New Beginnings for New Bridge Family Shelter

A sea of neon pink questionnaires attached to packets of information on administration standards were in the hand of every attendee at the New Bridge Family Shelter stakeholder meeting Thursday afternoon at St. Paul Presbyterian.  

In a recent LIVE! interview with the new president of the Institute of Cognitive Development (ICD) board, Martha Ibarra explained the reasons for the closure and the controversy surrounding it, as well as the last ditch effort to save the much-needed safe haven for victims of domestic violence.  

“The past is the past. I think everyone in this room knows that the issues that were there in the past have been [resolved]. If you don’t know, Kay La Boid is no longer involved,” said Jeri Slone addressing the audience. Her statement was met with heavy applause.

Slone has been involved with the shelter in many different roles for the past 16 years, and is now serving in the capacity of vice president.

“The most important thing that needs to happen at the shelter right now is to resume taking in victims of family violence being referred to the shelter,” Slone said. “With all of the issues that have happened in the past, the referrals have really slowed down because law enforcement, CIU, and other places don’t really know where to call for services, so we need those referrals, and we want to be here for them to start calling and bringing in the victims of domestic violence.”

In recent years, a rift between the shelter and law enforcement agencies has hurt New Bridge in performing its mission.

“We are past the point of asking why, and now is how,” said Slone. “How can we meet the needs of the victims of family violence? How can we meet the law enforcement and other service providers' needs? There were many reasons for the decline in services, but the board is committed to going forward now and making sure all of the needs are met.”

The board made a plan of action, detailed within the information packet, and is taking steps to revise policy and procedures, train staff, and hire at least three more staff persons, and recruit at least five volunteers by May 1.

The shelter not only serves Tom Green County, but 14 surrounding counties.

“It is a very important resource that we have to utilize,” said Coke County Deputy Sheriff Anthony Lopez. “Of course, San Angelo has become a bigger, main staple as far as resources. The smaller counties don’t have the resources. The outlying counties start to go into panic mode, and wonder what they are going to do. That’s why I came to the meeting today, I wanted to get the information for them in case we need to network, their resources are limited,” Lopez said, stressing the importance of the shelter to law enforcement agencies outside of San Angelo.

"We used to work really closely," said Karla Payne of the Concho Valley Rape Crisis Center. "Sometimes sexual assault overlaps with domestic violence, so we referred people back and forth. Recently, when things started to become negative at the shelter, we wanted to do things with them but they were distant. I believe new leadership is going to be better and changing of the policies is going to make everything better, and I am very encouraged by it."

Rebuilding realationships and funds are the two priorities in getting the shelter out of the red.

“We still have our family violence grant and more coming in,” said Slone. “We are hurting financially because of that $90,000 loss from the United Way, through no fault of the United Way I might add, so we really have to raise funds. Anyone in the community who is interested in assisting us in that matter, can make donations through the First National Bank of Mertzon. There will be upcoming fundraisers, and we are currently working on a community forum, where the community can come together as a whole, just like we did today. We can answer questions, seek assistance, and find out what [the community's] needs are, and also let them know what our needs are.”

ICD still needs five more board members. So far the board consists mainly of individuals  who are involved in law enforcement, students, and a couple of retirees, If you are interested, refer to the contact information below.

There are two locations you can donate in San Angelo via the First National Bank of Mertzon, 230 W. Twohig Ave. and 3999 Knickerbocker Rd. You can contact Martha Ibarra by e-mail at: [email protected] or Jeri Slone at [email protected].