PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pandemic lockdowns and quarantines may have caused people to spend more time with abusive partners — without ways to easily report it. That, as well as recent income loss, has been contributing to an increase in domestic violence across the country, according to a study by the University of California, Davis.
Nineteen homicides that occurred in Philadelphia within the past two months were directly related to domestic violence, said Christine Joy Brunson, founder of the Purple House Project PA, a nonprofit that works with women impacted by intimate partner violence.
To kick off Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Purple House is highlighting how the pandemic has changed the way they help people in similar volatile situations.
She said the organization created a garden, met women on grocery shopping trips, and held other discrete events to meet up with and help women in need.
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“Oftentimes, it’s kind of difficult when you’re at the table, you’re sitting across someone and it feels kind of clinical. You can learn a lot from someone from being outdoors with them, pulling weeds with them, and you’re able to teach a lot of life lessons as well,” Brunson explained.
This method of bringing help and treatment to women in unconventional settings has been wildly successful, and the nonprofit is continuing that work this weekend with its fifth annual My Purple Path Walk/Fair.
“Like all of our services, it’s in a really informal setting, and so people think they’re going out there just for a festival or a fair, but they’re also going to be able to get plugged to many different meaningful resources that can really help as they escape.”