ISAIAH: GRIP Launches "No More Band-Aids" Campaign

Dear Legislators,

We have a problem.

This past summer we had a frightening experience: our daughter was assaulted. What a nightmare for parents, children, and grandparents! The signs of impending trouble were there but we always put thoughts of something terrible happening out of our mind. And we prayed a lot!

After the assault, we need other people – good people, people who will pray with us and give us hope, people who can give our daughter and her children the help they need. We all need awareness, to know how to look at toxic relationships which are not safe.. Our daughter needs advice from advocates who can help her sort out the why, the where, the when of the legal process; who can walk her through legal paperwork. This is why our daughter needs your help.

Please restore the funding for domestic violence advocacy programs which was cut in the 2001 and 2003 legislative sessions.

Sincerely,

(Name withheld because of pending litigation)
ISAIAH/GRIP Leader from Newman Center Christ Church

ISAIAH’s Great River Interfaith Partnership has launched its “There Are No More Band-Aids” campaign in the St. Cloud region and metro congregations are meeting with legislators to urge them to restore state funding for domestic violence programs.

In 2001, legislators cut $2.6 million from annual funds for Minnesota’s 27 shelters. On any given night across the state, it is common for shelters to be filled to capacity.

In 2003, legislators cut made a 45.6% funding cut which resulted in a $1.2 million funding gap for crime victim services, including programs for children who witness domestic violence.

These cuts have crippled domestic violence programs across the state. One third of Minnesota’s shelters are at risk of closing altogether. Band-aids are struggling to hold together a system of support for the women and children whose lives may be at stake if they stay with an abuser.

For example, at Anna Marie’s, the shelter which serves the 9-county central Minnesota region, these cuts have meant:

Domestic violence is not a private matter; it is a profoundly public matter which affects our entire community.

- It affects the community’s public safety when police resources are used to respond repeatedly to “domestics.”

- It affects the community’s public health when women and children need emergency room care because of abuse.

- It affects the community’s economic well-being when people are forced to miss work because of abuse, when an abuser’s harassment produces fear and tension in the workplace.

- It affects our community’s future when children who witness violence are too traumatized to learn in school, when they grow up accepting and contributing to the “learned behavior.”