At the Ion Center for Violence Prevention, everything we do is either preventing violence from happening or from getting worse. Words like preventION, interventION compassION, collaboratION, protectION, propel us forward to serve our community.
As CEO of a non-profit which operates four programs, two 24/7 Shelters for people fleeing intimate partner violence and two Rape Crisis Centers, I often wake up in the middle of the night worrying about how to meet all the needs of our region; I think of people who are still living in a home that isn’t safe, the second grader who falls asleep in class because he was kept up all night hearing his mom being hurt, or the freshman girl who was sexually assaulted her first week on campus and cannot return to school.
I think about how to sustain funding every year and grow to meet the increased needs for safe shelter while putting more resources into keeping violence from happening in the first place.
I think about the amazing staff at Ion who often have two jobs just to pay bills yet have a heart and soul dedicated to survivors and safer communities. How do I do right by all of them? We get to work!
Thankfully, I am not alone. I am grateful to work in a region that cares about each other, and I am grateful to Senator Chris McDaniel and all our legislators, for the recent biennial budget bill passed with increased funding for the Ion Center to continue providing 24/7 trauma-informed services to survivors and their children while implementing groundbreaking prevention work for the region. Senator McDaniel’s support of the Ion Center will help save lives and allow us to not only support survivors in their darkest moments, but also continue to work towards a violence free Kentucky.
In 2023, the Ion Center provided 16,302 emergency shelter bed-nights to adults and children fleeing power-based personal violence, responded to 272 emergency room calls to support sexual assault victims, reached 3,586 individuals through our comprehensive Green Dot strategy and trainings, and provided 6,707 emergency shelter bed-nights for pets fleeing with their families.
The Ion Center serves a great need in Kentucky and our region; our state has the second-highest rate of domestic violence in the United States, with 45.3% of women and 35.5% of men having experienced domestic violence. But violence isn’t inevitable, we know what to do and how to do it, we need the continued support of our state and local officials and our community to provide these lifesaving services.
We have a saying we use in our Green Dot prevention strategy, “no one has to do everything, but everyone has to do something (to prevent violence).”
Thank you, General Assembly, for being part of that something that creates lasting change and a safer Kentucky.
Christy Burch is CEO of the Ion Center for Violence Prevention.