COLUMBUS — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost today announced his office distributed nearly $1 million in funding to domestic violence shelters and coalitions across the state to assist battered men, women and children in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While we have been asked to stay at home, sometimes home isn’t the safest place,” Yost said. “Thanks to the General Assembly, this money will be used to keep life-saving services available to those who need to escape dangerous environments.”

The $950,000 in domestic violence grants and statewide training grants has been awarded evenly amongst 48 shelters across the state with an earmarked 10 percent ($95,000) going to the statewide domestic violence coalition. The Ohio Domestic Violence Network, a federally-recognized coalition for domestic violence programs in the state, received the training grant so that they can help ensure recipients of the funding abide by federal and state standards for providing trauma-informed services for survivors.

“For the first time ever, Ohio’s domestic violence programs have a stable source of funding from the state’s general fund,” said Mary O’Doherty, executive director of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. “We greatly appreciate the leadership of Rep. Laura Lanese (R-Grove City) who led the effort to make this happen. We also want to thank the Attorney General’s Office for supporting our work and being willing to administer these funds, and, most important of all, the General Assembly for including the line item in Ohio’s budget.”

Funds disbursed will be used to further the recipients’ mission of providing services, including prevention services, to survivors and co-survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and/or stalking.

The 48 domestic violence shelters who received funding are:
• Crossroads Crisis Center (Allen County)
• Appleseed Community Mental Health Center (Ashland)
• HomeSafe, Inc. (Ashtabula)
• My Sisters Place (Athens)
• Auglaize County Crisis Center (Auglaize)
• Tri-County Help Center (Belmont)
• YWCA of Hamilton (Butler)
• Harbor Point (Carroll, Tuscarawas)
• Project Woman (Clark)
• First Step – Coshocton (Coshocton)
• Domestic Violence & Child Advocacy Center (Cuyahoga)
• Shelter From Violence (Darke)
• Turning Point (Delaware, Marion)
• Safe Harbour (Erie)
• The Lighthouse (Fairfield)
• Choices (Franklin)
• Ohio Domestic Violence Network (Franklin)
• WomenSafe (Geauga)
• Family Violence Prevention Center (Greene)
• Haven of Hope (Guernsey)
• YWCA of Cincinnati (Hamilton, Preble)
• Open Arms (Hancock)
• The Center for Child and Family Advocacy (Henry)
• Highland County Domestic Violence (Highland)
• New Directions (Knox)
• Forbes House (Lake)
• Lawrence County Domestic Violence (Lawrence)
• The Center for New Beginnings (Licking)
• TCN Behavioral Health Services (Logan)
• Bethany House (Lucas)
• Compass Family & Community Services (Mahoning)
• Our Home (Mercer)
• Family Abuse Shelter (Miami)
• YWCA of Dayton (Montgomery)
• Transitions, Inc. (Muskingum)
• Haven House (Pickaway)
• Pike County Partnership Against Domestic Violence (Pike)
• Family & Community Services (Portage, Trumbull)
• The Domestic Violence Shelter (Richland)
• Ross County Coalition Against Domestic Violence (Ross)
• Southern Ohio Domestic Violence Task Force (Scioto)
• New Choices (Shelby)
• Alliance Area Domestic Violence (Stark)
• Battered Women’s Shelter (Summit)
• YWCA of Van Wert (Van Wert)
• ARCS of Warren County (Warren)
• Eve, Inc. (Washington)
• One Eighty (Wayne)
• The Cocoon (Wood)

The Ohio Attorney General’s Crime Victim Services Section works with partners to award this grant funding.