Tucson domestic violence shelter to get multimillion-dollar expansion as need grows | Subscriber

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The county will use funds from the American Rescue Act to raise its $ 1 million. The city will also use federal funds, though it’s unclear whether they’re related to a pandemic.

Sakwa said he hoped that knowing the need for larger housing will help people realize that domestic violence is not a private affair.

“We cannot offer any services as a way out of this situation and we cannot stop our way out,” said Sakwa. “It’s about prevention and social change.”

The Tucson Police Department and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department respond to nearly 15,560 domestic violence-related calls each year, which cost more than $ 6.1 million annually. About 15,000 people are arrested each year for domestic violence, the Pima County prosecutor said.

That doesn’t include the countless victims who cannot call 911 because of the emotional, psychological, or other forms of abuse they endure, Sakwa said.

“These are people, not numbers,” said Sakwa.

Rachel Tineo hopes people will remember her niece Tina Soto as a mother, sister, daughter, friend and amazing woman. Not just a statistic.

“Chances are she would have survived this if she had been able to use Emerge’s services, work on the trauma from her abuse, and get herself to safety,” said Tineo. “We didn’t know then what we didn’t know, and now that I do, it’s my lifelong mission to seriously educate everyone about what we didn’t know.”

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