Washington County and city raise domestic violence awareness

In a set of declarations given Sept. 28 and Oct. 5 by the Washington County Board of Supervisors and Mayor of Washington, respectively, declared October Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“The domestic violence intervention program has worked to end violence in intimate relationships for more than 40 years through the collaborative partnerships,” said Washington Mayor Jaron Rosien in a proclamation. “It is my honor as mayor of the city of Washington to declare October 2021 to be Domestic Violence Awareness month.”

Xiomara Levson said

“I appreciate everybody’s support in the city of Washington, they’ve been very helpful in the service to our clients,” said Xiomara Levson, the Domestic Violence Intervention Program’s Washington County advocate.

DVIP Community Engagement Director Alta Medea-Peters said community support for the program had tangible, visible effects.

“We are incredibly proud of the work our advocates do on behalf of victim survivors every single day and during such a challenging year,” she said. “Of the individuals we served, we had 71% of them permanently housed in safe housing. That is a number that has gone up over the past year that we owe to the support of our communities.”

The Washington County Board of Supervisors passed its own proclamation the week prior.

“(We) hereby proclaim the month of October 2021 to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Washington County, Iowa, and urge all people to work together to eliminate domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking from our community,” the proclamation said.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com