Okaloosa County BOCC — January 19, 2016 — FY 2016 OVW Project Narrative.pdf — reading text

collaboration meetings and providing additional staff support as needed. Rosalyn is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and re-joined Shelter House as the Executive Director in 2015 after spending much of her career working in nonprofit finance for organizations including Shelter House, Northwest Florida State College Foundation and Emerald Coast Theatre Company. She is involved in the community through Junior League of the Emerald Coast and also serves as an organizational consultant and speaker. Shelter House is a non-profit, state-certified domestic and sexual violence center serving victims and survivors in Okaloosa and Walton counties. Services provided include a 24-hour crisis hotline, counseling, advocacy, outreach, primary prevention, transitional housing, court accompaniment and confidential shelter. Michael A. Flowers, the Administrative Judge for the First Circuit Court for Okaloosa County, Florida will support the project by participating in collaboration meetings and referring families to safe supervised visitation when applicable. He will also attend Court Personnel training on domestic violence as well as encourage participation by all judiciary and staff. Judge 17  Okaloosa County Flowers was elected to this position on November 2, 2010 . Judge Flowers received his B.S. degree from Florida State University in 1981 and his J.D. degree from the Cumberland School of Law in 1985. Prior to his election to the circuit court in 2010, Flowers practiced law in Okaloosa County for 25 years. Consulting Committee The Consulting Committee will include members of the following organizations, most of which the Collaborative and the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council have current working relationships with. In some cases, new relationships will need to be established to assure the appropriate outreach and provision of services and consumer representatives will be sought to provide input into the project. Safe Connections Supervised Okaloosa County Dept of 1st Judicial District Court Visitation and Safe Growth Management Administration Exchange Services Shelter House Domestic Okaloosa County Child Hurlburt Field Family Violence Victim Services Protective Services, Advocacy Program* Bridgeway Centers, Inc. State Attorney Victim Okaloosa County Sheriff (Mental Health Provider), Services Victim Advocate First Circuit Guardians Ad Substance Abuse Counselor Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Litem of Florida Office, Domestic Violence Investigations Eglin AFB Family Advocacy Faith Partners Shalimar International Community Program* United Methodist Church Church (Diversity)** Batterers Intervention Family Law Judges (2) OCSO Immigration Issues, Program Human Trafficking Specialist** Legal Service of Northwest Healthy Start Community Lutheran Social Services of Florida Coalition of O-W Counties*** Florida*** US Attorney Victim/Witness Pattison Professional Panhandle Area Educational Services Counseling Consortium (PAEC) (Diversity)** *Military **Undocumented Workers ***Poverty BOLD: Collaborative Members 18  Okaloosa County D. SUSTAINABILITY PLAN Safe Connections has been in existence for almost 19 years and Shelter House recently celebrated 25 years of service. The nonprofit service providers have successfully initiated and operated programs designed for the protection of women and children at risk. While major funding sources support their work, their support is committed annually and the success in repeatedly securing such funding is a testament to the ability to sustain program funding through the provision of high quality, population-specific services. In addition, the nonprofit partners have been successful in securing private funding on a one-time-only basis, both for ongoing operations and special initiatives. Okaloosa County and the First Circuit Court joined these non- profit programs in working alongside through the Okaloosa County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council (DVCC) which was founded in 1997. This coordinated community response to domestic violence conducted a safety and accountability audit which produced a systems map resulting in many changes and increased collaboration to keep women and children in Okaloosa County safe. A key element of our ability to commit to ongoing services beyond the term of the grant is the effective stewardship of organizational funds demonstrated by the Safe Connections Supervised Visitation Centers. Efforts to effectively use the funds they are given include maintaining a low overhead by securing a local Women’s Impact Grant for the purchase of a property to develop the OVW Development site the northern tier of Okaloosa County. Each of the collaborating organizations will continue to plan together for the future, and take concrete steps to continue the project’s goals beyond the next three years. Each individual organization has their own strategic plan to retain and/or grow funding; each organization is also committed to harnessing their expertise, constituent base, and energy to maintain this critical project. In 19  Okaloosa County particular, Safe Connections is currently part of the “mission” program at many area churches and intends to reach out to others to increase this source of sustainable funds. Partners will work together to educate the public and government agencies as to the need and value of supervised visitation services, seeking to increase public sector support for services for low income families. In addition, these organizations can push for more public support for services to address and increased community awareness of domestic violence, child abuse, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, and its impact on the community. 20