PORT TOWNSEND — A program that is a joint collaboration between Dove House and the Jefferson County Juvenile and Family Court received a $20,000 grant to help cut the risk of homelessness for young woman.
The grant was awarded by the Fund for Women & Girls.
The program, Preventing Homelessness, is a new collaboration between Dove House Advocacy Services and the Jefferson County Juvenile and Family court, aimed at young women between the ages of 16 and 19.
The Fund for Women & Girls spent a year deciding on how to best use the funds they raised from the Wearable Art Show.
“Research, interviews and polling identified the countywide affordable housing shortage as the area where the Fund’s contribution could have the most helpful impact,” according to a press release from the Fund for Women & Girls.
The grant will be distributed over two years and the collaborative team hopes “to prevent young women from becoming homeless, or increase program participants’ ability to remain housed, through a combination of classes for skill and self-esteem building, financial assistance to obtain resources, job and housing search assistance and more,” the release said.
The team hopes to enroll eight to 15 young women in the two years of the grant into the courses, to help them become self-sufficient, stable and healthy community members, renters or homeowners, employees, parents and neighbors, the release said.
“The Fund for Women & Girls is a field of interest fund of the Jefferson Community Foundation,” the release said. “Its mission is to provide funding, information and connection to nonprofit organizations that support the safety, security, equality and empowerment of women and girls.”
A court official said she looks forward to working with Dove House, which provides shelter and support services for domestic violence victims.
“We already have a great working relationship with the Dove House, so we’re really excited to partner with them in this venture to support women and girls in our community,” said Kelli Dillingham-Parcher, alternative juvenile detention manager for Jefferson County.
“Unfortunately we share some of the same clients in the world that we work in, but we have great intentions to be able to serve those young ladies to make sure they’re not falling into homelessness and that they’re being safe and healthy and protected within our community.”
Bekka Bloom, development administrative assistant for Dove House, who led the writing of the grant, was unavailable for comment Friday afternoon.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
