Carolyn PenceWorking to provide a new hope in the Columbia Basin

MOSES LAKE — Through the doors at New Hope Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services are stories. Stories of pain, grief and sorrow. But also through the doors at New Hope are stories of resilience, recovery and, as the name of the agency suggests, hope. Carolyn Pence says the success stories of people who come to New Hope make the hours she puts in as director of the organization worth it.

A transplant to eastern Washington, Pence grew up in Aberdeen, Wash. and attended St. Martin’s University in Lacey, graduating with a degree in criminal justice. After college she worked in numerous different private law offices from 1989 to 2006, which is when she started working at the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office as the Traffic Safety Task Force coordinator.

“So I did a lot of public education, community awareness, impaired driving, bicycle safety, child passenger safety type of things. I worked with the schools and community groups and the Navy, because there is a Navy base there,” she explained. “So I worked with the Navy on educating sailors, especially when they came back. They would come back and we would run them through safety training.”

Pence’s move to the Columbia Basin came in 2009, when she landed a job with the Grant County Prevention and Recovery Center. She eventually took the helm as director at New Hope about five years later in 2014. As head of the organization, Pence is tasked with overseeing the list of services New Hope provides the community at large. The main areas New Hopes focuses on is domestic violence, sexual assault and crime victim services to Grant and Adams counties.

The 2013 census put Grant County’s population at 91,878, while Adams County came it at 19,067. Doing that math, that’s 110,095 people spread out between the two counties. New Hope employs six full-time advocates to serve that large population, which Pence says is quite the undertaking for her and her staff.

“We are understaffed. At one point we had double that staff, but it’s all based on grant funding,” she explained. “We receive funds from different state agencies depending on the service. So the Department of Social and Health Services does our shelter grant, the Department of Commerce has money for the sexual assault and crime victims. We are given a certain amount of money. So given that pot of money we have to look at the services we can provide.”

Current funding makes it possible for New Hope to employ Pence, the six advocates, an accounting employee and an advocate at New Hope’s confidential emergency domestic violence shelter. Pence primarily oversees the grants the agency receives, making sure the money is being spent the right way and New Hope’s resources are being maximized to their full potential.

But the job doesn’t stop there, outreach is key in Pence’s position. From communication with other community agencies, such as the Housing Authority of Grant County or the OIC of Washington, to looking for new grants, Pence has a full schedule. But when it comes down to it, meeting the needs of the people who come to New Hope makes it all worth it to Pence and New Hope staff.

“We look at the needs of the client. The needs of the survivor. What are their needs? And then we work on coordinating services,” she said. “So I make sure that happens and that we can maintain or enhance those relationships.”

Relationships are key above all else at New Hope. Through the doors of New Hope come people who are struggling with often times unimaginable pain from past traumas, which is then relayed to the agency’s advocates. New Hope is a different kind of a workplace, where it would be nearly impossible to not take your work home with you and not concern yourself about what happened when you not working. Pence described what the advocates at New Hope experience as “vicarious trauma.”

“They hear what happened to these people, whether it was a husband who held a gun to his wife’s head in front of their children or somebody whose child is sexually assaulted by a family member or close family friend,” Pence said. “It’s hard to not take those stories home, because all these people (advocates) have family members. I have to say this, this is the most dedicated and passionate group of people I have ever been around.”

Sure, the staff at New Hope are dedicated to their jobs and do everything they can to be gateways to healing and recovery. But they can’t do it all alone. Pence encouraged anyone who is looking to donate items to the agency or give back in some way to contact New Hope first at 509-764-8402 and see where there is a need.