October 28, 2024 • 18 mins
Colleen Rice is the executive director of the Domestic Violence Shelter, serving Richland County. Rice has been in the role for just over a year, starting in August of 2023. The organization started in the late 1970's and has a staff of around 26, some part-time and full-time. In 2023, the organization provided over 7,500 nights of shelter to adults and children, who needed a safe place to stay. The Domestic Violence Shelter is in need of donations, monetary and other items. The have a 24/7 crisis hotline number 419-774-5840, and their website is thedvshelter.com.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The CEO you should Know, brought to you by Roby
Foster Miller Eric Insurance. This week's CEO Colleen Rice, executive
director of the Domestic Violet Shelter serving Richland County. Colleen,
good morning, Thank you for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning, Thank you for having me all right.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We appreciate your time. People in this community may have
heard about the Domestic Violent Shelter for quite some time.
Do you have any history kind of how long it's
been around? Could you share some of that with us.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Absolutely, it started in nineteen seventy eight, and that was
the heart of the movement coming across the nation. And
something we should be proud of is that in Richland
County we were one of the first three in Ohio
in nineteen seventy eight, and we served multiple counties at
that time, bridging the gap until other counties could start
their own shelters. But people here, grassroots people had the
(00:51):
foresight to make sure this happened in our community, and
I think that's exciting and really noble.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Now, Colin, I think it's important for you to explain
what you guys provide services. So tell us a little
bit about what you guys do at the domestic Violent Shelter.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Absolutely. Oftentimes our name, you know, tells what we do,
but it doesn't really tell the whole story, because we
also are a rape crisis response center, meaning that our
local emergency rooms across the county call us when there
is a rape survivor or a sexual assault survivor, no
matter if they're a child. We take pediatric cases all
the way through adult cases, and we respond within thirty
(01:29):
minutes to sit by that person. That person sitting on
a bed in a hospital room waiting for an exam.
Their clothes will often be taken, their belongings taken as
evidence for the assault that they just endured, and we're
there to bring in a change of clothing items and
to allow them to know what's the next step. And
(01:49):
so I think that's an important reminder of, you know,
what else we do at the shelter. In addition, we
do shelter people, and we have a wonderful domestic violent
shelter that offers price bedrooms. I think many times when
people think about a shelter, they think it's some kind
of giant gymnasium with a bunch of hots in it.
And we have private family bedrooms We have fourteen bedrooms
within the shelter, and those bedrooms have multiple beds so
(02:12):
that a family can go in there and have some privacy.
And then the rest of the shelter is a shared
space with shared bathroom, shared living rooms, shared kitchen, shared
team room, and a child playroom. And so we also
have legal advocacy services that are available in the shelter
as wells case management, child advocacy, and then of course
our twenty four hour hotline, and then in the community,
(02:35):
we're doing a lot of events outreach. We do support
groups for people have disabilities, and we also have support
groups at the jail in prison, and we actually have
a prison program too that we participate in, and that
is we will also respond if there is a rape
in the prison in Richland County and be supportive to
a prisoner who has might have been raped or sexually
(02:57):
assaulted in prison.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
We are hearing this small warning from Colleen Rice, who
is this week's CEO you should know, executive director of
the Domestic Violent Shelter serving Richland County. You mentioned fourteen rooms,
how many people in total? Can you guys kind of
help on a daily basis? What's kind of the max capacity, So.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Our maximum in those rooms are forty eight beds, although
we do have some cribs and we also have some
roll away or inflatable beds that we can use within
those rooms for larger families. We also mentioned the teen room,
and many times we'll convert that room into a temporary bedroom.
And in addition to that, we do have a hotel
program so that if the shelter is full, we can
(03:39):
provide a safe haven for people, will provide food and
all of the same resources that someone would receive in
shelter if they were there. And frankly, we've been full
all year, since the very first week in January, we've
been full or on overflow status. We're also serving people
who might be fleeing from human trafficking, and people who
(04:01):
have been stocked and need a safe place to go,
or people who have experienced strangulation. So we have a
variety of people coming to use the shelter, and we're
working hand in hand with community partners, for example, like Rubies,
and if a single person comes in, that would be
a better match for Rubies, whereas if they have children,
Rubies can't accommodate children right now, so we partner with
(04:23):
Rubies and make sure that that family is sheltered.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Now, in terms of the people you help, we say
you serve Richland County. Does it go outside of the county.
Talk to us about the people you guys.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Help Absolutely our twenty four to seven hotline and chat
when we're in taking individuals that might need help. Sometimes
there are people coming in from outside of the county.
But the reason for that is is sometimes it's safer
to leave your community, and there's a network of shelters
all across this country who will open their doors to
anyone from our shelter that needs to leave Richland County
(04:56):
for any reason. And on the same note, we open
our doors also. But a majority of the people who
are coming through the shelter are from Richland County. But
I do want to make people aware that we do
sometimes have people from other areas that come in.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Colleen Rice is the voice you hear this morning, Executive
director of the Domestic Violent Shelter serving Richland County. Again
this week's CEO. You should know you threw out a
twenty four to seven hotline number. Could you share that
with us?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Absolutely? It's four one nine seven seven four five eight
four zero. And if you go to our website, the
dvshelter dot com, there's a chat icon, and so you
can click on that chat icon and it happens within
the browser. This is not a chat on your phone,
and you can chat with an advocate and then close
that browser, erase your the browsing data, and that way
(05:46):
you could keep it hidden that you were talking with
someone from the shelter.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Now, could you give the website again?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Sure, it's the dvshelter dot com.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Okay, very important information, important conversation this morning as we
are talking with the Domestic Violent Shelter are serving Richland County.
Colleen Rice, executive director, is with us in studio. How
long have you been in your current role as an
executive director?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Just a little over a year. I got a call
from Lisa Snoke, who works with Spherey on mid Ohio,
and it was just a wonderful day to hear from
her because I had not thought about working in domestic
violence for a long time. Twenty five years ago, I
started off in domestic violence in Medina County and helped
open a shelter in that community and then went on
(06:28):
to work in some community center work and also within
the health department in that community, and then finally leading
a leadership program in Medina County. When I received the
call from Lisa, and when my husband and I talked
about this opportunity, we kind of reflected back on the
time that we had started the shelter and realized that
that was such an amazing time of being able to
(06:49):
help people and use my skills. And now that I've
had grown a little bit more and had more skills
in my toolbox, I was excited about bringing that here
and sharing it with the community.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
We're glad to have you with this this morning. Let's
find out a little bit more about you. So you
mentioned Madina County. Let's step back to the beginning. People
may want to know where was Colleen Rice born.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So my dad served in the Air Force, and so
we lived all over the country. It was during the
Vietnam War, and so he was working stateside and at
that time we were in New Hampshire and I ended
up being born just across the border in the hospital,
the Naval hospital there in Maine.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
All right. Next tell us where'd you go to high school?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I graduated from Medina High.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
School, all right? And next tell us a bit about college.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Sure, So I started off thinking I wanted to be
a nurse. I lost my sister when I was ten
years old, and I spent a lot of time in
the hospital seeing these wonderful, amazing people caring for my sister,
and so I thought, hey, I want to really do that.
And after two years I realized it was just really
because I love those people and not really my passion
and what I wanted to do. So I ended up
(07:56):
finishing my degree at the University Vakron in psychology, and
I really think that was the best path. I also
did a little bit of music and worked a little
bit with the Cleveland Opera at the time.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
All right, terrific. Now, I heard you say husband. So
I don't know if you have kids or not, but
tell us a little more about Colleen and the family.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Absolutely, I do have a husband and two daughters, adult daughters.
And my husband is a graphic artist and also he
does web design and he right now is an engineer
for SME doing some of their front end web development.
He does a lot of art with watercolor, but he
has a lot of passion with a lot of other
(08:33):
ways to paint art. And my whole art is basically
an art studio for him, So it's wonderful to come
in and see what he's been creating during the day.
And if you ever visit my office, my office is
full of his art and my daughter's art because Diana
inherited his love for art and just finished her degree
in art. And my daughter Elizabeth does hair and nails,
(08:53):
and I guess it's kind of an art of its
own too, right. Absolutely, so very creative family, wonderful family,
and I'm just so proud of all of them.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Awesome to hear. Now, when you're not working, what do
you do for fun spare time? What kind of hobbies
do you have?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
So I kind of hinted to that earlier with the opera,
But I really loved to sing, and I've been very
involved in my church with singing and singing in the community.
I like to be outside and hiking and just you know,
enjoying the beauty, especially this time of the year with
all the leaves changing. It's my favorite time.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Absolutely been a little maybe warmer than average fall, it's
been really really nice and terrific conversation this morning, as
we are learning about Colleen Rice and the domestic violent
shelter serving Ritsland County. She's the executive director and this
week's CEO. You should know. Okay, back to work a
little bit here. We mentioned you serve Ritzland County, but
(09:46):
where are you exactly? Located at here in the community.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So it is a confidential location, okay, And so even
if someone wants to donate, they need to make a
call and check in first. For anybody who has donated
in the past, we're moving our our donation to a
different location at the building for the drop off and
that's because we want to protect the confidentiality of everyone
staying there and so in the past the door that
we were using wasn't the best for confidentiality. So please
(10:13):
give us a call. You can call the hotline which
is four one nine seven seven four five eight four
zero and let them know that you'd like to make
a donation and they'll connect you with Kate, who is
handling our donations.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Now, let's talk about donations a little bit, if you know,
and we're going to talk about funding in those kind
of things. If somebody wants to donate, you know, maybe
some money, or if somebody wants to donate items, maybe
to help. Could you share with us how that works,
and I know you were just touching on it a
moment ago, but how it works and what kind of
items you guys are looking for.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Absolutely, we have our page on our website about donating,
and our hope is to start updating that with our
most needed items. I'll tell you what. We certainly go
through a lot of toilet paper at the shelter, and
so there's going to be items like that that we need.
Sometimes we're going to need some new undergarments or new
pajamas for all ages for children and infants all the
(11:05):
way up through adults. And you can get all of
that information on our website by clicking on the donate
page at the dvshelter dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Let's talk about funding for the Domestic Violent Shelter serving
Rizland County again, as you hear from executive director Colleen
Rice this morning. How does it work in terms of
funding for your organization.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
This is what we call in the business soft money,
and so when you have grants that are coming from
the government or the state or local funding, those funding
streams can change over time for different reasons. For example,
there's funding right now on the federal level called VOCA,
and that's for victims of crime. And years ago the
(11:48):
shelter used to receive probably two to three times that
we're receiving now. And yet we're also probably facing another
forty percent cut next year on those funds. And you know,
just for people to know, VOCA comes from white collar
crime cases, and so when those white collar crimes have
to pay a fine, then those fines are divided amongst
(12:10):
all of the victims of crime programs across the nation.
It's curious to me, you know, I'd like to know,
are we seeing a decrease in white collar crime? Why
are we seeing this decrease? And I haven't had any
answers to that because I have asked about that, and
you know, so we're seeing those kind of decreases. There
was also American Rescue Act money that was coming through
(12:31):
our area. We still have some, I understand in Mansfield,
but for different purposes that the city council has right now.
But overall, you know, the ARPA money that was designated
for family violence prevention that actually ended as of June thirtieth,
and so those are funds that we no longer have
access to. And it's leaving us in a difficult situation
(12:51):
at the shelter because that gap is between two and
three hundred thousand dollars, and so we desperately need donations
from individuals. Whether you can buy toilet paper and papered
tows for us, whether you can donate items that we
would typically buy, or if you're a business out there
and you would like to partner with us, we would
love to hear from you, and you can call the
(13:12):
hotline and ask for the executive director and they'll forward
you to me and we can have a conversation about
how you can be involved and how you can help.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Now, Colin, as we talk about the domestic Violence Shelter
serving Rizland County again, Colleen Rice, our guest and executive director.
Against she's this week CEO, you should know in terms
of your budget, talk about that a little bit, because
I want to get to staff members too before I
let you go. But you help a lot of people
on a yearly basis we do.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Last year, we provided over seventy five hundred nights of
shelter for children and adults in our community that needed
a safe place to stay, and we also served hundreds
of people in the emergency rooms at Ohio Health and Avida,
responding to sexual assault nurse exams and being there to
advocate for them, and all of that is happening twenty
(14:01):
four to seven and on holidays, and so we do
have a very robust staff and budget. And right now
our budget, based on the expenses that we're predicting for
twenty twenty five is one point five million dollars, and
so that two to three hundred thousand dollars is a
significant amount looking at that budget, and we just need
(14:22):
the community support to step up, just like they did
in nineteen seventy eight, to step and say this is
important and we need this in our community. I need
people to step up today.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Just like that. How many staff members in total do
you have? Can you ballpark it?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, we got around twenty six, some part time, some
full time. And we utilize a lot of individuals who
are going to school at Ohio State Mansfield or in
North Central State. Maybe they're studying psychology and such, and
we can train people on how to answer the hotline
and how to help.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Before I let you go, I want to bring up
something important. You mentioned, you know, twenty four hour hotline,
but when you guys get a call. It's not office
hours all the time. It's not eight to four, eight
to five. I mean you guys, you could be middle
of the night, weekend you mentioned you don't know, and
you guys are there to help people, so you could
get a call any of your staff right at any
time exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So we always try to have one domestic violence advocate
who will be staying at the shelter to answer the
hotline and to take care of any needs at the shelter,
and then we always have one person who is our
sexual assault advocate who can leave the building and go
respond to those needs. But sometimes we'll have two or
three even in one night, and so at those points
(15:33):
then we're calling in our on call people and utilizing
any volunteers that we might have that sometimes will help
us with some of those outreach things that we're doing
or emergency response.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
We are visiting and learning about the Domestic Violent Shelter
serving Richland County. Colleen Rice is with us. She's this
week's CEO. You should know she's the executive director. Before
I let you go, you've shared a lot of important information.
Talk about the vision. You've been in this role for
a little while a lot to oversee a lot of
people to help. Very important what you guys do. But
talk about your vision you have here.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, our vision is to work closer with our community.
We know that we are good at domestic violence response
and advocacy, sexual assault response and advocacy, human trafficking, stocking, strangulation,
et cetera. But we no longer have the space to
just take used clothing and other items, and so we're
(16:26):
starting to rely on our partners like Saint John's and
the News Store and many others to help cloth the
people coming into shelter, so we can focus on the priorities,
which is making sure they have a place to stay
for the night and utilizing that space that was used
for other things to use it for that purpose. And
so that's really what I want to happen. I want
(16:47):
us to focus on the things that we are good
at and network with our community.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Now as I let you go, I want you to
share more information. If somebody wants to donate, whether it's monetary,
it's an item that you guys in need of, they
want to help any way they can, how can they
reach out Whether go ahead and give us At twenty
four to seven number and also your.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Website absolutely so they can call us at four one
nine seven seven four five eight four zero. And I
also just want to emphasize that numbers not only for
donations or for somebody looking for emergency shelter, but it's
for everyday people like you, You who are listening right now.
If you have a question, if you think that someone
that you know or that you love has been affected
(17:28):
by domestic violence or sexual assault or one of the
other services I mentioned today, please call us. We're here
to help you ask the right questions and guide them
along and help them get the help that they need.
And then our website is the dvshelter dot com. Before
I forget, I just want to say thank you to
United Way and also to the Richland County Foundation. They
(17:48):
have been great as far as just being able to
for me to pick up the phone and give them
a call when I need something or to talk it through.
And then they've also just come through with so much
funding and help for us, and we just could not
do it without them.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Very important information, very important conversation this morning with Colleen Rice,
executive director of the Domestic Violent Shelter serving Rizland County.
Was great to learn about all the great work you
guys are doing and your story. Thank you so much
for being with us and we wish you continued success.
Thank you, Colleen Rice, Executive director of the Domestic Violent Shelter.
(18:23):
The CEO you should know rid a Bio, See a
photo and hear the extended interview at WMA, n FM
dot com. Leading means having a vision and sharing it
with others. I'm John Roby of RFI Insurance. We're excited
to bring you this program featuring CEOs from our area
who will share the thoughts and what it means to
work and live in north central Ohio.
The CEO you should Know, brought to you by Roby
Foster Miller Eric Insurance. This week's CEO Colleen Rice, executive
director of the Domestic Violet Shelter serving Richland County. Colleen,
good morning, Thank you for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning, Thank you for having me all right.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We appreciate your time. People in this community may have
heard about the Domestic Violent Shelter for quite some time.
Do you have any history kind of how long it's
been around? Could you share some of that with us.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Absolutely, it started in nineteen seventy eight, and that was
the heart of the movement coming across the nation. And
something we should be proud of is that in Richland
County we were one of the first three in Ohio
in nineteen seventy eight, and we served multiple counties at
that time, bridging the gap until other counties could start
their own shelters. But people here, grassroots people had the
(00:51):
foresight to make sure this happened in our community, and
I think that's exciting and really noble.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Now, Colin, I think it's important for you to explain
what you guys provide services. So tell us a little
bit about what you guys do at the domestic Violent Shelter.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Absolutely. Oftentimes our name, you know, tells what we do,
but it doesn't really tell the whole story, because we
also are a rape crisis response center, meaning that our
local emergency rooms across the county call us when there
is a rape survivor or a sexual assault survivor, no
matter if they're a child. We take pediatric cases all
the way through adult cases, and we respond within thirty
(01:29):
minutes to sit by that person. That person sitting on
a bed in a hospital room waiting for an exam.
Their clothes will often be taken, their belongings taken as
evidence for the assault that they just endured, and we're
there to bring in a change of clothing items and
to allow them to know what's the next step. And
(01:49):
so I think that's an important reminder of, you know,
what else we do at the shelter. In addition, we
do shelter people, and we have a wonderful domestic violent
shelter that offers price bedrooms. I think many times when
people think about a shelter, they think it's some kind
of giant gymnasium with a bunch of hots in it.
And we have private family bedrooms We have fourteen bedrooms
within the shelter, and those bedrooms have multiple beds so
(02:12):
that a family can go in there and have some privacy.
And then the rest of the shelter is a shared
space with shared bathroom, shared living rooms, shared kitchen, shared
team room, and a child playroom. And so we also
have legal advocacy services that are available in the shelter
as wells case management, child advocacy, and then of course
our twenty four hour hotline, and then in the community,
(02:35):
we're doing a lot of events outreach. We do support
groups for people have disabilities, and we also have support
groups at the jail in prison, and we actually have
a prison program too that we participate in, and that
is we will also respond if there is a rape
in the prison in Richland County and be supportive to
a prisoner who has might have been raped or sexually
(02:57):
assaulted in prison.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
We are hearing this small warning from Colleen Rice, who
is this week's CEO you should know, executive director of
the Domestic Violent Shelter serving Richland County. You mentioned fourteen rooms,
how many people in total? Can you guys kind of
help on a daily basis? What's kind of the max capacity, So.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Our maximum in those rooms are forty eight beds, although
we do have some cribs and we also have some
roll away or inflatable beds that we can use within
those rooms for larger families. We also mentioned the teen room,
and many times we'll convert that room into a temporary bedroom.
And in addition to that, we do have a hotel
program so that if the shelter is full, we can
(03:39):
provide a safe haven for people, will provide food and
all of the same resources that someone would receive in
shelter if they were there. And frankly, we've been full
all year, since the very first week in January, we've
been full or on overflow status. We're also serving people
who might be fleeing from human trafficking, and people who
(04:01):
have been stocked and need a safe place to go,
or people who have experienced strangulation. So we have a
variety of people coming to use the shelter, and we're
working hand in hand with community partners, for example, like Rubies,
and if a single person comes in, that would be
a better match for Rubies, whereas if they have children,
Rubies can't accommodate children right now, so we partner with
(04:23):
Rubies and make sure that that family is sheltered.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Now, in terms of the people you help, we say
you serve Richland County. Does it go outside of the county.
Talk to us about the people you guys.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Help Absolutely our twenty four to seven hotline and chat
when we're in taking individuals that might need help. Sometimes
there are people coming in from outside of the county.
But the reason for that is is sometimes it's safer
to leave your community, and there's a network of shelters
all across this country who will open their doors to
anyone from our shelter that needs to leave Richland County
(04:56):
for any reason. And on the same note, we open
our doors also. But a majority of the people who
are coming through the shelter are from Richland County. But
I do want to make people aware that we do
sometimes have people from other areas that come in.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Colleen Rice is the voice you hear this morning, Executive
director of the Domestic Violent Shelter serving Richland County. Again
this week's CEO. You should know you threw out a
twenty four to seven hotline number. Could you share that
with us?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Absolutely? It's four one nine seven seven four five eight
four zero. And if you go to our website, the
dvshelter dot com, there's a chat icon, and so you
can click on that chat icon and it happens within
the browser. This is not a chat on your phone,
and you can chat with an advocate and then close
that browser, erase your the browsing data, and that way
(05:46):
you could keep it hidden that you were talking with
someone from the shelter.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Now, could you give the website again?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Sure, it's the dvshelter dot com.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Okay, very important information, important conversation this morning as we
are talking with the Domestic Violent Shelter are serving Richland County.
Colleen Rice, executive director, is with us in studio. How
long have you been in your current role as an
executive director?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Just a little over a year. I got a call
from Lisa Snoke, who works with Spherey on mid Ohio,
and it was just a wonderful day to hear from
her because I had not thought about working in domestic
violence for a long time. Twenty five years ago, I
started off in domestic violence in Medina County and helped
open a shelter in that community and then went on
(06:28):
to work in some community center work and also within
the health department in that community, and then finally leading
a leadership program in Medina County. When I received the
call from Lisa, and when my husband and I talked
about this opportunity, we kind of reflected back on the
time that we had started the shelter and realized that
that was such an amazing time of being able to
(06:49):
help people and use my skills. And now that I've
had grown a little bit more and had more skills
in my toolbox, I was excited about bringing that here
and sharing it with the community.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
We're glad to have you with this this morning. Let's
find out a little bit more about you. So you
mentioned Madina County. Let's step back to the beginning. People
may want to know where was Colleen Rice born.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So my dad served in the Air Force, and so
we lived all over the country. It was during the
Vietnam War, and so he was working stateside and at
that time we were in New Hampshire and I ended
up being born just across the border in the hospital,
the Naval hospital there in Maine.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
All right. Next tell us where'd you go to high school?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I graduated from Medina High.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
School, all right? And next tell us a bit about college.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Sure, So I started off thinking I wanted to be
a nurse. I lost my sister when I was ten
years old, and I spent a lot of time in
the hospital seeing these wonderful, amazing people caring for my sister,
and so I thought, hey, I want to really do that.
And after two years I realized it was just really
because I love those people and not really my passion
and what I wanted to do. So I ended up
(07:56):
finishing my degree at the University Vakron in psychology, and
I really think that was the best path. I also
did a little bit of music and worked a little
bit with the Cleveland Opera at the time.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
All right, terrific. Now, I heard you say husband. So
I don't know if you have kids or not, but
tell us a little more about Colleen and the family.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Absolutely, I do have a husband and two daughters, adult daughters.
And my husband is a graphic artist and also he
does web design and he right now is an engineer
for SME doing some of their front end web development.
He does a lot of art with watercolor, but he
has a lot of passion with a lot of other
(08:33):
ways to paint art. And my whole art is basically
an art studio for him, So it's wonderful to come
in and see what he's been creating during the day.
And if you ever visit my office, my office is
full of his art and my daughter's art because Diana
inherited his love for art and just finished her degree
in art. And my daughter Elizabeth does hair and nails,
(08:53):
and I guess it's kind of an art of its
own too, right. Absolutely, so very creative family, wonderful family,
and I'm just so proud of all of them.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Awesome to hear. Now, when you're not working, what do
you do for fun spare time? What kind of hobbies
do you have?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
So I kind of hinted to that earlier with the opera,
But I really loved to sing, and I've been very
involved in my church with singing and singing in the community.
I like to be outside and hiking and just you know,
enjoying the beauty, especially this time of the year with
all the leaves changing. It's my favorite time.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Absolutely been a little maybe warmer than average fall, it's
been really really nice and terrific conversation this morning, as
we are learning about Colleen Rice and the domestic violent
shelter serving Ritsland County. She's the executive director and this
week's CEO. You should know. Okay, back to work a
little bit here. We mentioned you serve Ritzland County, but
(09:46):
where are you exactly? Located at here in the community.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So it is a confidential location, okay, And so even
if someone wants to donate, they need to make a
call and check in first. For anybody who has donated
in the past, we're moving our our donation to a
different location at the building for the drop off and
that's because we want to protect the confidentiality of everyone
staying there and so in the past the door that
we were using wasn't the best for confidentiality. So please
(10:13):
give us a call. You can call the hotline which
is four one nine seven seven four five eight four
zero and let them know that you'd like to make
a donation and they'll connect you with Kate, who is
handling our donations.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Now, let's talk about donations a little bit, if you know,
and we're going to talk about funding in those kind
of things. If somebody wants to donate, you know, maybe
some money, or if somebody wants to donate items, maybe
to help. Could you share with us how that works,
and I know you were just touching on it a
moment ago, but how it works and what kind of
items you guys are looking for.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Absolutely, we have our page on our website about donating,
and our hope is to start updating that with our
most needed items. I'll tell you what. We certainly go
through a lot of toilet paper at the shelter, and
so there's going to be items like that that we need.
Sometimes we're going to need some new undergarments or new
pajamas for all ages for children and infants all the
(11:05):
way up through adults. And you can get all of
that information on our website by clicking on the donate
page at the dvshelter dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Let's talk about funding for the Domestic Violent Shelter serving
Rizland County again, as you hear from executive director Colleen
Rice this morning. How does it work in terms of
funding for your organization.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
This is what we call in the business soft money,
and so when you have grants that are coming from
the government or the state or local funding, those funding
streams can change over time for different reasons. For example,
there's funding right now on the federal level called VOCA,
and that's for victims of crime. And years ago the
(11:48):
shelter used to receive probably two to three times that
we're receiving now. And yet we're also probably facing another
forty percent cut next year on those funds. And you know,
just for people to know, VOCA comes from white collar
crime cases, and so when those white collar crimes have
to pay a fine, then those fines are divided amongst
(12:10):
all of the victims of crime programs across the nation.
It's curious to me, you know, I'd like to know,
are we seeing a decrease in white collar crime? Why
are we seeing this decrease? And I haven't had any
answers to that because I have asked about that, and
you know, so we're seeing those kind of decreases. There
was also American Rescue Act money that was coming through
(12:31):
our area. We still have some, I understand in Mansfield,
but for different purposes that the city council has right now.
But overall, you know, the ARPA money that was designated
for family violence prevention that actually ended as of June thirtieth,
and so those are funds that we no longer have
access to. And it's leaving us in a difficult situation
(12:51):
at the shelter because that gap is between two and
three hundred thousand dollars, and so we desperately need donations
from individuals. Whether you can buy toilet paper and papered
tows for us, whether you can donate items that we
would typically buy, or if you're a business out there
and you would like to partner with us, we would
love to hear from you, and you can call the
(13:12):
hotline and ask for the executive director and they'll forward
you to me and we can have a conversation about
how you can be involved and how you can help.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Now, Colin, as we talk about the domestic Violence Shelter
serving Rizland County again, Colleen Rice, our guest and executive director.
Against she's this week CEO, you should know in terms
of your budget, talk about that a little bit, because
I want to get to staff members too before I
let you go. But you help a lot of people
on a yearly basis we do.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Last year, we provided over seventy five hundred nights of
shelter for children and adults in our community that needed
a safe place to stay, and we also served hundreds
of people in the emergency rooms at Ohio Health and Avida,
responding to sexual assault nurse exams and being there to
advocate for them, and all of that is happening twenty
(14:01):
four to seven and on holidays, and so we do
have a very robust staff and budget. And right now
our budget, based on the expenses that we're predicting for
twenty twenty five is one point five million dollars, and
so that two to three hundred thousand dollars is a
significant amount looking at that budget, and we just need
(14:22):
the community support to step up, just like they did
in nineteen seventy eight, to step and say this is
important and we need this in our community. I need
people to step up today.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Just like that. How many staff members in total do
you have? Can you ballpark it?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, we got around twenty six, some part time, some
full time. And we utilize a lot of individuals who
are going to school at Ohio State Mansfield or in
North Central State. Maybe they're studying psychology and such, and
we can train people on how to answer the hotline
and how to help.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Before I let you go, I want to bring up
something important. You mentioned, you know, twenty four hour hotline,
but when you guys get a call. It's not office
hours all the time. It's not eight to four, eight
to five. I mean you guys, you could be middle
of the night, weekend you mentioned you don't know, and
you guys are there to help people, so you could
get a call any of your staff right at any
time exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So we always try to have one domestic violence advocate
who will be staying at the shelter to answer the
hotline and to take care of any needs at the shelter,
and then we always have one person who is our
sexual assault advocate who can leave the building and go
respond to those needs. But sometimes we'll have two or
three even in one night, and so at those points
(15:33):
then we're calling in our on call people and utilizing
any volunteers that we might have that sometimes will help
us with some of those outreach things that we're doing
or emergency response.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
We are visiting and learning about the Domestic Violent Shelter
serving Richland County. Colleen Rice is with us. She's this
week's CEO. You should know she's the executive director. Before
I let you go, you've shared a lot of important information.
Talk about the vision. You've been in this role for
a little while a lot to oversee a lot of
people to help. Very important what you guys do. But
talk about your vision you have here.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, our vision is to work closer with our community.
We know that we are good at domestic violence response
and advocacy, sexual assault response and advocacy, human trafficking, stocking, strangulation,
et cetera. But we no longer have the space to
just take used clothing and other items, and so we're
(16:26):
starting to rely on our partners like Saint John's and
the News Store and many others to help cloth the
people coming into shelter, so we can focus on the priorities,
which is making sure they have a place to stay
for the night and utilizing that space that was used
for other things to use it for that purpose. And
so that's really what I want to happen. I want
(16:47):
us to focus on the things that we are good
at and network with our community.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Now as I let you go, I want you to
share more information. If somebody wants to donate, whether it's monetary,
it's an item that you guys in need of, they
want to help any way they can, how can they
reach out Whether go ahead and give us At twenty
four to seven number and also your.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Website absolutely so they can call us at four one
nine seven seven four five eight four zero. And I
also just want to emphasize that numbers not only for
donations or for somebody looking for emergency shelter, but it's
for everyday people like you, You who are listening right now.
If you have a question, if you think that someone
that you know or that you love has been affected
(17:28):
by domestic violence or sexual assault or one of the
other services I mentioned today, please call us. We're here
to help you ask the right questions and guide them
along and help them get the help that they need.
And then our website is the dvshelter dot com. Before
I forget, I just want to say thank you to
United Way and also to the Richland County Foundation. They
(17:48):
have been great as far as just being able to
for me to pick up the phone and give them
a call when I need something or to talk it through.
And then they've also just come through with so much
funding and help for us, and we just could not
do it without them.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Very important information, very important conversation this morning with Colleen Rice,
executive director of the Domestic Violent Shelter serving Rizland County.
Was great to learn about all the great work you
guys are doing and your story. Thank you so much
for being with us and we wish you continued success.
Thank you, Colleen Rice, Executive director of the Domestic Violent Shelter.
(18:23):
The CEO you should know rid a Bio, See a
photo and hear the extended interview at WMA, n FM
dot com. Leading means having a vision and sharing it
with others. I'm John Roby of RFI Insurance. We're excited
to bring you this program featuring CEOs from our area
who will share the thoughts and what it means to
work and live in north central Ohio.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.