WSAV - Lowcountry Nonprofits Merge To Form Hopeful Horizons

By Stassy Olmos

“It’s just a new day in Beaufort County. I think the name is very very good for the occasion of Hopeful Horizons, that’s pretty well kinda dictates the future that we’re looking to,” said Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner.

Hopeful Horizons is the Lowcountry’s newest nonprofit organization, but it’s actually been around for decades.

Hope Haven children’s advocacy and rape crisis center is joining forces with CODA, Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse, to become Hopeful Horizons.

“The two organizations are coming together with the vision of making a greater impact in this community when it comes to ending violence and abuse,” said Shauw Chin Capps, previous Executive Director of Hope Have, and now Hopeful Horizons CEO.

Capps says “it’s important for the community to understand that the issues of child abuse, domestic violence, and sexual assault are so interconnected.”

“For example, in a lot of child abuse cases that we see, its not unusual that you’re gonna see domestic violence within the home,” she said, “There’s these kind of cross overs and if we’re together, we’re really gonna be able to look at this family with a much more holistic lens and be able to offer the kind of services that would actually meet more of those needs.”

And they have full support from local law enforcement and the courts.

“I’ve seen, as the solicitor here, the thousands of rape victims and victims of child abuse, victims of domestic violence that these two organizations separately have, have helped,” said Duffie Stone, Solicitor of the Fourteenth Circuit, “Now they’re gonna do it together as a team, I think that’s gonna be a tremendous asset.”

Tanner expressed to the crowd gathered to celebrate the merger how difficult it is to be law enforcement and deal with victims who can’t defend themselves.

“Working these types of cases as a law enforcement officer is very daunting, it’s challenging and it can be taxing and it’s good to have resources out there that do these things,” he said.

Watch the full news story here: http://wsav.com/2017/01/23/lowcountry-nonprofits-merge-to-form-hopeful-horizons/