Advocates to End Domestic Violence celebrates 40 years in Carson City

Numbers speak volumes: 5,443 survivors, 178,393 nights of safe shelter, 3,640 support groups, 21,840 support group attendees.

These are the ways Advocates to End Domestic Violence has been helping Carson City over the last four decades. This year, Advocates is celebrating its 40th year anniversary, and our community is better because of it.
Executive Director Lisa Lee has been with Advocates for 33 of those 40 years, and has seen it grow and shape itself into the impressive organization it is today.

"Advocates started as a real 'grass roots' cause, mission, agency, and it has evolved with technology and resources to be more encompassing and to be able to meet a broader base of needs," said Lee. "With the largest domestic violence emergency shelter in Northern Nevada, crisis intervention offices, court advocates within the Carson City courthouse, and the thrift shop, Advocates has grown into an all encompassing resource for those in need."

Lee happened upon Advocates as a volunteer, and three decades later, she is now running the operation.

"I initially responded to a 'wanting volunteer' ad in the newspaper, I showed up and was hired," said Lee. "As for staying, I found my passion and it became more than a job; helping victims and their children gave me a purpose."

In the beginning, Advocates was no more than a hotline and a network of volunteer homes that would give shelter to women and children escaping abuse.

In 1983, Advocates opened their first women's shelter in Carson City, and became the bridge for victims to reclaim their lives from abuse.

"The community started Advocates," said Lee. "It was started by concerned citizens who saw the need, and for the first several years it was run by volunteer efforts. To this day, volunteers play a large role within the agency."

The opening of the Classy Seconds expansion is one of the largest projects Advocates has undertaken in recent years, and it's only the beginning of the projects Advocates has envisioned for the future.

"The thrift store gives us a base of funding for operations, and it was phase 1 of 3," said Lee. "Phase 2 involves the design and construction of our crisis intervention office, which will have meeting rooms available for public use. We have begun Phase 2, the office design, and are working on the funding for the construction. Phase 3 will be construction of the emergency shelter, allowing the existing shelter to be converted into long term transitional housing."

However, the thrift store doesn't fund Advocates in its entirety. The majority of Advocates funding comes from grants, and securing them is no easy task.

"Grant funding is roughly half of our agency’s annual budget, it covers a large portion of most of the salaries of the staff that deal directly with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, as well as a large portion of the crisis hotline and emergency shelter operations," said Lee. "It is my primary focus for six months each year."

Without the support of the community, Advocates would cease to exist. Since it began helping survivors in the 80s, Advocates has made a positive change for our community, and it wasn't easy. Volunteers kept it afloat for decades, all because they believed in the cause. Some survivors turn into volunteers themselves, but others simply show up to help for the sake of helping.

"We are always looking for volunteers for our domestic and sexual assault crisis lines, and we are currently implementing a texting hotline," said Lee. "Texting is now playing a large role as a means of contact for those seeking help."

Several times a year, Advocates comes out into the community to raise awareness for various causes close to its heart. The upcoming event, Taste of Downtown, is their largest fundraising annual event, a summer street party, which acts as an economic driver for the businesses involved. On July 20, Taste of Downtown will celebrate its 26th year.

"We also do awareness activities during October for domestic violence awareness month, and April for sexual assault awareness month," said Lee. "We 'paint the town' purple for domestic violence awareness, and teal for sexual assault awareness, by putting bows on the large pillars of the Attorney General’s offices and the light poles on Carson St. In October, we host a 'Light After Dark' Walk/Run as an awareness event, done at dusk with solar lights, lighting the path for runners."

Advocates isn't only working with survivors, but they work tirelessly to educate Carson City youth on how to not become a victim — or an abuser.

"Advocates begins awareness efforts in the schools to educate students with regard to dating violence and family violence," said Lee. "We do a lot of public speakings and awareness functions to put ourselves out there so no one is left questioning where to turn to."

"Domestic violence is a family secret, it is not talked about, it is whispered about," said Lee. "We see people when they are at their lowest point, when they have no place else to turn. It is a cause that is not a warm and fuzzy, it is not animals or kids. It is black eyes and broken families. There is a lot of compassion fatigue associated with providing crisis intervention services. It has taken 40 years to get to where we are today and the Carson City community has helped make that happen, as well as the national celebrity focus with family violence."

Something that Lee wants the community she and Advocates serve to know is that domestic violence affects everyone, and it's not something that happens everywhere-but-here.

"Domestic violence can touch most people’s lives, whether it be directly or indirectly, family, co-worker, neighbor, or friend, and we want them to know there is a place to turn for help."

To learn more about Advocates to End Domestic Violence, you can visit their website here.