ALIVE's mission is to provide counseling, emergency sanctuary and other critical services to adults and children impacted by domestic abuse, as well as to increase awareness in order to create a supportive community. ALIVE's vision is to end domestic abuse, restoring safety and peace one family at a time.
ALIVE (Alternatives to Living in Violent Environments) was founded in 1983 through the shared vision of two women with graduate degrees from Washington University, who worked as advocates for battered women. Aware of the critical need for safe shelter for women and children victimized by domestic violence in St. Louis, they decided to fill the existing void in services. ALIVE's humble beginnings were in two rooms donated by a local church, with two volunteer co-directors and six safe home providers who shared their homes with battered women and their children when safe shelter was unavailable. In addition to this temporary sanctuary program, four support groups were held weekly.
ALIVE was incorporated in 1985 and with great determination and vision ALIVE prospered into a full-service domestic violence agency. Today's "Nights of Safety" program remains true to the founders' original concept of providing temporary emergency sanctuary when all domestic violence shelter beds are full. ALIVE's additional services include:
a 24-hour crisis line.
emergency transportation.
individual and group adult counseling.
children's treatment program.
court advocacy.
community education.
ALIVE's paid staff has grown from one half-time person to the current count of nine full-time and two part-time employees. The operational volunteer corps that started with eight women now numbers 50 strong.
ALIVE'S STATISTICS
During Fiscal Year 2007/08 ALIVE provided services to 1,041 adults and 501 children by:
answering 15,451 crisis calls.
furnishing emergency shelter for 261 victims of domestic violence and 375 children, totaling 1,973 "Nights of Safety."
assisting 344 clients with 615 court actions.
providing 2,883 hours of individual adult counseling services to 359 clients.
providing 767 hours of children's services to 158 children and their parents.
facilitating 86 support groups.
ALIVE also educated the community through more than 410 presentations to more than 8,500 individuals.
Volunteers provided more than 18,00 hours of service to ALIVE clients and programs, averaging 1,500 hours per month.
LOCAL & STATE STATISTICS
According to the Uniform Crime Statistics:
St. Louis County Police responded to 4,123 domestic violence calls in 2007.
St. Louis City Police responded to 2,625 domestic violence calls in 2007.
St. Charles Police responded to 1,863 domestic violence calls in 2007.
Jefferson County Sheriff's Department responded to 1,266 domestic violence calls in 2007.
Franklin County Sheriff's Department responded to 514 domestic violence calls in 2007.
These figures represent only those crimes that reported as domestic violence. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that more than 40% of all domestic violence is unreported.
According to the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence:
In the St. Louis area, 14,547 women and 8,032 children received domestic violence services in 2007.
Across Missouri, 5,556 women and 4,847 children were provided 259,696 bednights of shelter in 2007.
The number of individuals turned away because a shelter was full was 8,324, a 47% increase over 2006.
Nearly 22,000 Orders of Protection were sought in Missouri in 2007.
A woman is battered every 9 seconds.
More than 3.3 million children are exposed to domestic violence each year.
One out of every five couples experiences domestic violence.
More than 1.5 million women are raped or sexually assaulted by an intimate partner each year.
Thirty percent of female homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner each year.
Family violence is a leading health problem for women.
The health-related costs of rape, assault, stalking and homicide is $5.8 billion each year.
