Okaloosa County BOCC — January 19, 2016 — FY 2016 OVW Proposal Abstract

Proposal Abstract: Justice for Okaloosa County Families In order to increase the safety of battered women and their children, the Okaloosa County Collaborative: Okaloosa County, Safe Connections (supervised visitation service provider); Shelter House (domestic violence and sexual assault victim service provider); and the Okaloosa Division of the First Circuit Court, intends to eliminate barriers to the availability of safe and accessible supervised visitation and safe exchange services. The plan is to continue outreach and expand the availability of services in the North Okaloosa, OVW approved, supervised visitation site, while replicating these services in an additional site in South Okaloosa County. Okaloosa County covers a large geographical area with very limited public transportation and no regular bus service. This project will allow for expand the hours of available services at both sites and to conduct outreach to underserved communities, including low income, isolated, rural, Limited- English speaking migrant workers and young military families. The Collaborative will also come together to plan for specific, ongoing and in-depth training for Judges and all court personnel to be provided in coordination with OVW TA Providers. This effort is intended to support the court by providing opportunities for training and dialogue in our combined goal of creating the type of social and systematic changes necessary to increase safety and decrease systematic abuse of domestic violence victims and their children. In addition, the Collaborative will continue to work with the current Consulting Committee which has been merged with the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, allowing for a coordinated approach to addressing domestic violence in the community and avoiding duplication of effort, to advise the project; the proposal outlines the makeup of this committee, which includes but is not limited to, experts in the fields of child abuse and neglect, advocacy for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, services for underserved and diverse communities, and civil legal service providers as well as current Collaborative members. The Collaborative requests $ 557,329 in funds from OVW and expects to serve 200 individuals/ 80 families per year with 1,200 provisions of the direct service of supervised visitation or safe exchange, or 600 individuals/ 240 families with 3,600 services over the course of the grant.