Flexible Funds
Survivors’ economic challenges can take many forms and can threaten safety and housing stability. Flexible funds can make a significant difference, and programs that are using them are seeing great results.
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Reaching BIPOC Survivors with COVID-relief Flexible Funding in Harris County Texas
This case study examines how the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council (HCDVCC) in Houston, Texas used a variety of COVID-19 relief funding sources to provide over three million dollars of flexible funding grants to survivors in their region. As the funding intermediary, HCDVCC centered the needs of BIPOC survivors by looking outside the mainstream victim service sector when selecting the fourteen flexible funding program grantees. This case study highlights HCDVCC’s strategy to get flexible funding to BIPOC survivors who were less likely to access COVID-19 relief funds and other resources from mainstream institutions or through channels outside their cultural community or natural support system, including survivors who were undocumented and those still living with the harm-doer. The capacity-building support required by some of the programs to successfully utilize these funds is outlined, as well as approaches the wider field can consider to minimize common funding barriers BIPOC organizations face to accessing flexible funding for the survivors they serve.
Flexible Funding for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Survivors: Frequently Asked Questions
Flexible funding is financial support provided to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault (DV/SA) to address whatever barrier exists between the survivor and safe housing stability. This document addresses frequently asked questions about flexible funding, including why it is an important housing strategy for survivors, what flexible funding can be used for, and more.
RESEARCH BRIEF: IPV Survivors' Perceptions of How a Flexible Funding Housing Intervention Impacted Their Children
An estimated 15.5 million American children are exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) every year. Such exposure negatively impacts children’s health, development and academic performance and may also be accompanied by housing instability or homelessness. Children growing up with periods of homelessness or housing instability are at risk for many of the same detrimental outcomes as children exposed to IPV. This brief highlights key findings from a qualitative, longitudinal study examining mothers’ perceptions of how receipt of flexible funding designed to increase their housing stability may have also impacted their children’s safety, stress, mood and behavior.
Flexible Funding: Assessing the Impact of DASH’s Survivor Resilience Fund on Survivor Well-Being
Describes results of an evaluation of DASH's Survivor Resilience Fund, a low-barrier and trauma informed approach to homelessness prevention for survivors.
The Washington State Domestic Violence Housing First Program: Cohort 2 Agencies Final Evaluation Report
WSCADV's Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) program was designed to eliminate housing as a reason for survivors to stay in abusive relationships by providing flexible advocacy. This approach gave survivors of domestic violence the ability to establish a home and the freedom to choose how best to rebuild their lives. Permanent housing was the beginning of their new journey. The first phase of the DVHF program began with a cohort of four domestic violence agencies. The second phase, known as Cohort 2, expanded the program to nine additional agencies. Cohort 2 agencies served survivors with higher barriers to housing, including those living in rural, tribal, immigrant, and culturally specific communities.