CORA 'not going anywhere'

Although the state Legislature’s failure to reinstate domestic violence shelter funding makes the future "grim,” San Mateo County’s cash-strapped agency says it has no plans to shutter.

"We’re not closing. We’re not going anywhere. We’re just trying to adjust,” said Melissa Lukin, executive director of Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse.

Lukin spent Monday in the state Capitol with other members of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, only days after the state Senate failed to pass a bill to restore $16.3 million in funding for 94 shelters and centers throughout California. While the defeat means "many more” shelters are "certain to close,” according to the office of bill author Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, Lukin said CORA is not among those at the point of no return.

"It looks pretty grim,” Lukin said.

Regardless, the agency is cutting corners, laying off staff and accepting recent private and public grants to keep itself up and running. The Domestic Violence Program funds cut by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s line-item budget veto represent about 15 percent of CORA budget or roughly $400,000, Lukin said.

The Domestic Violence Program funds allow local agencies to provide emergency shelter, transitional housing and legal advocacy, as well as assistance with restraining orders, counseling and other vital support services. Without the money, at least six shelters so far have closed while dozens more scale back services.

CORA is the sole county domestic violence agency, operating an emergency hotline, responding to police domestic violence cases and providing emergency shelter.

Shortly after the veto, CORA received a half-million-dollar federal grant for transitional housing programs from the Office on Violence Against Women Recovery Act Transitional Housing Program. There has also been money from Kaiser Permanente.

Unfortunately, some of the money, such as the federal grant, doesn’t completely fill the state gap because they are earmarked for specific needs. State money is flexible which is why Lukin, Yee and other proponents were pushing to get it back.

Yee’s bill passed the Assembly on a bipartisan 63-1 vote but stalled in the Senate after his name was stripped from the legislation for ostensibly voting against other budget cuts to social services, health care and education. The bill fell short of the 27 votes needed and Yee said it is was nothing but "petty politics.”

"It was absolutely vital to approve this legislation. Failure to pass this bill only puts more lives at risk,” Yee said.

CPEDV Executive Director Tara Shabazz agreed the bill was "prey to political infighting” and that the content itself had nothing to do with its failure.

Yee plans to reintroduce the bill.

Meanwhile, Lukin said CORA is re-evaluating its priorities and expectations and handling calls in-house rather than contracting out services.

"We save some money and control the quality of the counseling,” Lukin said.

Both are necessary, she said, because both calls and shelter requests are on the rise. Shelter requests hit 700 — 100 percent more than the previous year — but only 100 families could be served, Lukin said.

CORA tries to place the others in shelters outside the county but that carries its own challenges, particularly for children enrolled in school. The others are forced to stay with their abusers or end up homeless. About 47 percent of the homeless say it is because of an abusive relationship, Lukin said.

Law enforcement calls for domestic violence are also up almost 30 percent since last year and the crisis line is fielding a majority of "life or death” calls rather than just informational, she said.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102.

Info box: Donations can be made via CORA’s Web site, www.corasupport.org. Donations and inquires about volunteering can also call 652-0800.