The Division of Community Development's Domestic Violence Allocation Committee awarded $630,000 to seven projects to protect victims of domestic violence across the state.
Victims of violence in Davis County will have a facility closer to home. Currently, those feeling they're in potentially explosive domestic situations must go to Ogden or Salt Lake City for shelter. An award of $24,000 to the Davis Citizens Coalition Against Violence will help construction of a $2.3 million, 26,000-foot shelter to house 36 women and children in Davis County. Domestic-violence cases in Davis County went from 1,573 reported in 1992 to 1,863 in 1993.The Dove Center in St. George received $36,000 to serve Washington County. It also received $19,000 in critical needs housing money to support the projected facility cost of $200,000. Half that amount has been pledged by an anonymous donor.
Seekhaven, a three-bedroom home in Moab used as a refuge from domestic violence, was awarded $4,000. In 1991 311 people sought shelter there; that number rose to 882 in 1993.
Ichthos of Park City was given $80,000 as part of a complicated $1.2 million package that will result in construction of a 14-bed facility for homeless women and children who have suffered abuse or who can no longer be safe in their homes. Other funding sources include the Utah Housing Trust Fund, tax credits from the Utah Housing Finance Agency, Deer Valley Resort, the Episcopal Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Park City Association of Realtors, Park City Municipal Corp., Summit County, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle and labor unions and local suppliers. The project should be completed by the end of September.
The South Valley Sanctuary in West Jordan, which will shelter refugees of domestic violence from Draper, Midvale, Murray, Sandy, South Jordan, West Jordan, West Valley City and unincorporated Salt Lake County, was given $250,000 toward a project expected to cost $785,000. Construction should be finished in March.
An existing 32-bed facility in Ogden known as "Your Community Connection of Ogden/Northern Utah" was awarded $10,000 to help counter heavy facility use. In 1993, the shelter helped 566 survivors of domestic violence.
The YWCA shelter in Salt Lake City served 1,393 women and children last year.