Atlanta Victim Assistance celebrates 40 years of service

Atlanta Victim Assistance (AVA) , a 40-year-old nonprofit that provides services to victims of crime throughout Atlanta, is holding a clothing/food/toiletries donation drive in June for the people AVA serves who have found themselves with limited resources who have been forced to leave their homes, or who have lost access to their personal belongings following a crime.

This year, AVA celebrates 40 years of helping crime victims become victors with its transformative programs and services, including AVA’s Closet & Food Pantry.

The pantry is designated for the thousands of crime victims AVA serves each year as a safe place to help them regain essential belongings after experiencing the devastating impacts of crime.

Executive Director Shontel Brunson-Wright said their primary mission is to deliver services and resources to victims of crime.

“Often, when victims are leaving their homes due to a crime, they don’t have the necessities they need,” she said. “We notice this and how high prices are for everything today.”

Through its 40-year history, more than 150,000 crime victims and their families have received AVA’s help.

According to Brunson-Wright, AVA has unique and integrated partnerships with the Atlanta Police Department, Atlanta Municipal Court, Atlanta Public Schools, and more, which enable individuals and families to receive critical services as soon as possible after a crime.

Unlike other crime assistance organizations, when crimes are committed against people, AVA offers support to victims and witnesses regardless of the offender’s arrest status. For these victims, AVA is often the only organization connecting them with resources and helping them cope, grieve, and move forward with their lives.

Brunson-Wright said past victims have come to AVA saying they need extra help, whether with food insecurities or simply household needs. AVA’s closet also includes suits and prom dress

“We cater to all people. We have something for men, women, and children,” she said.

Brunson-Wright also said the drive and closet don’t only apply to June; it’s a 12-month yearly event. According to Brunson-Wright, it’s a newer initiative, and the closet opened in November 2023. According to Brunson-Wright, it’s a newer initiative, and the closet opened in November 2023.

“We are just at the point where more and more survivors are using it, and we just need to keep it stocked,” she said. “When we first unveiled our closet, we didn’t make a big advertisement when we stocked it the first time with some of our partners.”

Additionally, she said the most phenomenal part about this time is celebrating 40 years of service and being an agency that’s been ingrained and entangled in Atlanta. Another part of their mission is AVA.

“We continue to do this good work and continue to give survivors new avenues for resources and just simply meeting people where they are,” she said.

However, Brunson-Wright said their mission is also to do it with dignity and respect, which is why the closet was created. As AVA is housed in the municipal court, they had office space on the first floor, which wasn’t “the best place to have an office due to a past flooding issue.”

Brunson-Wright asked the courts if the office was still deemed an AVA space. Once they confirmed it was, she shared the idea of having storage there instead, but not in the traditional way.

“I wanted it to have a boutique feel,” she said. “All because I thought a lot about the portion of our mission that talked about dignity. We wanted some of our survivors to be able to walk through the door and do everything I would do if I were going to Macy’s to shop.”

She said she wanted survivors to browse the racks, look at accessories, and have their things folded and placed in shopping bags.

“You leave with a little bit more dignity because sometimes it’s hard to ask,” she said.

Working at AVA from 2011 to 2012 as Deputy Director, Brunson-Wright said she feels proud to celebrate 40 years of carrying out their mission. She was selected two years ago to be the leader of AVA.

“I did this with a lot of pride, but it became a labor of love for me many years ago.

Also, she said their advocates are typically first responders to the victims of a crime. So, although law enforcement may arrive at the scene, there are times when AVA accompanies the police.

“When you think about someone who has experienced trauma or crises, imagine how frightening and how easy it is to be or feel alone,” she said. “We’re the ones that are going to make that first follow-up contact with the victims.”

For the future, Brunson-Wright said AVA’s Community Unit will be coming soon, serving the community more broadly but more from a prevention perspective. They also will have a mobile unit rolling the Atlanta streets this summer.

“Look out, Atlanta, there’s so much more that we’re going to do because we want to serve people, and I think the pandemic was a great example of showing us how much we need each other,” she said.

Furthermore, Brunson-Wright said AVA will continue to be there for victims and give them exactly what they need.

“AVA has been around for 40 years, and we have many, many decades to go, and we’re going to keep doing it as long as there’s crime in our city,” she said. “It’s an honor and a privilege to do so.”

The pantry is in the Atlanta Municipal Court Building; however, the closet is not open to the public; rather, it’s designated as a safe place to help those AVA serves.

For more details and information, visit www.atlantava.org/closet .

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