Montgomery Area Family Violence & Program Inc

Mission statement: it is the mission of the Family sunshine center to bring help, hope and healing to victims of Family Violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking through a crisis line, emergency shelter, transitional housing, individual and group counseling, trauma-focused behavioral therapy, support groups, financial literacy training, etc., and to help end the cycle of Violence in homes and communities through outreach and prevention. Services are provided in a seven-county region, including autauga, butler, chilton, crenshaw, elmore, lowndes and Montgomery counties, which makes up roughly ten percent of the square mileage of the state of alabama. Impact statement: the Family sunshine center saves lives, perhaps in giving advice to victims of domestic Violence via the 24-hour crisis line; welcoming families in crisis into emergency shelter; offering counseling services to victims who have not previously understood the cycle of Violence and how it is likely to repeat itself to the point of lethality; or in opening the eyes of a young person on the verge of commitment in an unhealthy relationship through prevention programs. Programs offered by the fsc also keep victims from going back into dangerous situations through its transitional housing Program that offers a safe haven to victims while they finish school, prepare for a job, learn financial literacy and, in general, prepare themselves to be free of abuse. Hundreds receive counseling services, participate in support groups, and discover amazing things about their personal capacities to survive and thrive. Thousands are touched in the classroom and the community, receiving instruction in healthy relationships, bullying prevention, personal safety and child abuse prevention. The shelter consistently operates at nearly 100% capacity or above, providing safety, security, education, medical assistance, child care and other services designed to lift up lives that have been torn and damaged. Work with the local department of human resources screens families for domestic Violence, and brings them into a network of services designed to help them aspire to personal safety and financial independence. There is also a Program that allows the Program's therapists to counsel children exposed to trauma via Family Violence or sexual assault using a cutting-edge treatment modality called trauma-based cognitive behavioral therapy, which has proven effective with short-term exposure. This contributes to ending the cycle of Violence in families. The agency also employs 60 full- and part-time employees, contributing to the economy of the community.