New help is available for victims of violent crime. Family Resources has received a $278,000 grant to provide legal, medical, and trauma counseling to homicide and violent crime survivors.
The program has three trained advocates and a licensed therapist.
Program supervisor Emily Gordon has spent over 15 years working with trauma and crime survivors. She says violent crime has been increasing in the Quad Cities.
"After the first six weeks [of being open], I'd say, we were getting a new client every single day. So we have fairly busy case load, and that's just been growing. There definitely is a need, that's for sure."
Gordon says offering support for violent crime victims is important, since many are afraid to come forward and ask for help.
"Well, I think sometimes crime victims feel very alone, and to have some extra support is helpful, I think, so they can feel like there's a place to go and a community of people that they can reach out to and have some common understanding."
The program is only offered by Family Resources in Iowa, in Clinton, Jackson, Cedar, Scott, Muscatine, and Louisa counties.
