New Hope making a difference with domestic violence, sexual assault victims

MOSES LAKE — It’s the type of business you wish didn’t exist, not because they don’t do good work, but because of the reason for their services.

But domestic violence and sexual assault does exist and the national numbers are alarming.

An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year, according to information from the 2003 report titled Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States.

U.S. Department of Justice statistics show females who are ages 20-24 are at the greatest risk of nonfatal intimate partner violence.

More than one in three women (35.6 percent) and more than one in four men (28.5 percent) in the U.S. having experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, according to National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2010 Summary Report.

The Columbia Basin is not without its share, but there is an operation offering hope to Grant and Adams counties. In fact that’s the name — the New Hope Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Crime Victim Services.

New Hope moved into its new location at 604 W. Third Ave., Suite B in February, and christened the new place with a ribbon cutting on Wednesday to make official. The turnout in support was as impressive as the work they do. The numbers speak for themselves, but they’re not just figures on a sheet of paper. They’re human beings looking for a safe place and that’s what New Hope is all about.

“If we have healthy families, kids are going to mirror what they learn from their parents,” New Hope director Carolyn Pence said. “I am ecstatic with what’s going on here and that we have community support. We partner with law enforcement. We partner with the hospitals. We partner with other social services agencies. All of us together are able to help our clients.”

According to the Department of Social and Health Services 2015 shelter report, Grant and Adams counties had 115 clients stay in the emergency shelter, 75 of which were under the age of 17. The non-residential caseload reached 392.

What makes the staff motivated is the service it can provide to the shattered lives of those they serve. They do in fact provide new hope to an age old disturbing trend.

Legal and Community Advocate Trisha Glenn has been on staff 10 years. She said she does feel like the facility is making headway.

“Every case is different. A lot of our clients just want to know that they’re not alone,” Glenn said. “Our world is changing and women are becoming more and more involved in leadership roles. With the Latino community, there’s definitely culturally issues, but there’s a lot of women in that community that aren’t putting up with it. We do have those success stories where the client is living on her own and the kids are in a nonviolent environment. Sometimes they pop in and tell us how our services have helped them. Sometimes they come back and volunteer because they want to give back, and those are the cases where we know we’ve made a difference.”

As she stood there in a room full of well-wishers and people from the community casting support to the cause, legal community advocate Tara Dieng looked at the numbers print-out with an insider’s perspective. They weren’t just figures on a page, they were human beings.

“One is too many,” she said in reference to the statistics. “Every number is a person that we’ve somehow impacted their lives or the lives of their children. We provide assistance to victims of domestic assault and sexual assault and we’re here on a 24-7 basis. We have our hotline, so we can be reached.”

New Hope provides educational tools, assists men as well as women in their struggles. It makes referrals to other agencies that can provide support, emergency shelter, food or clothing. New Hope also provides peer support groups.

For more information log on to www.cvsc8.org. The local number is 509-764-8402 and the 24-hour crisis hotline is 888-288-9221.