Centre Safe will bring attention to domestic violence in October by illuminating downtowns of Centre County in purple and through an exhibit that illustrates the impacts of abuse and available resources.
On Tuesday, the Centre County Board of Commissioners adopted a proclamation declaring October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in the county, aligning with the nationally recognized awareness month.
Throughout the month, the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte will be lit in purple, while streetlights in downtown Bellefonte and downtown State College and the gazebo at Fountain Park in Millheim will be adorned with purple lights as well.
“We’re shining a light on domestic violence,” Dawn McKee, special projects coordinator for Centre Safe, said during Tuesday’s commissioners meeting.
At each of the locations, signs will be displayed with information to raise awareness about domestic violence, McKee added.
The State College-based nonprofit — which provides services for survivors of sexual violence, relationship violence and stalking and works to eliminate such violence — also will display the “Empty Place at the Table” exhibit at each of the four YMCA of Centre County branches.
The exhibit has 14 place-settings, one for each victim who was killed as a result of domestic violence in Centre County from 1998 to 2017.
“When you think about it, when someone is murdered as a result of domestic violence, they leave an empty place at their family’s table, their friend’s table,” McKee said. “So this display has all the place settings and the story behind each victim that was murdered without mentioning their names.”
The “Empty Place at the Table” exhibit is currently on display at the Moshannon Valley YMCA until Oct. 3. After that it will be at the State College YMCA from Oct. 3-10; the Bellefonte YMCA from Oct. 10-17; and the Penns Valley YMCA from Oct. 17-24.
A single place setting also will be on display at locations including restaurants, hair salons, libraries and government offices around the county to explain the exhibit, along with a brochure that tells the victims stories.
“Places where people will see them and understand that they are not alone, that they have a lot of support here in Centre County,” McKee said. “We want anyone who is experiencing domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse to know they are not alone. There’s a whole community of people and organizations that are here to support them.”
Anne Ard, executive director of Centre Safe, said collaborative work among local agencies and governments has produced “concrete and tangible results” in assisting survivors and combatting domestic violence.
Centre County now has three federal grants to address domestic violence, Ard said.
A long-standing grant “to encourage criminal justice response,” is held by the State College Police Department in collaboration with Centre Safe. It funds the victim-centered intensive case management unit, which is the dedicated domestic violence unit in the police department.
Centre Safe also has a large transitional housing grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. Last week the DOJ announced a new, $600,000 grant over three years to support to Centre Safe’s Civil Legal Representation Project — which provide legal services to survivors in civil litigation, including divorce, custody, support, housing and Title IX matters — and to ensure it reaches rural areas of the county.
“Centre County gets those grants not because we’re great grant writers, although we’re pretty good, but we get those grants because of the level of collaboration and the federal government can see that we work together to address domestic and sexual violence,” Ard said. “The way we do that is holistic, it is collaborative and it makes a difference in our community.”
In 2019 Centre Safe provided domestic violence services to 1,021 people.
While statistics vary, a quarter to a third of women and 15% to 25% of men experience some form of domestic violence in their lifetimes.
District Attorney Bernie Cantorna noted that studies have shown an increase in domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Domestic violence is going to flourish in isolation,” Cantorna said. “We’ve been in very troubling times and many experts believe that remediation, social distancing and the pandemic have exacerbated those issues. It’s really important that people know that there are resources here in our community and that there is help.”
It’s also important, Cantorna said, that community members reach out to connect family and friends experiencing domestic violence with services that can help them.
“You have to be there for the individuals,” he said. “There are advocates and experts at Centre Safe. There are services through your health systems and you need to be there to help people when that opportunity comes to get them services and to keep them safe. We’re very, very lucky to have the resources we have here at Centre Safe and the advocates there and it’s very important that we’re aware of this issue.”
Commissioner Steve Dershem applauded local nonprofit and governmental agencies for their long-running work in combatting domestic violence.
“This effort to address this problem has been going on for a long time but I think it’s pretty obvious there are not too many communities that are ahead of us in the amount of effort we’ve put in to educate people but also just let our community know this is not tolerated in Centre County,” Dershem said. “I think it’s largely due to the efforts of a lot of organizations.”
And that work doesn’t stop at the end of October.
“It’s 365, this work,” Commissioner Michael Pipe said. “The lifting it up this month to highlight the work and then to keep going throughout the year is so important.”
As work by agencies like Centre Safe to help survivors and end domestic violence perseveres year-round, so too will efforts to raise awareness about the issue, McKee said.
“Agencies, communities, faith communities are coming together to help raise awareness not only around domestic violence, but also Sexual Assault Awareness Month [in April],” McKee said. “We decided as a collaborative group that we weren’t going to stop at the end of the month. We’re going to continue this awareness raising throughout forever, as long as it takes.”
Centre Safe’s 24-hour hotline can be reached 814-234-5050 or toll free at 1-877-234-5050. Web chat and text messaging services also are available 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For more information about Centre Safe’s programs and services, visit www.centresafe.org.
