5.4. SR 12-07-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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RIVERS OF. HOPE (612) 441-0792 (612) 682-6424 1-800-439-2642 Elk River Office Buffalo Office Outside the Metro Sherburne County Wright County dialing area November 23, 1998 Dear Mayor and City Council Members, Rivers of Hope, the domestic abuse advocacy agency for Wright and Sherburne Counties, is asking you to consider contracting for services or contributing to the emergency services we provide residents of Elk River in 1999. We are appreciative of the fact that we were made a line item on the city's budget in '98 and we received $2000 for youth advocacy services. This next year we are asking for $5000 from the City of Elk River. Our budget in fiscal 1999 is $289,822.91. Elk River citizens make up 17% of the adults we see, youth are not included in that number and we have advocates working in every secondary school in the Elk River Area School District. We need the City of Elk River to help us help residents. For nearly ten years we have been providing desperately needed advocacy services to the residents of the cities we serve at no charge. We are finding we cannot continue these efforts without considerable financial support from our communities. The number of victims coming forward, the number of domestic assault arrests made, and the number of residents moving into our counties all work together to heavily tax our capacity for service at Rivers of Hope (ROH). ROH supports staff and volunteers who work and coordinate efforts with area school districts, counseling centers, county social/human services, health providers, criminal justice agencies, probation, attorneys, and medical clinics focusing on services in four primary areas including advocacy and support, criminal justice intervention, community education and youth violence prevention and intervention services. We recognize that those who live with the daily threat of domestic abuse clearly need accessible, supportive, educational and comprehensive local programs. Rivers of Hope provides a vital service to the families who come to us with hope for safety and help in breaking the cycle of domestic violence. In 1998 we began receiving law enforcement arrest and incident reports from the Elk River Police Department with the agreement that we will immediately notify the victim of a domestic assault and offer services. There would be a significant cost for Elk River to provide their own victim services if we were not here. We are accessible 24-hours a day with crisis intervention assistance. Two other cities contributed a total of $6000 to Rivers of Hope last year and the City of Becker has already voted to resign a contract with ROH. It is important to us that Elk River, the city where we spend the most and serve the most residents, financially supports this work on behalf of public safety. Please find enclosed our proposed budget. If there is any more information you require, please call me at 441-0792 and I would be happy to provide it. We have a number of supporters, including many Elk River residents, who would like to see the city be more supportive of crisis intervention services and would be more than willing to attend a city council meeting to discuss it further. If that interests you, please call me at one of the numbers listed above with a date in mind and we will try to accommodate your schedule. If you prefer the form of a contract for services, we would be happy to provide a sample document. Please respond to this request as soon as possible so we know if you need more information and whether we can count on you to be part of the solution of domestic violence costs in our community. Margaret Ostman, Executive Director To Build a Comtnunity Free of Domestic Violence Through Advocacy and Education