Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, October 4, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 4
4.
approve proclamation declaring October 2011 as "domestic violence awareness month."
>> you all look fabulous in purple.
>> [laughter]
>> since I'm on a roll, should I read this, too?
>> yes, sir, that would be great.
it reads whereas the family is the foundation of a safe and healthy community.
it is a goal of our administration for our communities to be safe.
whereas the problem of domestic violence affects all citizens of Travis County, crossing all racial, social, religious, ethnic, geographic and economic groups.
whereas 11 women in Texas died in 2009 as a result of domestic violence.
according to the Texas council on family violence fatalities and in the 2009 report.
the 2009 Texas data indicate that in 61% of the cases perpetrators used firearms to kill their partners.
whereas two women do I died inTravis County in 2009 asa result of domestic violence according to the review team report, issued in December of 2010.
whereas domestic sexual violence is an immense problem in Travis County.
where in 2010 almost 4,805 people received direct services from safe place.
this includes 800 for adults and their children who were provided with emergency shelter.
whereas the Travis County attorney's office find through their protective order division was granted 738 temporary ex parte orders and 604 final protection orders in 2010.
whereas domestic violence is wide-spread, including one in three americans who have witnessed an incident of domestic violence and with an annual cost to u.s.
companies of $3.5 billion, in lost work time, increased health care costs, higher turnover and lower productivity.
whereas the commitment of Travis County is to reduce violence in our homes as well as on our streets.
we urge all citizens to participate in the activities planned by the Austin Travis County family violence task force, safe place and community organizations during this month.
residents should also take this opportunity to educate themselves about the impact of domestic violence in Travis County.
to become familiar with resources and programs available.
let us remember the victims of domestic violence, celebrate survivors and work together to eliminate violence against women and children from our community and I guess to the extent that there's domestic violence against men, we want to be aware and protect that, too, right?
>> yes, sir, that's correct.
>> I had to get that in.
now therefore be it resolved that we, the members of the Travis County Commissioners court, do hereby proclaim October 2011 as domestic violence awareness month and I move approval.
>> second.
>> thank you, judge, Commissioners, I'm carol coleburn director of counseling and education services.
I'm here today with other members of the Austin Travis County family violence task force, including greta gardner to my right, also the chair of the family violence task force and to my left is diane rhoades, the chief program officer of safe place.
we also have representation from Travis County sheriff's office, bruce elfant, precinct 5 constable, his staff and officers are present.
we have u.t.
law school, Texas rio grande legal aide, more ces, more safe place, apd and did I forget anyone?
roger jeffreys?
justice in public safety.
and we want to thank you so much for claiming October domestic violence awareness month here in Travis County.
this is the first time that -- that the task force has come forward to do a proclamation and we're excited about it this month.
there are a lot of activities planned.
and we would like to encourage everyone in Travis County to promote awareness of domestic violence this month.
and -- and greta, did you want to talk some more about that?
>> I just wanted to say thank you for your commitment and unwielding support of ending domestic violence in Travis County.
I would also like to thank all of the members and supporting agencies of the Austin Travis County family task force.
I asked one question many, many months ago, what are we going to do about domestic violence awareness month.
instead of blank stares, I got about two pages of activities that people wanted to do, we had to cut them back a little bit because it was untenable at the time.
but the passion is amazing.
we're just going to build on this every year.
I wanted to let everyone know that the task force is doing a parade on October 20th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., I will have fliers by the side of the table, we will also be posting far and wide for people to attend.
we will start at the rowing dock at 2418 stratford drive at 5:00 p.m., people can get discounted paddle boards or bring their own paddle boards or kayaks or canoes, and I will also distribute things that will be going on throughout the month as well.
>> dr. Kim, speaking of passion, any comments related to domestic violence?
>> yes, sir, I have a question.
I greatly appreciate all of you.
I support all of you to keep our community perfect.
no position at all.
my
>> [indiscernible] we have a -- so many police, different type of police, probably eight or nine police, kind of police, then your plan is to establish new agencies and hire more employee?
>> no, sir, this is just to bring awareness and to have community events galvanizing everyone around domestic violence, to ending it.
>> you don't have any plan to hire more employees or --
>> no, sir.
>> why domestic violence
>> [indiscernible]
>> October has been domestic violence awareness month for over a decade.
it's a national events.
>> thank you very much.
>> you know, there are -- there are -- these are very alarming statistics and, you know, one death in my opinion is too many.
as far as domestic violence is concerned.
you know, economics, different settings, different situations, spear this type of occurrences, whether of course the temporary protective order, along with the permanent protective orders that are issued are one thing.
but those persons that are listening to us right now, we want to make sure that they have an opportunity to have a safe haven where they can get away from that type of violence.
before something tragic happens.
is there a number somewhere that a person that may listen to us today and say well I'm under this type of -- this type of situation right now, what would they be able to do.
talking about awareness, prevention, how too we prevent the occurrences of these incidents.
what could that person do to get into a safe haven situation just to get out before something tragically happens?
is there a telephone number or something that may be available for that person to escape that type of setting?
>> absolutely.
Commissioner Davis, hi.
I'm diane rhoades again from safe place.
and we -- you know, people can absolutely call our hotline, which is available 24/7 and that number is 267-safe.
>> 267-safe.
>> okie-doke.
>> we would welcome their calls.
in addition for those much us who may not be immediately in that kind of situation, this month we are asking people to stand up and be courageous bystanders.
and to be there for personal support of people who may be experiencing violence in their relationship.
I also wanted to say that because October has been domestic violence awareness month across the country for years, one of the things that I know is that there are a lot of domestic violence agencies where in their county they are the only organization recognizing this month and putting together activities and safe place is well aware of how fortunate we are for our partnership with the Travis County government.
and the Commissioners court in specific.
the support and the activity level and as greta says the passion is amazing and we feel very fortunate.
>> thank you.
>> thank y'all.
>> Commissioner Eckhardt?
>> diane, I know that you have been doing this for so long that it belies how incredibly young you look
>> [laughter]
>> okay thank you.
>> all of you.
I mean it's amazing what doing good work does for your complexion
>> [laughter] but I have three very serious questions.
I would love to hear your thoughts, not necessarily today, but to get more statistics on how -- I absolutely recognize in my own personal experience in the county attorney's office, but also from the statistics as well that unfortunately family violence is prevalent in every segment of society.
>> absolutely.
>> having seen as the Austin american-statesman covered so well, that our poverty rate has gone up significantly over the past 12 years, we're hitting 19% whereas a decade ago it was around 11 or 12%, also with the economic downturn that boosted it three percentage point just in the last year, I know that we are seeing an uptick in the c.p.s.
case docket.
are we seeing an uptick in family violence in our community?
>> we absolutely are.
we ransom numbers this summer because we thought that -- we ran some numbers this summer because we were seeing more calls, we saw a 30% increase this summer in the number of hotline calls we received over last summer.
I spoke with someone from the county attorney's office yesterday who said that sometime in the middle of this month, they will surpass the number of cases that they prosecuted from last year.
so absolutely.
>> that is -- that is startling.
I know that many years ago we saw a fairly significant uptick because people started reporting more.
but that would not explain this uptick because we have been very good for a long time in this community at monitoring the circumstance.
thank you so much for everything that you do.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> we wish to call special attention to this problem during the month of October, but you want us to be aware each and every day of the year.
>> every day.
>> I didn't want to lose that.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
keep up the good work.
>> thank you.
>> thank you all very much.
>> [ applause ]
>> ms. Coleburn?
somebody has to receive this.
>> thank you so much.
thank you.
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