Saturday, April 20, 2024
Mission Granbury was recently awarded a $30,000 Swalm grant from the Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) to be used for childcare services.
The Swalm grant will be used to fill the crucial financial gap of childcare services for survivors who are simultaneously seeking safety from abusers and looking for employment as they rebuild their life.
“We need childcare at the shelter,” said Dusti Scovel, executive director of Mission Granbury. “When our residents — victims of domestic violence or sexual assault —needed to go to court, needed to go find a job or they have found a job, but they didn’t have childcare yet, we didn't have a way to actually pay for (childcare). So, we asked for the money to be used specifically to pay for childcare for victims of domestic violence who are residents in our shelter, or who are part of our nonresidential victims' assistance program, so that we could help them.”
Mission Granbury was one of 12 domestic violence agencies chosen to receive a grant, totaling more than $300,000.
“We were very, very surprised and very excited when we were chosen as one of only 12 recipients because we've applied for it before and not gotten it, and we've applied for it before and received partial funding, so we were overjoyed to receive full funding for our grant this year,” Scovel said.
“Every year, the applications for TCFV’s Swalm Grants provide a crucial snapshot of the needs of Texas’ domestic violence service providers,” said CEO of TCFV Gloria Aguilera Terry in the news release. “As the leading and uniting organization for family violence services in Texas, TCFV is privileged to present the 2021 Swalm Grants, and we’re very proud to be able to present the majority of these grants at 100% of the applicants’ requested amount.”
Swalm grantees are selected annually in a competitive application process by at-large TCFV board members, according to the release. This year, a total of 27 Texas providers applied for financial assistance from the Swalm grants regarding infrastructure projects, prevention services and flexible funding purposes, which cover childcare costs, legal services, survivors’ (frequently forced) debt, evictions and rent.
Of the 12 grants awarded, five are intended for infrastructure projects, three are dedicated to improving prevention services and four are purposed for flexible funding. Three agencies in particular exemplified the most urgent needs of each category.
Mission Granbury is expected to receive the funds for the grant sometime next month.
“We have never had funding for our childcare before so we are more than excited. Now we can hire people to come in and help watch the children in our shelter while the women or the moms attend support groups,” Scovel added. “It's going to change so much about what we can do for our residents. With confidence, they can accept a job knowing that childcare is not going to be something they have to worry about.”
