A Dane County official pledged $2 million in the county’s budget Tuesday to finish a new domestic violence victims’ shelter to meet the growing need for support resources in the county.
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi said in a statement he is putting funds in his budget for Domestic Abuse Intervention Services to complete the construction of their new facility on Fordem Avenue in Madison. DAIS runs the county’s only shelter for victims of domestic violence and their children, according to the statement.
Parisi said the shelter is the smallest domestic violence facility in the state and does not have sufficient resources to meet the county’s needs.
“DAIS is $2 million short of the goal that they need to complete construction [of the facility],” Parisi said. “I’ve included that $2 million in my budget to help them get across the finish line.”
Parisi said the issue of domestic violence in the county has been highlighted as more victims step forward and ask for help, increasing the need for the new facility.
DAIS Director Shannon Barry said the new shelter will be four times larger than the current one. She said the increased numbers of victims seeking help from the center has also made the wait list for services longer, a problem a larger shelter will help address.
“This will have a significant impact on our wait list numbers,” Barry said. “We shelter about 550 women, children and men every year, but at the same time, there are about 75 people on the wait list per night.”
Barry said domestic violence is a substantial problem in Dane County. She said 3,000 domestic violence cases a year reach the District Attorney’s office, and DAIS alone currently serves about 1,300 women, children and men.
Although the $2 million will help complete construction of the facility, Barry said DAIS is still in need of funds for operations. Barry said she hopes the Dane County Board would support the addition to the budget.
Parisi said domestic violence is an issue the county needs to face and the county should also be part of the solution.
Parisi said it is important to let local victims know that they are not alone in their struggles. He said Dane County is fortunate because the community will get behind the cause.
“Domestic violence is unfortunately prevalent across the nation,” Parisi said in an interview with The Badger Herald. “It affects people in Dane County just like anywhere else, so I think it’s important that we talk about it, and that we let people know that it is a problem everywhere, even in Dane County.”
Parisi will deliver his budget to the County Board on Oct. 1. The board will introduce the budget as a resolution in an Oct. 3 meeting, and it will likely be adopted in November.
