Calif. violence shelters closing amid budget cuts

[Kadie]

Calif. violence shelters closing amid budget cuts
AP
By JULIET WILLIAMS,Associated Press Writer - 1 hour 59 minutes ago


SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Six domestic violence shelters in California have been forced to close while dozens more are scaling back services after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated all state funding for the program that supports them.

Shelters in the Central Valley town of Madera, the Sierra foothill town of Grass Valley and in Ventura County in Southern California have closed. Others in the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles and Bakersfield are on the verge of closing.

Many centers are laying off staff and closing satellite offices that serve remote areas of the state as they cope with the budget cuts. A national domestic violence group describes California's as the deepest cuts to such programs nationwide, even as other states have reduced funding.

In Madera County, officials have turned away six domestic violence victims and eight children since the county's only shelter closed Aug. 7, said Tina Figueroa, the shelter's director. The Martha Diaz Shelter served about 100 victims a year, many of them low-income and with no place else to turn, she said.

"Their only option is the local rescue mission, but they're reluctant to go there because it's a majority of men (who stay there)," Figueroa said. "Also, it's not protected. Anybody could walk in there."

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Beryl Raviscioni, left, is photographed in the office of a closed domestic abuse shelter while coworker Norma Alvalez finishes paperwork Friday, Sept. 4, 2009 in Madera, Calif. Six domestic violence shelters in California have been forced to close while dozens more are scaling back services after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated all state funding for the program that supports them.
(AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)


Norma Alvarez looks out the door of a closed domestic abuse shelter Friday, Sept. 4, 2009 in Madera, Calif. Six domestic violence shelters in California have been forced to close while dozens more are scaling back services after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated all state funding for the program that supports them.
(AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)