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Houston Area Women’s Center gets federal funding
The Houston Area Women's Center received $600,000 in federal funding to help victims of domestic violence.
HOUSTON - The Houston Area Women's Center (HAWC) is getting more than half a million dollars to help victims with one of the biggest barriers they feel they have to get out of an abusive relationship.
"There are just so many ways in which the legal components of leaving and extricating yourself from a situation that is abusive can prevent you from even beginning to try," said Emilee Whitehurst, HAWC President and CEO.
Those legal services can involve help protective orders, child custody, divorce, and credit.
"If your name was on a lease and you had to flee and then you didn't pay the rent, there's remedies. There's legal remedies for those things," Whitehurst said.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice awarded HAWC $600,000 over three years.
HAWC will work in partnership with the organization Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA).
"What we know is the inability to see a future where you are economically independent can keep people in situations where they are in mortal danger," Whitehurst added.
MORE: Reports of more serious cases of domestic violence during pandemic
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 1 in 6 homicide victims are killed by their partner. Texas accounts for 10 percent of all domestic violence homicides in the country, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
On Thursday, 28-year-old Austin Vance of Willis, Texas was charged with murder. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, he called 911 to say he wanted to turn himself in for shooting his wife.
"This kind of violence is preventable," Whitehurst told FOX 26. "It's predictable and preventable. It's predictable that guns in the home are going to increase that likelihood, it's predictable that people who feel economically trapped are going to make decisions that may put them in unsafe situations."
The National Domestic Violence Hotline reports an abuser with a gun in their home is five times more likely to kill their partner than an abuser who does not have access to a firearm.
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Whitehurst says since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Houston Area Women's Center has seen up to 100 calls a day from victims needing a safety plan to leave their abuser.
She wants any potential victim to know there is help and they are not to blame.
"It is not their fault how somebody else is treating them," Whitehurst stated.
HAWC's hotline can be reached 24/7 at 713-528-2121. The National Domestic Violence hotline is 1-800-799-7233.