel and other advocates to benefit victims.
The Lighthouse, which is the Baldwin Family Violence Shelter, is scheduled to receive $33,000 the organization will use to establish the Lighthouse Court Advocacy Program. The program, according to the release, aids domestic violence victims as they navigate through the legal system as offenders are being prosecuted.
The agency, according to the release, serves Baldwin, Conecuh, Escambia and Monroe counties. It has a crisis hotline and a shelter.
In Escambia County, the county commission will receive $53,200, according to the release, that will be used to fund the county’s domestic violence crime unit. The law enforcement arm works with victim service organizations while investigating and prosecuting domestic violence cases.
