Lack of funding, staff shortage strains Vera House operations
On Monday night, Randi Bregman, a co-executive director of Vera House, brought a client to the hospital when no other staff could. Angela Douglas, another Vera House co-executive director, escorted a separate client to the hospital last week.
“What you might think is a typical day for co-executive directors, is anything but,” Bregman said.
Vera House, an organization that offers emergency shelter, advocacy and counseling for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse, is facing a financial crisis due to the pandemic and the “Great Resignation” — a term that refers to the economic trend where American workers resigned from their jobs in 2021. Private organizations are pulling their staff away by offering higher pay.
Vera House also lost a $125,000 grant for an elder abuse program, Douglas said. The two are committed to reforming the organization to also provide care and sustainability to their staff.
“We, looking into 2022, said we want to recruit staff at the level we think they deserve to be earning at the organization,” Bregman said. “And we want to address equity issues in the organization and retain the staff we have, so we committed to invest in that coming into 2022 even though we didn’t have the income to support it.”
