YWCA Clark County’s 50-year-old domestic violence program faces $200,000 shortfall in 2025

YWCA Clark County is celebrating 50 years of its SafeChoice program, which provides resources including shelter, transitional housing and legal services to those experiencing domestic violence. However, the program is projected to have a $200,000 deficit in 2025.

The program began in 1974 when a group of women calling themselves the Esther Short Park Lunch Bunch decided that battered women and children needed a safe place to leave their abusers, said Chandra Chase, vice president of communications and marketing.

According to Chase, the women used their own money to rent an apartment and operate the SafeChoice program.

“Thanks to his early leadership, countless women and children have found safe haven,” Chase said.

Over the years, the YWCA has added legal support, peer counseling, support groups and specialized services. After renovation in 2023, the shelter has 14 rooms for adults and children fleeing domestic violence. It is the only place in Clark County that offers a shelter specifically for victims of domestic violence.

In 2022, the Ed and Dolly Lynch Foundation awarded YWCA Clark County $3 million in seed capital to support the beginning of the expansion of SafeChoice program services.

Expanding the domestic violence shelter and its programs is expected to cost $5 million, so the YWCA needs help through government contracts, corporate support and community contributions to fill the gap.

The expansion allowed the program to increase services for sheltered youth.

“We don’t currently receive any other specific funding for youth and children in our domestic violence program, so this project … was very important in allowing us to focus on children and young people and provide them with the support they need,” she said. Brittney Lasseine, CEO, YWCA Clark County.

Legal services for victims of domestic violence have also expanded. Clark County Volunteer Attorneys help people who participate in the SafeChoice program with protective orders, family law and evictions.

Since the program began providing eviction prevention services this spring, 77 people have received rent assistance, Chase said.

Transitional housing and rapid resettlement have also been a focus since the expansion, with 237 people receiving housing services since 2020.

“The average length of stay in our shelter is three months. So what do people do after that?” Lassay said. “The (housing) members can come and stay for a year and we pay them rent and they can work on finding stability for that year.”

Prevention programs in middle and high schools have increased since the expansion, Lassein said. The YWCA holds multi-week workshops on healthy relationships, boundaries and consent, she said.

“We want to be able to be where our crisis services are no longer needed. And to do that, we’re really focusing on our prevention work and how we can educate future generations,” Lassein said.

But the Clark County YWCA needs help from the community to maintain those services in 2025, she said. People can donate through non-profit organizations Adopt-A-Room fundraising to help fill this gap by the end of the financial year in June.

The shortfall comes amid other funding challenges for domestic violence services.

The federal Victims of Crime Act directs funds from criminal fines to domestic violence programs. Washington expects to cut that funding by 51.5 percent in the next fiscal year.

Washington has tried to keep its programs afloat by allocating $41.3 million in one-time funding to crime victim services and $750,000 to emergency shelters for victims of domestic violence. In July, the City of Vancouver also committed nearly $1 million to domestic violence shelters and housing.

However, both local and state funding will end by June 30. If funding is not restored, it could force some domestic violence programs to close or reduce services.

While Lassein said none of the shelter’s 14 rooms will be in danger of closing unless the YWCA of Clark County raises $200,000, survivors may receive fewer services.

“This is really the first opportunity we’ve had where the community can get that kind of support in our shelter and temporary housing,” Lassein said.