Message from the CEO - 2022 Impact Report
In 2022, Hopeful Horizons launched a new three-year strategic plan with the vision of being the Lowcountry leader in ending child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault. We’ve already made a significant amount of progress on the plan, including reviewing and revising our salary structure to help ensure our staff is earning a living wage that is keeping up with inflation and the 20-plus percent increase in housing costs in Beaufort County. As with many organizations, “The Great Resignation” had a profound impact on Hopeful Horizons’ team, programs and services. It has also taken significantly longer to find qualified applicants to fill vacant positions, which created waiting lists for services and higher caseloads. Fortunately, by the end of the 2022, most positions were filled and waiting lists diminished.
I’m proud to say that despite the struggle with recruitment and retention:
more than 1,200 victims/survivors of child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault received services and support from Hopeful Horizons
1,600 professionals in the community were trained by our team on how to prevent abuse and to recognize the signs
we educated more than 1,300 middle and high school students about violence prevention and healthy relationships.
An exciting service enhancement implemented in 2022 is a formal partnership between Hopeful Horizons and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to provide forensic medical evaluations in cases of alleged child abuse or neglect. MUSC Children’s Health, which is headquartered in Charleston, is a system of preventive and clinical care that delivers the most advanced, evidence-based health services to children throughout South Carolina. MUSC pediatricians are certified as subspecialists in child abuse care by the American Board of Pediatrics and their nurses are specially trained in pediatric sexual assault evidence collection. Through this partnership, MUSC hired an RN to act as a telehealth presenter for Hopeful Horizons. Exams are conducted by child abuse medical professionals in Charleston via telehealth at a healthcare facility in Okatie, near our Bluffton office.
A Hopeful Horizons Family Advocate attends the forensic medical evaluations to provide assistance and support to the victim/survivor and their family. Hopeful Horizons’ partnership with MUSC not only ensures that children in the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit receive the best care available, but it also makes medical services more sustainable and more accessible. In 2022, 53 children received medical evaluations through this partnership.
In 2023, Hopeful Horizons has a lot to celebrate. Thanks to your support and partnership, we are celebrating our 40th anniversary (based on the year the rape crisis program was originally founded). Additionally, Hopeful Horizons’ Children’s Advocacy Center went through a rigorous reaccreditation process with the National Children’s Alliance last year, which resulted in the January 2023 announcement of our successful accreditation for another five years.
Behind these numbers and achievements in our 2022 Impact Report are the faces of the children, teenagers and adults Hopeful Horizons serves – our family, friends and neighbors – people just like you and me.
We are so grateful to have you as part of the Hopeful Horizons’ family. We thank you, Hopeful Horizons’ loyal supporters and partners, for your continued commitment to ending abuse and changing lives in the Lowcountry.
You are making a difference!
With deep gratitude,
Kristin Dubrowski, MNM
Chief Executive Officer
