News
»WBCWS hires new Executive Director, revamps programs
Posted Local at Oct 06, 2010
By Candy DenOuden
When Tillie Black Bear resigned after 20 years at the helm of the White Buffalo Calf Women Society shelter, it took everyone a minute to adjust.
Grant Manager Nichole Emery stepped in as acting director. A short time later, the Shelter’s Board of Directors offered the position permanently – and she accepted.
Now, the work begins.
“We are doing a lot of restructuring programmatically,” said Emery. “And we’re really excited about some of the changes.”
Some of the program changes Emery and her staff are implementing include training opportunities for advocates, and cementing the shelter’s personnel policies and procedures – and making some personnel changes where necessary.
“In the past we did things kind of informally,” said Emery. “We’re working on training and adding to people’s responsibilities.”
This training will include looking at advocates, outreaches, ethics in the workplace and confidentiality.
“Ultimately, it’s about victim’s services,” Emery said. “Every case is a crisis.”
Emery said she and other staff members hope the newfound “formalities” will make things simpler and sounder for them and future shelter victims and employees.
“It’s about creating a foundation for how we do this work, so it will be there for future advocates,” Emery said. “It’s about preserving the dignity of our clients.”
Many of these changes come off the heels of WBCWS being shut down briefly in August amidst allegations of misconduct and unsafe conditions – and the Shelter is trying to catch up.
Though the facility is open and fully functional, Emery said they are still working closely with Tribal officials.
“We have a long history of partnership with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe,” said Emery. “We’re working on resolving some issues on our partnership with the Tribe.”
Emery said she thought the latest meeting with Tribal Council went well, and was a step in the right direction.
“We felt that the reception [from Tribal Council] was very positive,” Emery said. “They could see that the shelter is not trying to hide anything, and is willing to address any issues.”
In addition, Emery said she is working with the WBCWS Board of Directors, doing research and providing training.
“Many times they really don’t know what their roles and responsibilities as a board member are,” said Emery.
Along with new policy development, Emery also announced White Buffalo calf as the recent recipient of a sizeable grant from the Department of Justice.
“That’s one of the things we’re really excited about,” Emery said.
Of those funds, White Buffalo will receive just half.
“We have a criminal justice system that is severely lacking in funding and manpower,” Emery said.
This grant, Emery said, will provide funding for outreach services, and payroll for prosecutors, criminal investigators and other needed law enforcement and court personnel.
According to the WBCWS Director, grant funding written by White Buffalo employees currently provides for eight full time positions within the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s criminal justice and court system.
“We don’t write these grants to solely benefit our organization. We look at the bigger picture,” Emery said. “Right now our biggest need is in the criminal justice system, so whenever I write a grant I always include them in some way.”
Improving the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault awareness within the Tribe’s criminal justice system, Emery says, is imperative to helping clients go to the shelter find justice and peace.
Emery also wrote a grant for Indian Health Services to hire one full time Sexual Assault Response coordinator/midwife – a position which, up until this point, has been volunteer-based.
“That’s a huge need,” said Emery. “They don’t get compensation, it’s all volunteer. This grant will fund for a full time person who can devote all their time and energy to Sexual Assault Response Team work.”
On top of programming, the Shelter has been working on two big projects to assist victims of domestic violence.
The first, Emery said, is a Protection Order Registry – a progressive and aggressive approach to keeping tabs on perpetrators of domestic violence.
“We would be one of the first in Indian Country, and beyond that, to have a protection order registry,” Emery said. “It would help stem delay between courts issuing [protection orders] and law enforcement knowing about them.”
The other project White Buffalo staff will tackle is implementing a Domestic Violence Court in Rosebud.
According to Emery, this would mean that likely one day of the week would be set aside strictly for sexual assault and domestic violence cases – charges of stalking, protection order violations, sexual assault, et cetera.
“It would be the only one in the state, in any jurisdiction,” Emery said. “We’re really excited about that. There’s a lot happening.”
If that weren’t enough to keep White Buffalo staff busy, the shelter also recently started massively renovating its facilities.
“We were able to find some extra dollars for renovations,” Emery said. “we’re pretty much refurbishing the whole shelter.”
This will include a new kitchen including cabinets, floors and commercial grade appliances; new washers, dryers, beds, mattresses, ovens, room fixtures and other necessary items for the 45 women and children they serve at full capacity.
“We’re really fortunate to have a facility this size,” said Emery. “And we’re very, very, very excited that our shelter is getting a facelift.”
Emery has even more plans for the future, including Transitional Housing for victims, and continuing to develop the Shelter’s relationship with criminal justice organizations.
For now, White Buffalo staff is concentrating on October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
“We will be out in the community,” said Emery. “Everyone can look to the paper for dates and locations.”
The Shelter’s first event of the month is a “National Day of Unity Domestic Violence Awareness Walk” planned for today, at 9 a.m. to start at the IHS hospital in Rosebud.