The COVID-19 pandemic forced individuals and organizations to adapt to a new set of rules and find ways to meet their customer's needs. For example, the StrongHearts Native Helpline, an FVPSA-funded National Domestic Violence Resource Center member, followed suit by launching new and expanded services, including chat and text advocacy.
"It was the first thing we did was to roll out chat advocacy, because we knew people were having a hard time calling," said Lori Jump, Director of StrongHearts Native Helpline. "You look around just in society as a rule, everywhere you look, somebody is on their phone typing away. That is normal. Somebody can be sitting at home and sending a message and get support without anybody thinking anything's out of line."
Chat and text advocacy capabilities started in 2020 with the former leading the charge by amassing nearly a quarter of the organization’s contact rate. The team didn’t stop there, as they a moved to a 24-7 operation in February of 2021. StrongHearts reached out to the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) program to tap into $1M in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to launch and sustain these initiatives.
"We wouldn't be doing half of the stuff that we've been able to do without FVPSA ARP funding. Obviously, the move to 24-7 was a critical enhancement, but increasing our staffing, not just with the advocates who are at the heart of what we do, but also just, building out our infrastructure is important for the future."
Like most FVPSA Domestic Violence Resource Network partners, StrongHearts saw a jump in calls, chats, and texts during the pandemic. According to their latest impact report, the team experienced an 80% increase in contact rate from 2020 to 2021. Jump sees this trend and the newest data as an opportunity to provide much-needed culture-specific care to tribal communities.
"In 2020, zero callers chose to transfer to The Hotline for out-of-hours or overnight calls. The Hotline does fabulous work, but the data told us our callers were needing 24-7 native-centered services," said Jump. "They would rather wait for a StrongHearts Native advocate during business hours for peer-to-peer support because Native callers preferred to work with a Native-centered organization."
The critical FVPSA ARP funding resulted in hiring additional 20 advocates and support staff and launching advocacy tools, such as chat and text capabilities, in helping meet survivors wherever and whenever they need support.
If you or someone you know needs assistance, reach out to the StrongHearts Native Helpline at 1-844-7NATIVE (762-8483) or visit their website at www.strongheartshelpline.org Visit disclaimer page.