Gov. Shutdown Affecting Domestic Violence Services

The partial federal government shutdown has affected Upper Cumberland domestic violence service providers.

Rachel Bruning is the Executive Director of the Crossville-based Avalon Center. She said the shutdown has impacted a majority of the non-profit’s federal grant funding.

“Due to the shutdown those monies have been frozen,” Bruning said, “and so we are not able to ask for the reimbursement that we get from the government to continue our operations and the services we provide victims of violence.”

Bruning said Avalon can no longer pay the staff and must cut down on specific services.

“We generally provide an extensive court advocacy program in the seven counties that we serve. Where we have advocates go out with victims who are trying to get orders of protection,” Bruning said. “Or they are there because their abuser was arrested for a domestic assault charge. And because of the wide variety of travel included with that, that is not something we can provide.”

Upper Cumberland Family Justice Center Director Amy Stockwell said her agency works closely with regional non-profits, including Genesis House and the Avalon Center.

“Some of our nonprofit partners, if the shutdown goes on much longer, [they] will probably have to maybe think about maybe reducing the number of their staff,”  Stockwell said. “So we are not looking forward to that, because we know that will have a huge effect on the clients that we see at the family justice center.”

Stockwell said regular operations within the Family Justice Center aren’t being directly affected at this time.

“The shutdown to this point hasn’t had any great effect or I guess any highly visible effects on clients at the Family Justice Center,” Stockwell said. “We don’t predict that we will have to do anything different our services or our hours or employees or anything like that because we are part of the county budget. So we use our grants to reimburse our budget amount.”

In the meantime, Avalon Center says it will continue to provide emergency services for domestic violence victims. Stockwell said her agency will do what it can to pick up the slack.

“It’s just really sad,” Stockwell said. “I mean these are people we work with every day. So for them not to be here and have their particular knowledge and expertise area, that would be a challenge for us. But of course, we are going to do whatever we can.”

Stockwell said an extended shutdown could impact future budgeting and personnel decisions at the Family Justice Center.