Safe Harbor of Northeast Kentucky Inc

We need your help!

Safe Harbor has been a beacon of hope for countless women and families in the Appalachian counties of Boyd, Greenup, Carter, Elliott and Lawrence in northeastern Kentucky. Domestic violence is at epidemic proportions in the region, caused by a combination of factors, including generational acceptance, isolation and fear. Since it was founded 30 years ago, Safe Harbor has helped more than 15,000 victims and their families redefine their lives and create futures free of violence. Safe Harbor provides a complete "Continuum of Care" for its program participants, which includes three levels of care: Emergency Shelter, Transitional Shelter and Program, and Permanent, Supportive Housing (apartments), all on Safe Harbor's campus in Ashland, KY.

Safe Harbor is housed in a former state tuberculosis hospital, built in the mid-1940s, and ancillary buildings. The former nurses' dormitory serves as the Emergency Shelter, and the former administrators' housing forms the Transitional Shelter. The former hospital -- now called Harbor Hill -- is utilized for Safe Harbor's administrative offices, meeting rooms, counseling offices, child care area, cafeteria/kitchen, along with 34 housing units that offer 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom apartments for former victims of domestic violence. The apartments are administered through HUD.

This three-tiered program gives victims and their children the opportunity to regain their lives through a carefully structured program which includes:

> Emergency Shelter, which treats victims' and their children's immediate physical and emotional needs.  The average stay in the Emergency Shelter is 30 to 90 days. There is no charge to victims for any services at the Emergency Shelter.

> Transitional Shelter and Program, which is for women who choose to stay in Safe Harbor's program and who are out of the emergency phase.  This program allows up to two years residency while the individual works on a life plan (continued intensive case management, education planning, re-entering the workplace, finding permanent housing, financial literacy training for victims as well as their children, etc.).

> Permanent supportive housing, which focuses on continued growth of independent living skills, such as budgeting, credit repair, etc.

The average daily residential census at Emergency and Transitional ranges between 50 and 95 women and children (adult male victims of domestic violence are housed off campus).

While intervention with victims is a large part of our work, we also are dedicated to preventing domestic violence through our community outreach and education programs.  Prevention has become a critical element of our overall mission and is reflected in Safe Harbor's mission statement: Safe Harbor is dedicated to eliminating domestic violence through prevention, education and intervention.

In the past decade, Safe Harbor's residential and non-residential programs have experience a dramatic rate of growth, which has seen the in-house Emergency Shelter census reach as many as 100 women and children in a facility that had a bed capacity of 44. After years of fundraising and a grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank, work is underway to renovate and expand the building to increase the bed capacity to 64. Also included in the construction is the addition of an elevator to make the three-story building handicap-accessible, building-wide sprinkler system, new security system, new heating, cooling, electrical, plumbing systems, etc. In addition to an increased bed capacity, the renovated shelter will include much-needed private counseling and group work areas, which will help the healing process for the victims who find themselves homeless due to the repercussions of domestic violence.

Safe Harbor's services include, but are not limited to, the following: safe and secure emergency shelter, 24-hour crisis hotline staffed by certified domestic violence advocates, food and clothing assistance, legal/court/medical and victim advocacy, housing assistance, individual and family counseling, drug and alcohol education, children's programming, domestic violence support groups and education, life skills education, referral assistance, safety planning education, educational and career assistance, ongoing victim treatment services and follow-up services.

Although we have raised the required match to underwrite construction costs, we need your help to furnish the interior of the renovated and expanded Emergency Shelter.  Please help us give the region's most at-risk families the opportunity to achieve violence-free, independent lives.  Your gift to Safe Harbor will be appreciated and utilized for many years to come.