RALEIGH – Gov. Roy Cooper has declared October as Domestic Violence Month in North Carolina. Governor and Mrs. Cooper encourage citizens to raise awareness of the prevalence of domestic abuse; foster supportive communities where all people feel safe in all aspects of their lives; and help survivors recover, heal, seek justice and thrive.
The N.C Council for Women & Youth Involvement supports victims and survivors of domestic violence across North Carolina through its distribution of state and federal funding to state and local domestic violence agencies. The Division also supports and funds prevention and intervention programs to stop to cycle of violence in our communities.
Based on 2016-2017 fiscal year statistics released today, programs responded to nearly 100,000 crisis calls and provided services to more than 51,000 victims/survivors. Between FY 2015-16 and 2016-17, there was an increase in the number of clients served by state-funded domestic violence agencies. Domestic violence programs also provided overnight and emergency shelter to more than 10,000 victims, including children. Illustrating a concerning and continuing trend in North Carolina, over 43% of clients that received shelter services were children.
“The services provided by local agencies are having a great impact on the lives of the people of North Carolina,” said Machelle Sanders, Secretary of the NC Department of Administration. “We’ll continue to advocate for essential funding to support these services for people who, many times, don’t have a voice without the support, information, counseling and advocacy from local agencies.”
The State’s Domestic Violence Commission will meet today to analyze the statistics and develop an action plan to ensure citizens across North Carolina have access to crisis services in their communities. The Department monitors the delivery of services and process the only county-level data on client services in North Carolina. The data is used by state agencies, nonprofits, researchers, grantees & policy makers.
For additional information about the Department’s programs and statistics, visit its website at http://ncadmin.nc.gov/about-doa/divisions/council-for-women/women-statistics, or call 919-733-2455
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