PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Here at ABC Action News, we want to make sure domestic violence survivors know about all the resources available to them.
At Sunrise of Pasco County, a certified domestic violence center, there's an economic empowerment program. The program teaches survivors skills like credit building, budgeting, and creating resumes.
“It helps them kind of get back on their feet – it helps them to learn how to budget, learn how to be on their own, and kind of teaches them a little more about being self-sufficient,” explained Samantha Gillyard, an Economic Empowerment Advocate for Sunrise Pasco.
The CEO of Sunrise, Kelly Sinn, told ABC Action News in nearly 99% of domestic violence situations, there are elements of financial abuse — often a big reason survivors stay in an abusive relationship.
“Giving us an opportunity to work with these survivors to build that financial independence is something that empowers them to take their life back from the abusive situation and the abuser themselves,” said Sinn.
Sunrise Pasco recently started offering Microsoft training, which helps survivors learn the basics of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Gillyard said the program recently helped a survivor land an office job because she learned those skills.
Thanks to a grant from Spectrum, Sunrise Pasco will soon be able to build a computer lab so they can offer more classes and one-on-one learning.
You can learn more about the Economic Empowerment Program here.
