ALIVE's mission is to provide counseling, emergency sanctuary and other critical services to adults and children impacted by domestic abuse, as well as to increase awareness in order to create a supportive community. ALIVE's vision is to end domestic abuse, restoring safety and peace one family at a time.
ALIVE (Alternatives to Living in Violent Environments) was founded in 1983 through the shared vision of two women with graduate degrees from Washington University, who worked as advocates for battered women. Aware of the critical need for safe shelter for women and children victimized by domestic violence in St. Louis, they decided to fill the existing void in services. ALIVE's humble beginnings were in two rooms donated by a local church, with two volunteer co-directors and six safe home providers who shared their homes with battered women and their children when safe shelter was unavailable. In addition to this temporary sanctuary program, four support groups were held weekly.
ALIVE was incorporated in 1985 and with great determination and vision ALIVE prospered into a full-service domestic violence agency. Today's "Nights of Safety" program remains true to the founders' original concept of providing temporary emergency sanctuary when all domestic violence shelter beds are full. ALIVE's additional services include:
- emergency transportation.
- individual and group adult counseling.
- children's treatment program.
ALIVE's paid staff has grown from one half-time person to the current count of nine full-time and two part-time employees. The operational volunteer corps that started with eight women now numbers 50 strong.
During Fiscal Year 2009/10 ALIVE provided services to 1,138 adults and 610 children by:
- answering 24,489 crisis calls.
- furnishing emergency shelter for 296 victims of domestic violence and 428 children, totaling 3,389 "Nights of Safety."
- assisting 345 clients with 507 court actions.
- providing 3/832 hours of individual adult counseling services to 463 clients.
- providing 1,134 hours of children's services to 335 children and parents.
- facilitating 114 support groups with 59 individuals in attendance.
ALIVE also educated the community through more than 90 presentations to more than 1,730 individuals.
Volunteers provided more than 18,804 hours of service to ALIVE clients and programs, averaging more than 1,500 hours per month.
According to the Uniform Crime Statistics:
- St. Louis County Police responded to 3,790 domestic violence calls in 2009.
- St. Louis City Police responded to 2,235 domestic violence calls in 2009.
- St. Charles Police responded to 1,320 domestic violence calls in 2009.
- Jefferson County Sheriff's Department responded to 1,170 domestic violence calls in 2009.
- Franklin County Sheriff's Department responded to 383 domestic violence calls in 2009.
These figures represent only those crimes that reported as domestic violence. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that more than 40% of all domestic violence is unreported.
According to the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence:
- In the St. Louis area, 11,810 women and 7,194 children received domestic violence services in 2008.
- Across Missouri, 4,657 women and 5,017 children were provided 151,254 bednights of shelter in 2008.
- The number of individuals turned away because a shelter was full was 9,089, a 9% increase over 2007.
- More than 19,000 Orders of Protection were sought in Missouri in 2008.
