Lydia Glenn 

Contributing Writer

Paws for Empowerment, which was started and run by Grace Colman, was established in 2011 to help victims of domestic violence. She started the program when she rescued a dog from her local animal shelter. She stated that she wanted to give her new pet a sense of purpose and a job, and that is when Paws for Empowerment was started.

Since 2011, this program has been offering four components to victims of domestic violence which include, 1) assisting and providing emotional support and comfort to victims during trauma-informed counseling 2) accompanying domestic violence victims in Allegheny County courtrooms to help them face their perpetrators during hearings 3) educating local veterinarians and animals service providers 4) emergency animal care stipends for pets of families impacted. 

The Paws program was established to support and help victims in the Pittsburgh area in Pennsylvania, and according to Coleman, the program has been a huge success. 

In 2014, Paws was selected by the Pennsylvania Commision on Crime and Delinquency as one of the four most innovative initiatives within PA’s victim service field. Then in 2017, the program was awarded the 2017 Governor’s Victim Service Pathfinder Program Award. The award is given to organizations who have made notable contributions to their community and for their innovation and outstanding work.

Along with their recognition in Pennsylvania, in 2020 the Paws program was featured on a national level when they appeared on Court TV for a special exposé. 

Paws is not only proud of their recognition, but for the work they do to protect and advocate for domestic violence victims and survivors. 

During the sustainability speaker series at Penn State, Coleman shared a couple of the stories about the amazing animals that are making an impact. 

Penny, which is the Crisis Center North’s first working canine, has demonstrated huge commitment to her advocacy work and was nominated for the 2020 American Humane Hero Dog Award. Penny is also a former shelter dog and has helped many domestic violence victims in therapy and in court. Penny has been known to save lives of domestic violence victims by alerting them when danger presents itself.

One instance of this was when Penny stepped between a victim and their preparator and protected the victim and saved their life. While Penny has been trained in certain aspects, she was not trained to step between a victim and their abuser. 

Penny’s actions have shown that dogs have an ability to understand the situations around them and ultimately control the outcome. Penny’s work has also demonstrated that this job is so important to these animals that they have basically developed their own job description. 

Penny stands as a trailblazer to her owners and victims, and shows that shelter animals are not lost, but only need a purpose. 

Along with Penny, there are two other canines who are following in the footsteps of Penny, Ari and Rune. These two dogs are making great headway in the protection and advocacy of domestic violence survivors. 

The CCN also has the first feline advocate named Thea. Thea is a sphynx cat who works exclusively with the youth counseling program at CCN. Thea is described as another canine and works just as hard as the other support dogs in her domain. 

The Crisis Center North’s Paws for Empowerment program was chosen as part of the sustainability series at Penn State because sustainability does not only apply to the environment. Relationships are also part of a sustainable world, and educating students and others about domestic violence and the programs put in place to combat it are part of a sustainable world. Bringing attention to domestic violence and educating will ultimately help to combat domestic violence and to help victims and survivors of domestic violence.