LAWRENCE COUNTY – Hoosier Uplands has teamed up with Joe Dibert, Case Manager of Lawrence County Probation Department, for a Domestic Violence Community Awareness project, to help improve the way victims of abuse are assisted, with the donation of $4,800 to better reach the community and become proactive against domestic violence.
Dibert shared with the Lawrence County Council a report done by the CDC in 2010 that shared a comprehensive report on domestic violence in Lawrence County and what the problem is, and according to Dibert, it needs to change.
“Domestic violence in this community is out of control,” said Dibert. “It’s cultural, it’s accepted, it’s not right, and we are not doing enough as a community as a whole. We’re just not responding effectively, either as a system or a community as no one wants to deal with this subject. We need to listen to the victims, we need to listen to the data, and we need to do something different.”
Dibert, along with other individuals, started a coalition to get a better grasp on the situation, and how to better assist the victims of domestic abuse, because it currently leaves the victims on the backburner.
“Following the report from the CDC helped establish the domestic violence court, but that only handles one side of the issue, the perpetrator,” Dibert said. “What are we doing for the victims? They are left out to dry sometimes, and it causes them to not trust the system. We need to do better as a community.”
The coalition created an opportunity for victims to report anonymously how they have felt abandoned or left out to dry once they are entered into the system.
“In our report one of the main issues is how these victims are being treated at all stages,” said Dibert. “At the law enforcement stage, where the next handoff is going to be, to the prosecutor and victim advocacy, and services in the community. This grant is going to go to the service aspect of the problem, to better assist them and ensure that we are on their side, not the one who hurt them.”
The $4,800 received will go towards electronic billboards to send the message to the community. There will be four billboards used in a donation effort to cover the initiative for the first month, and the donation from Hoosier Uplands will fund two of the billboards, or one larger billboard, for three additional months.
Over the last two years, Hoosier Uplands has partnered with the Lawrence County Probation Department for a total of $14,800 in donations.
