Menu
2021 Session

Budget Amendments - HB1800 (Member Request)

View Budget Item
View Budget Item amendments

Chief Patron: Gooditis
Laurel Center

Item 356 #11h

Item 356 #11h

First Year - FY2021 Second Year - FY2022
Health and Human Resources
Department of Social Services FY2021 $0 FY2022 $850,000 GF

Language
Page 431, line 35, strike "$60,957,967" and insert "$61,807,967".

Page 434, line 55, after "appropriation," insert:

"$850,000 the second year from the general fund and".



Explanation

(This amendment adds $850,000 the second year from the general fund for the the Laurel Center in Winchester, Virginia. The Laurel Center provides emergency shelter and support services to survivors of domestic violence in the Northern Shenandoah Valley. They have been a critical safety net for this vulnerable population for nearly forty years. During the ongoing pandemic, the Laurel Center has continued to provide needed support to Frederick, Clarke, and Warren Counties. The need for violence prevention measures has only risen given increased social isolation and job loss. In 2019, the Laurel Center purchased a new property, which includes a freight station, to establish an Empowerment Program. The Empowerment Program would provide job readiness and life and job skills training. It would also connect survivors to employers and provide them with hands-on work experience. Research has shown that support services such as these increase the likelihood that survivors can become financially independent from their abusers. The requested funding would go towards the rehabilitation of the freight station building. In addition to providing a safe and convenient location for the program participants, the building will function as a local cafe, offering reasonably priced and healthy food to a section of the community that is currently a food desert. This program is critically important for violence prevention and provides a service currently unavailable to the Northern Shenandoah community.)