For decades, Willow Domestic Violence Center and RESOLVE of Greater Rochester have collaborated to provide services to survivors of abuse.
Now the two organizations are merging into one.
Willow President and CEO Meaghan de Chateauvieux, who is staying on to lead the newly expanded nonprofit, said the alliance will allow the organization to meet the demand for varied services that began to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The number one benefit I see to the community is that a survivor coming forward into any access point will have this resource available with everything they need right there the first time that they reach out to us," she said.
Willow, founded in 1979, provides mostly short-term crisis response services, including emergency shelter and legal assistance. RESOLVE, founded in 1998, has focused on education and long-term therapeutic services to help survivors address their underlying trauma.
The partnership will combine RESOLVE's current counseling space in Penfield with Willow's central urban locations to give clients easier access to the services they need.
"You may not necessarily need shelter, but you really want therapeutic services," explained Mary Whittier, RESOLVE's interim CEO. "You don't have to drive all the way across town. You can come to either the west side or the city or the east side."
Whittier will serve as a consultant for the merger transition through Aug. 1.
Employees of RESOLVE have all been offered positions within the newly formed organization.
In 2020, Willow's hotline (585-222-SAFE) answered about 8,000 calls. That's a nearly 20% increase over 2019.
De Chateauvieux said the level of demand for services in 2021 is on track to match last year's as survivors start to emerge from isolation.
"They're starting to kind of pick their heads up," she said, "and look around and say, 'I don't have to do this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore.'"
Prevention education efforts will expand under the new organization. They currently include student workshops offered to local school districts and training for teachers, counselors, coaches, and other community members on how to respond when they are approached by a survivor.
"Being out in the community, expanding prevention efforts, being able to do more outreach will be community changing," de Chateauvieux said.
The merger was made possible by the United Way of Greater Rochester's synergy fund, which was also tapped to create Willow's Deaf IGNITE program in August 2020.