The $150,000 will be used to prevent future instances of violence, officials say.
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published August 13, 2003
Pasco County's domestic violence task force members learned Tuesday that they've won a $150,000 federal grant to help prevent violence in the home.
The grant money will not help current victims of domestic violence, but rather will be spent on ways to prevent future cases, said Penny Morrill, chief executive officer of Sunrise of Pasco, which handled the grant paperwork for the task force.
"Before we had nothing to do this prevention work," Morrill said. "I'm excited about it."
The task force, made up of social service workers, law enforcement officials, educators and judges, now will work with the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence on devising specific programs on which to spend the money, said Terri O'Brien, director of education at Sunrise.
The programs could target boys, men, teens, girls and minority populations, O'Brien said.
Between 3.3-million and 10-million children in the United States are exposed to domestic violence each year, according to a 1999 study by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.
Children exposed to spousal abuse suffer low self-esteem, depression, poor health, sleep disorders, poor impulse control and are at higher risk for problems in school, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual behavior, running away, isolation, loneliness, fear, and suicide, according to Children of Battered Women, a book by Peter Jaffe, Davis Wolfe and Susan Kaye Wilson.
Six out of 26 applicants in Florida won the grants - each getting $50,000 a year for three years from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Pasco programs funded by the grant will be designed and operating as soon as possible, definitely before the end of the year, Morrill said.
- Saundra Amrhein covers social services in Pasco County. She can be reached in east Pasco at 352 754-6108, ext. 23, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6108. Her e-mail address is amrhein@sptimes.com
