By Sara Strong
Proposed state budget cuts are all about the bottom line, getting the numbers to make sense.
Now the people behind the numbers are scrambling to defend their jobs and programs from joining the list of cuts.
Raevette Loonan, director of the Southwest Crisis Center in Luverne, is one of them — facing up to a 57 percent cut.
Loonan is stationed out of a small office on McKenzie Street. She serves in many capacities to help victims of domestic and sexual abuse — as a medical and legal advocate, general reference source, finder of safe housing and sometimes even as a taxi service.
Besides helping 61 people who were victims of some sort of abuse last year, Loonan conducts educational programs that she hopes prevent violence in the future.
She presented the programs to 978 people last year, including high school and community or church groups.
"We work to understand how to help victims," Loonan said.
She said it takes an average of seven times before a victim leaves an abusive partner for good.
Leaving for good takes courage, not just because of fear of the aggressor, Loonan said. Financial or family ties can be strong reasons to stay in a place that isn’t safe.
That’s why her referral service is necessary. People sometimes feel comfortable going to Loonan before seeking help from law enforcement. She can make them comfortable within a system that can be intimidating.
"If you don’t know that Family Services has an emergency fund or if you don’t know that you can file a protective order, it’s more difficult," Loonan said.
Law enforcement helps Loonan make initial contacts. When they’re called to domestic situations, officers give victims a card with local contacts for help. Loonan is one of them.
"Law enforcement and I can be a real complement to each other," Loonan said.
One of the ways Loonan might be able to save some of her office expenses, is to move to a vacant room in the Family Services building. Her current location costs less than $200 rent, plus utilities.
She sees her work as having long-term effects in the community: protecting victims before their aggressors end up in the court system; protecting children in homes where abuse occurs, and ensuring that victims stay productive members of society, not missing work or avoiding social connections.
In Minnesota last year, 16 people were killed as the result of domestic violence. Loonan asks that the state consider what that number could grow to if Crisis Center services were cut.
