GREENE COUNTY RECEIVES STOP GRANT TO PREVENT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
News Release: February 9, 2010 Contact: Elizabeth Witte, Communications Director (724-852-5210)
WAYNESBURG, PA – Greene County recently received a three-year grant from the federal STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program, providing the county with a total of $375,000 to help prevent violence toward women.
The grant, administered by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women and awarded in the state through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, is comprised of $125,000 each year through 2012. The funds will benefit several county offices, local law enforcement agencies and various service providers contracted by the county.
"The grant represents a three-pronged approach to violence against women – counseling for domestic violence and sexual assault, law enforcement and prosecution,” said Karen Bennett, human services administrator. "It’s a community approach and works so well because of the collaborative effort of the STOP grant coordinating team."
The Greene County STOP grant coordinating team includes staff from the county’s 911 center, human services and probation programs, and the district attorney’s, magisterial district judges’ and sheriff’s offices. Additionally, the team includes representatives from the Greene County Women’s Center and Washington Women’s Shelter; Cumberland Township, Pennsylvania State and Waynesburg Borough police; Southwest Regional Medical Center; Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services C.A.R.E. Center; and Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services.
Greene County has received the grant every year since 1997 and has used the funds to create community initiatives, including outreach and education, arrest and prosecute perpetrators and provide needed counseling to women age 14 and older.
"This grant is awarded based on our history and what we’ve previously done with it," Bennett said. "We’ve always utilized the funding properly and efficiently to ensure that women who are being victimized are being taken care of."
"We’re excited to receive the funding award," Bennett added. "The funding will allow Greene County to continue working with this population."
The STOP (Services Training Officers Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program was authorized under the federal Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and reauthorized and amended in 2000 and 2005, according to the Office on Violence Against Women Web site. The program promotes advocacy, services and improving the criminal justice system’s response to domestic violence crimes, according to the Web site.
For more information on the Greene County STOP grant, call 724-852-5276.
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For general information, please contact the Information Services at 724-852-5399 / Toll Free: 1-888-852-5399. County Office Building, 93 E. High Street, Waynesburg, PA 15370
