No one is immune. It can strike anyone.

“Domestic violence is an equal opportunity epidemic,” Jennifer Welch said.

Welch is the women’s policy adviser for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. She received recognition from Safe Passage for her work in helping to combat domestic violence during the annual October vigil.

Safe Passage is the area domestic violence advocacy agency.

“Domestic violence affects everyone,” she said. “It’s a community-wide issue and it’s going to take a community to stop it.”

It impacts children and families, and businesses lose millions of dollars, Welch said. Fifty Illinois women were killed by abusers last year.

In 2004, Welch helped two counties in Illinois receive a federal grant through the Department of Justice to increase and improve domestic violence prosecution. DeKalb County received federal funding in October 2004.

Through the grant the state’s attorney’s office was able to hire a prosecutor who works primarily with domestic violence cases and an investigator with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office who spends 75 percent of her time with the state’s attorney’s office. The office also hired a legal advocate with Safe Passage who spends a majority of her time working with victims.

“Through the federal government, we brought more resources for domestic violence,” Welch said.

DeKalb County was chosen because Safe Passage and the state’s attorney’s office worked well together, she said.

The attorney general’s office will share the knowledge gained from DeKalb County’s efforts to deal with domestic violence with other counties.

“What we learn here, we can share ideas and strategies with other counties,” Welch said.

State’s Attorney Ron Matekaitis said because of this grant, the police in the county were trained to recognize stalking. DeKalb County had its first stalking charge filed thanks to the resources gained from the grant.

Matekaitis said the state’s attorney’s office is now able “to communicate [earlier] and [more] frequently with victims of domestic violence.”

Another recipient of the grant, Safe Passage, now offers more client services. Legal advocate Sandy Riskedal said more advocacy programs and assistance with orders of protection are able to be offered.

The more quickly contact is made with the victim, the better the results, Riskedal said. Because of this grant, Riskedal has been able to dedicate more of her time to calling and following up with victims.