20 Years of Haven Help Hope
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20 Years of Haven Help Hope |
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On December 10, 1984 Harbor House Domestic Abuse Programs first opened its doors to families experiencing domestic violence. Throughout 2004, we will be reflecting back on those 20 years, taking a look at how far we have come and sharing thoughts for our vision of the years to come.
Harbor House has a unique history in that we began as a program of the Outagamie County Department of Human Services. One of only two programs in the state connected to County Government, our relationship with the County was the cornerstone on which we were able to build a promising future. Here is how it all began:
In June of 1984, the Outagamie County Department of Social Services (now Health & Human Services) agreed to establish countywide programming for domestic abuse services. The main focus at that time was the establishment of a shelter and a Domestic Abuse Program Advisory/Planning Committee. The committee, representing the broad public interests in Outagamie County, took on the responsibilities of program development, implementation, and ongoing monitoring.
Throughout the summer and fall, the committee, along with Social Services personnel, worked to secure a shelter facility, hire staff, and increase public awareness and support. On December 10, 1984, the doors of Harbor House were opened to battered women and their children.
Within a few years it became evident that the original Harbor House, a two-bedroom facility located adjacent to the courthouse, did not adequately meet the needs of the many victims seeking services. After a long search for a more adequate existing building, it was decided to build a new Harbor House. Located in the town of Grand Chute, the new six-bedroom (capacity of 20) Harbor House opened its doors on April 10, 1989. Since 1989, all program areas have increased by more than 50 percent.
Throughout 1992 and 1993, the privatization of the program was studied in detail. It was concluded that this course of action was the best way to meet the growing community need of providing services to combat domestic abuse.
In 1995, the program began a two-year transition period to become a private non-profit agency by 1/1/97. For 2 years, staff, board and Department of Health & Human Services personnel worked together to explore issues such as funding, public relations, legal issues, personnel concerns, and facility needs in detail. On January 1, 1997, we became Harbor House Domestic Abuse Programs, Inc., a new private non-profit agency. In 1998, Harbor House opened an outreach program in Chilton to better serve the needs of Calumet County families. All agency services, with the exception of shelter, are also provided at the Chilton location. Given the increasing demands for shelter and services and after a decade in its six-bedroom location, Harbor House concluded that its facility was too small to meet the growing needs of the families in our area.
In 1998, Harbor House began discussing its space needs with United Health (now ThedaCare), which was then developing new use plans for Peabody Manor, a skilled-care nursing facility located in Appleton. In early 1999, after consideration by both organization, ThedaCare agreed to transfer the Peabody property to Harbor House. In March of 2000, Harbor House kicked off a capital campaign to raise $2.9 million to redesign and renovate the facility to meet growing demands for shelter, to expand existing services, and to develop new programs in response to regional needs. On September 5, 2001, Harbor House moved to its current location at 720 W. Fifth St. in Appleton.
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20 Years Ago |
Today |
| Harbor House Served 228 women and children in shelter for 1664 days of care. | Harbor House served 413 women and children in shelter for 11,237 days of care - an increase of 81% in the number of people served, while days of care provided have increased more than 5-fold. |
| The average shelter stay was one week. | The average shelter stay is 27 days. |
| Harbor House had no specialized programming for children who witness domestic abuse. | Harbor House has a comprehensive Children's Program that provides individual and group support, advocacy and education to 500 residents and non-resident children and over 5000 children and teens in the classroom. |
| Harbor House received less than 2 crisis calls per day. | Harbor House receives more than 14 crisis calls per day. |
| Harbor House had no organized Community Education Program. | Harbor House provides information, education, and training to more than 300 service groups and professionals each year. |
| It cost a battered woman over $100 to obtain an order restraining her partner from abusing her and coming to her home for 2 years. | A battered woman no longer has to pay anything for restraining order protection and is entitled to the order for 4 years. |
| If a battered woman called the police to her home, the response was unpredictable, as the abuse she experienced was not always considered a crime. | All 50 states have adopted Mandatory Arrest Laws requiring law enforcement to arrest when domestic violence has occurred. |
| Volunteers donated 5713 hours to Harbor House. | Volunteers have increased their commitment to helping victims of domestic abuse by 54%, donating 8794 hours in 2003. |
| Perpetrators of domestic violence were dealt with inconsistently - often told to take a walk and calm down. | Perpetrators of domestic violence are now held more accountable for their crimes, through an organized Domestic Violence Intervention Program coordinated by Harbor House. They are arrested, spend time in jail, and are court-ordered into treatment groups. |
| Every 18 seconds a woman was reported battered in the United States. | Domestic violence has now been identified as the #1 health issue for women in this country and it is estimated that a woman is battered every 9 seconds. |
| Harbor House was a 2-bedroom, 8-bed facility, in a location that was not advertised. | Harbor House is an 8-bedroom, 32-bed facility at 720 W. Fifth St in Appleton. |
We have mixed feelings about the statistics mentioned above. Domestic violence and our work to end it is always a mixed bag of good and bad. Good that we have more services, better laws, and more space in which to provide services. Bad in that the problem still exists. It is always a question of whether more women are being battered today versus 20 years ago, or are we doing a better job of making it safe for battered women to come forward, speak up, and ask for help. We believe it is a little bit of both.
The need for crisis services is still clearly needed. Harbor House has been in its current location for less than 3 years and already we have seen a sharp increase in the request for 24-hour safe shelter. The days of care provided just in the last year rose by over 40 percent. Harbor House is now facing an over-capacity situation on a regular basis. During the last 5 months of 2003, all 32 of the beds in our shelter were occupied over 60 percent of the time, with daily shelter census reaching the forties and fifties. Our need for additional shelter beds seems imminent. Harbor House will be working to more clearly identify and respond to this need in 2004.