Collegiate Times

Patricia Brown, executive director of the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley, has been nationally recognized for her outstanding leadership skills.

As a recipient of The Sunshine Lady Foundation's 2008 Sunshine Peace Award, Brown is one of 20 women nationwide to be acknowledged this year for exceptional dedication to domestic violence awareness and prevention. Brown is the third Virginian to receive this award since its inception in 1998.

Founded by Doris Buffett, sister of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, The Sunshine Lady Foundation has worked on behalf of women and children affected by domestic violence, providing them with more than $55 million in scholarships and grants. The Peace Award was created specifically to honor those who have worked through grassroots organizations, such as the Women's Resource Center, to eliminate domestic violence in their communities.

"Pat has developed and fostered a top-notch program -- she has been extremely proactive in ending violence in her community," said Nancy Soward, executive director of the Women's Independent Scholarship Program and distributor of the award.

Brown, who has led the Women's Resource Center in its growth and community assistance efforts for 22 years, has played an integral role in shaping the organization. It has become one of Virginia's largest domestic and sexual violence centers, serving more than 3,340 adults and children in the last year.

"When I started here in 1986, we had a staff of seven," Brown said. "We have continued to expand and develop programs to the point where we now have 26 staff members."

The Women's Resource Center serves the city of Radford, where it is centered, as well as the surrounding counties of Montgomery, Pulaski, Floyd and Giles. Though it began in 1977 as a crisis hotline and emergency shelter, the WRC now offers a wide variety of other services in the areas of domestic violence, sexual violence and legal advocacy.

Services such as the 24/7 Emergency Advocate program, where advocates work with those experiencing sexual assault or domestic violence crises, and the Victim Witness program, which assists with victim court proceedings, developed in response to community needs.

"The programs that have been built and continued started with the people we were serving and their needs," Brown said. "We listen to people who come to us for help, then try to get them that help."

This same approach to development has also led to innovations such as Cornerstone, a transitional housing shelter, and Peaceline, a primary prevention program that exposes almost 9,000 middle and high school students annually to the dangers and effects of partner violence through a series of presentations. A task force regarding domestic violence among older adults is also currently in the works.

"Even though our facilities are centralized, we are really getting out into all of the localities and providing our services," Brown said.

The cost of offering these programs, as well as counseling, support groups, and community resource assistance, is significant and financed largely by government funding and more than 15 grants that Brown, aided by staff, worked tirelessly to obtain.

"We've worked hard to keep our cause in front of the legislatures, as well as our need for more dollars. Thirty years ago, there were no federal or state streams of money for domestic and sexual violence," Brown said.

In addition to federal funds, individuals, county governments, faith and civic communities, and other organizations like United Way support the WRC.

In the 22 years she has served as executive director of the WRC, Brown has also been on many other domestic violence and sexual assault boards and task forces. She has also won other awards such as the 2001 VAASA Vanguard Award for work on sexual assault issues and the 2002 North Star Peace Award from Virginians Against Domestic Violence.

As part of the award, Brown was granted an all-expenses paid weekend to Wilmington, N.C., for a gala reception, as well as a $5,000 personal award and $5,000 to be donated to the non-profit domestic violence agency of her choice.

Brown quickly chose the Women's Resource Center to receive a donation, an organization to which she has shown steadfast commitment for more than two decades.