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WRC's Executive Director receives national Sunshine peace award
RADFORD, Va., Aug. 19, 2008 – Pat Brown, executive director for the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley, has received the Sunshine Lady Foundation’s national 2008 Sunshine Peace Award, only the third Virginian to have received the award.
“We received over 160 nominations, and Ms. Brown was among the 20 selected for this award,” said Nancy Soward of the Sunshine Lady Foundation. “Brown has made eliminating domestic violence her life’s work. We are very proud to honor her.”
The Sunshine Peace Award is a biennial recognition of outstanding workers in the field of domestic violence. Begun in 1998 by the Foundation’s founder and President, Doris Buffett, to date 120 people across the country have received this elite award. Brown was recognized in August by Buffett and the Foundation’s board members and staff and the other 2008 award recipients for a gala weekend in Wilmington, N.C. Brown received a personal award of $5,000 and the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley also received $5,000.
Since 1996, the Sunshine Lady Foundation has provided over $55 million in scholarships, fellowships, challenge grants and other philanthropy.
"Pat Brown is an extraordinary executive director whose vision, determination, and dedication to the Women's Resource Center have created an organization trusted by residents of the New River Valley and respected throughout the Commonwealth for its work to lessen violence,” said Susan Anderson, Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley Board of Directors’ president. “I can think of no one more deserving of the Sunshine Peace Award than Pat Brown."
Brown began her work in the domestic violence field as a volunteer of the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley (WRC). Now, she is the organization’s Executive Director and has served in that role for 22 years. Brown led the transformation of the WRC from a small organization to one of the largest domestic and sexual violence centers in the state with a staff of 26. She has built buildings, transitional housing facilities and has navigated the community with grace, determination, perseverance and a quiet sense of service. She is passionate about her vision of a violence-free community and believes that our community can accomplish that goal.
Brown’s relationship with the WRC began while she was president of the Junior Women’s Club of Radford almost a quarter of a century ago. Brown invited someone from the WRC to speak about the organization’s needs. From that point, Brown and the Club began collecting clothing and supplies for the WRC. The needs of the WRC popped up again while she was at a soccer game. A friend announced that she was moving, and that move would open a vacancy on the WRC’s board. Her friend asked Brown to consider filling the slot. Brown accepted and served five and a half years and two terms as president. During that time, she voted on such issues as adding the children’s programs and the victim/witness programs.
The very day that she had completed her term as president on the WRC’s Board of Directors, the serving executive director did the same. As Brown was leaving the building, board members approached her about serving as interim director. Within four months, the search committee had chosen its next executive director – Patricia N. Brown.
With her leadership, the WRC now offers: 24-hour Crisis Hotline, Crisis Intervention, Emergency Advocacy, Emergency Shelter, Legal Advocacy, Counseling, Support Groups, Transitional Housing, Children’s Services, Outreach programs for the community and schools that include Education and Awareness, Training, Primary Prevention and Coordinating Councils.
Brown navigated the process of accessing funds for the Emergency Shelter and then 10 years later doing the same for securing a Transitional Housing Facility. For both projects, Brown worked with the New River Valley Planning District Commission and Radford City officials to secure Community Development Block Grants for both facilities. She worked with contractors and builders and pursued additional grants to furnish both facilities.
After years of leading the organization that provides a safety net for women and children, Brown began working on prevention efforts by convening 20 community members assessing prevention needs in the community. From this year-long study, Brown led the work for the WRC to create an original violence prevention education program called Peaceline, which is now taught by WRC staff in most middle and high schools in the New River Valley reaching 8,769 teens in Fiscal Year 2007.
Brown’s accomplishments and contributions run deep. She served on the Board of Directors of Virginians Aligned Against Sexual Assault for 13 years, serving as its President for eight of those years. She also was an active member of the Board of Directors of Virginians Against Domestic Violence and served as Treasurer to its Executive Committee for two years. She has served on various statewide task forces including the Child Sexual Abuse Task Force, the Implementation of Virginia’s Victim Rights and the Statewide Task Force of Sexual Assault in Virginia.
Brown has received numerous awards for the service she provides to the community. She received the VAASA Vanguard Award for collaborative efforts in working on sexual assault issues in 2001. In 2002, Brown received the North Star Peace Award from Virginians Against Domestic Violence. In 2005, she was recognized and honored by the Housing Partnership for the New River Valley for her years of service as President, for which she served for seven years.
The Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley, a non-profit, human service organization, has been providing hope and help to victims of domestic and sexual violence for the last 30 years. The Women’s Resource Center, the oldest in Virginia, provided programs and services to 3,340 children and adults in Radford and Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski counties last year. It also serves New River Valley Community College, Radford University and Virginia Tech campuses. Its mission is to create a community free of domestic violence and sexual assault through services, support and education.