A safe haven...
About Our Shelter
Green Hills Community Action Agency is a non-profit corporation that has operated as a Community Action Agency since incorporation in June, 1965. The Agency is designated as a tax-exempt organization by the Internal Revenue Service Code under Section 501© (3). The Area Governing Board consists of 27 members from 9 counties that represent elected public officials, low-income residents, and other major groups and interests. The Agency maintains a Central Office with coordinated administrative functions, including systems for mission, by-laws, fiscal operations, organizational structure, planning, personnel, purchasing, inventory, travel, board operations, and equal opportunity. These areas are designed as an umbrella system for all agency sources.
An Agency office is located in the following 9 counties which include: Caldwell, Daviess, Grundy, Harrison, Linn, Livingston, Mercer, Putnam and Sullivan. These offices serve as the focal point for more than 3,000 client families that seek assistance and services annually from the Agency. In addition to Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, other services offered directly by the Agency include Job Training, Rental Assistance, Home Repair and Weatherization, Family Planning, Affordable Housing Development, utility assistance, food assistance and family development services.
The Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Program, hereafter known as Green Hills Women’s Shelters, includes three shelter facilities; one located in Trenton, Grundy County, Missouri, opened in November of 1996; one located in Chillicothe, Livingston County, Missouri, opened in April of 2005, and one located in Cameron, Clinton-DeKalb County, Missouri, opened in December of 2009. All three shelter facilities operate 24 hours per day, year-round, with our objectives being to provide safe shelter, crisis intervention, court-related advocacy, case management, counseling and other comprehensive services to domestic violence/sexual assault victims. All facilities utilize all other program services offered by the Agency that are available to domestic violence/sexual violence clients who qualify.
With three (3) fully operational domestic violence shelters in service, the Green Hills Women’s Shelter’s future plans are as follows: (1) Maintain quality care and services to women and children needing safe refuge; (2) provide crisis intervention, legal advocacy and support to domestic violence/sexual assault victims and their children; (3) continue to expand the educational offerings to domestic violence/sexual assault victims, their children, community groups and schools to help alleviate the incidence of violence against women and children.
Domestic violence and sexual assault are devastating crimes that directly affect many women, men and children in the rural areas of Missouri. This crime affects all racial, cultural and economic backgrounds. 1 in 4 women experience domestic violence and 1 in 6 women experience a sexual assault by an intimate partner during an average 12 month period. More than 1 million women and children each year seek medical help for injuries caused by battering and sexual assault; the most single major cause of injury to women. The cost of medical care for victims of domestic/sexual violence victims exceeds $6 billion per year. Of that amount, $4.2 billion is attributed to direct medical and mental health care services and nearly $1.8 billion is attributed to lost productivity and wages.
Green Hills Women’s Shelters’ thirteen county service area is rural in nature and consists of a population of approximately 121,170 people; with the primary industry being agriculturally based and comprised of many small family farms and corporate hog farms. Small businesses, meat processing plants, and manufacturing companies make up the remaining work sites. Average median income for this area is approximately $31,329 per capita compared to the State median income of $45,012. Throughout our service area there is an average of 15.4% of families that live below the poverty line.
There are significant emotional, social and financial problems associated with domestic/sexual violence. A woman with children who is abused or sexually assaulted is likely to face severe economic hardship; generally the family income will drop and they may become dependent on public assistance, struggle with finding living wage employment, and face the dilemma of finding alternative safe, affordable housing for herself and her children. Green Hills Women’s Shelter helps the victim get their lives back together with a 24 hour hotline, safe shelter, crisis intervention, case management, legal advocacy, relocation services, housing/utility assistance, job location assistance and training, if necessary, transportation, personal advocacy and referrals.