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Crisis Center grant to assist elderly, poor victims in courtThe Crisis Center for South Suburbia has received a $5,000 grant from the Illinois Bar Foundation in support of its court advocacy programs in Cook County's 5th and 6th Municipal Districts. Based in Tinley Park, the Crisis Center assists poor, elderly and disadvantaged individuals in the south and southwest suburbs who have been victims of domestic violence. In addition to direct legal services for these people, the organization educates legal professionals and advocates with law enforcement entities and the judiciary to hold perpetrators accountable. Founded in 1979 after a yearlong study by the Palos branch of the American Association of University Women, the Crisis Center has a mission of providing emergency shelter and other essential services for individuals and families victimized by domestic violence. Its programs include a 24-hour crisis hotline, emergency residential and transitional housing, community education and policing, counseling services, family case management, hospital and court advocacy, and partner abuse intervention. In a typical year, the Crisis Center provides more than 6,000 nights of shelter to about 500 women and children, 17,000 hours of counseling and advocacy, and responses to more than 4,500 telephone calls for help or referral to appropriate agencies. Last October, center staff and volunteers coordinated a Domestic Violence Awareness Month candlelight vigil. Tinley Park attorney Richard L. Hutchison, who serves on the ISBA Human Rights Section Council, has supported the Crisis Center since 1989 as a pro bono volunteer and member of the capital campaign committee. The organization has received a total of $11,000 from the Bar Foundation in three previous grants. It also receives funding from the United Way and other sources. For more information, access http://www.crisisctr.org or call executive director Edward Vega Sr., a board member of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, at (708) 429-7255.
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