A Year of Strength in the Face of Hardship

As we reflect on all that’s happened this year, we can’t help but be impressed with all that our staff and community accomplished, and the strength and resiliency survivors showed us. In March, when families went into stay-at-home orders, communities worldwide faced an increase in domestic violence incidents and a decrease in child abuse reporting. Our staff quickly shifted to offer services remotely. By early April, we were offering a new confidential text and chat line, counseling via telehealth, providing support and legal advice for survivors virtually, sheltering survivors in individual safe housing, and making sure people who were isolated had the food and supplies they needed.

Increased Access

With each change we made in how we offered services, we saw increased access for survivors. On our crisis line, which continued operation without interruption, we were able to offer much-needed support and information for people experiencing houselessness who were cut off from internet access and couldn’t reach other live call-takers. We first offered information about COVID-19 health and safety, then about wildfires and evacuation zones to those callers. Advocates across the agency took more calls from elders in our community who were isolated, grieving, and feeling lonely. Survivors stuck at home with the people who were harming them and people with disabilities could more easily and safely connect with an advocate through our confidential text and chat line. Families and other survivors could access telehealth and support groups without needing to navigate transportation and childcare. During the recent surge in COVID cases, our urban and rural Promotoras helped share important public health information and resources with the Latino community.

• 1,304 messages received July-December on our text and chat line
• School-based parenting group at times tripled in capacity

Housing and Basic Needs

We quickly shifted survivors staying in shelter into alternative housing, at first doubling in capacity. Quarantine and financial hardship meant our staff delivered meals, medications, and hygiene supplies to survivors. Beyond our typical shelter and housing services, we connected with survivors who’d lost wages due to the pandemic and offered rental assistance. During the Clackamas County wildfires, we called survivors to offer emotional support and ensure they were able to evacuate safely. Most recently, we supported Clackamas County Public Health by helping people exposed to COVID be able to quarantine by paying costs of rent, utilities, and food.

• 160 adults and 117 children offered safe shelter
• 74 adults and 152 kids provided with COVID rent relief
• 25 households (~ 70 adults and kids) in November and December received financial help with quarantine costs after COVID exposure

Advocacy

When the pandemic first began, we collaborated with local officials to ensure survivors’ safety needs were considered. We advocated for Measure 26-210, which will provide much-needed funding for homelessness services in the tri-county area. This fall, in collaboration with the Safe Kids Coalition, we campaigned for the Children’s Safety Levy, which would have provided much-needed funding for services for kids experiencing child abuse and neglect, trafficking, and family violence. Most recently, our advocates provided public testimony in support of extending the statewide eviction moratorium until June 2021.

Community Collaboration

Through all this, we witnessed incredible acts that inspired us and moved our hearts. We saw partnering organizations leverage the resources they had to care for those most vulnerable in our community. We saw people reach out to check on one another, make sure they were well, and ask if help was needed. We saw schools place a new emphasis on access to resources—knowing they might be the only connection outside the home for some families. We saw people giving generously, through new partnerships, hybrid events, or by sewing masks, donating extra produce, or stimulus checks. We saw neighbors step in to pay survivors’ rent, deliver groceries, or open their homes for people evacuating wildfires.

Survivors shared with us that though things were scary and uncertain, they had faced fear and uncertainty before, and in some ways, they felt stronger and better able to navigate the challenges in front of them.

It is in the spirit of that communal strength and resiliency that we greet 2021.