Gallup DV shelter receives grant for housing

By Cindy Yurth
Special to the Times

CHINLE

Gallup’s only domestic violence shelter has received a $668,000 federal grant through the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, effectively doubling its budget and allowing it to provide more long-term services for its clients.

Emily Ellison, Diné, is the executive director of Battered Family Services Inc. She said the nonprofit’s board of directors is both overjoyed and overwhelmed by the large grant.

“This is going to entail a lot of work and a lot of responsibility,” she said. “We basically have to launch a whole new program, with all the forms, policies and personnel that entails.”

The shelter will definitely have to hire some new employees, she added.

In awarding the grant, the coalition, said Ellison, is recognizing that homelessness is often a key component of domestic abuse.

“It’s really hard for a survivor to move on from an abusive relationship if the abuser is providing their home,” she said. “If we’re able to provide a survivor with her own space, that gives her the foundation to build her new life on. Now we have that ability.”

Currently, Battered Families is only able to provide emergency shelter.

While the details of the new housing program are yet to be ironed out, Ellison envisions the organization renting apartments for survivors or, for those who are already in their own homes but having difficulty with the rent or mortgage, temporarily subsidizing them as they work toward finding employment and child care.

“Affordable housing is really tight in Gallup right now,” Ellison said. “We need to build some relationships with landlords so we can get some apartments lined up.”

She stressed that it will take some time to get the program off the ground, but eventually “we’ll be able to help a lot more people.”

While this is a one-time grant, Ellison said once Battered Families establishes the “infrastructure” for the program, it will make it easier to quality for similar grants.

“The Office of Violence Against Women has a variety of large-scale grants like this,” she said. “Once funders see we are in a position to manage this kind of money, they’ll be more likely to award us again.”

Ellison thanked the organization’s “good, very dedicated staff” for its part in helping to secure the grant and keep Battered Families running through the challenging last few years.

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