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Read the press release here.

Northside Community Resources Cuts Domestic Violence Program

By Benjamin Woodard | September 25, 2014 5:21am
 Northside Community Resources, formerly the Rogers Park Community Council, has been looking for a new office and might move out of the neighborhood.
Northside Community Resources, formerly the Rogers Park Community Council, has been looking for a new office and might move out of the neighborhood.
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DNAinfo/Benjamin Woodard

ROGERS PARK — Advocates are scrambling to find a way to save a 30-year-old program based in Rogers Park that helps victims of domestic violence.

Northside Community Resources, formerly Rogers Park Community Council, announced this week that it would end its Victim Advocacy and Support Program at the end of the year.

"We were all stunned," said Jennifer Caruso, who leads the program's three-person staff.

Ben Woodard explains why the program is likely shutting down and who is most affected:

Caruso said the program has a budget of less than $200,000 and helped 901 victims last year and 767 victims so far this year obtain orders of protection and more.

Chris Zala, the executive director of Northside Community Resources, said in a statement that the program would be cut because "domestic violence clients are best served by agencies that specialize in that arena."

Zala said current clients in the program would be transitioned to other agencies, including the Howard Area Community Center. The organization's other programs, including for senior services and housing, would be unaffected.

Zala also said the organization had been stretched too thin in recent years, and funding shortfalls threatened to close its doors.

"When you do to many things, you can’t do everything well," he said in a phone interview Wednesday. "It’s been a really tough battle for the last couple of years to keep our doors open. We really need to follow a smaller number of services."

But Caruso and former clients say they're "disgusted" that the program would be shut down.

Rob Fox, 45, said he and his partner, Sam Bracamonte, sought legal protection from a neighbor who had become obsessed and sometimes violent with the couple.

Fox said when they attempted to work through the courts to get an order of protection, they became "lost in the system."

That is, until Caruso and her staff helped out.

"We were really victimized," he said. "If it was not for them, we still would have been being victimized — it really helped us stand up."

Other supporters have sprung up online, launching a petition to save the "vital program."

Northside Community Resources says it has also outgrown its space at 1530 W. Morse Ave. and has been looking for new office space, including outside of the neighborhood.

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