The Chatham County Government is planning to support the establishment of a domestic violence shelter by the nonprofit Second Bloom of Chatham.
Most of the county’s public service around domestic violence, such as manning emergency call lines, volunteer fundraising, and helping people find housing or resources, had been managed by the local Family Violence and Rape Crisis Center until the agency closed in 2018. Karen Howard, chair of the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, said that since then, the county earmarked about $450,000 for the purpose of providing a new emergency shelter for people facing domestic violence.
Over the past few years, Second Bloom has been working to build its capacity, community ties, and financial strength.
“Second Bloom has really done a remarkable job of not just building that internal capacity to have call lines that are answered in both Spanish and English, directing people to resources, building relationships with the governor’s crime commission and our local court services to ensure that there’s a seamless transition for individuals looking to break the cycle of domestic violence,” Howard said. “But also building a lot of financial capacity within their little organization just over the past three to four years.”
Second Bloom of Chatham.
For the coming year, Second Bloom is looking at a budget around $1 million, which Howard described as “incredible” as she praised the organization’s executive director, Mary Beth Loucks-Sorrell.
“The county manager’s office has been working very closely with them over this time period, and we feel, now with an executive director who really has her head around the challenges, that they’re ready to take on these funds that we were holding,” Howard said.
The Board of Commissioners and county manager Bryan Thompson are working with Second Bloom to develop a specific plan for how the funds will be used to establish and sustain the shelter. Sam Owusu, chair of the Second Bloom Board of Directors, said the process of working with the county has been productive.
“All the folks on the Board of Commissioners have been very supportive and have been very helpful in helping us with our strategic planning,” she said. “Obviously, we want what we’re doing to be sustainable, and so they’ve been really helpful in helping us frame the work that we’re doing to make sure that that happens.”
Owusu also said these funds have become more urgent since the significant federal funding Second Bloom has been receiving could be in jeopardy due to recent executive orders from the administration of President Donald Trump.
“If the federal funding freeze isn’t addressed, it will impact services. It really will,” she said. “Whether that’s having to decrease staff, decrease hours, at the end of the day, at some point it’s going to impact how well we’re able to serve the community.”
The Board of Commissioners is expecting a recommendation from Thompson’s office soon, after which it will officially appropriate the money to Second Bloom.
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