Community Corner

Vance Community Partners Donates $10,000 to Women's Center

The Norristown-based nonprofit headed by former Chief County Detective Oscar Vance is on a mission to help the Norristown community.

Oscar Vance wants to invest in Norristown.

Vance Community Partners, the nonprofit foundation created by the former chief county detective, is aimed at partnering with other organizations to help youth and the elderly and according to Vance, they're particularly interested in Norristown.

"We're focusing in on the Norristown community," said Vance.

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To that aim, the group recently awarded a $10,000 grant to the Women's Center of Montgomery County, a domestic violence and abuse organization based in Norristown, but with offices all over the county. Vance presented the check to the Women's Center at his Cherry Street offices on Monday.

According to Women's Center Executive Director Maria Macaluso, the money will go to pay for full-time advocate position already staffed at the Norristown location. The position was in danger of being eliminated.

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"We really are reinvesting this back into the Norristown community," she said.

The position being funding is held by a women who is, herself, a survivor of domestic violence, Macaluso said.

"She is the model of what you want in a survivor," she said. "She's done everything to get her life back on track and now she's turning around and helping others."

Vance said he recognizes how important these resources are to the community.

"[The Women's Center] is very important for the foundation of Norristown," said Vance "So that people who do have problems... that necessary help is there."

"I think that the investment here in Norristown is essential," he said. "It's a foundation, a beginning to add on to some of the things that need to be done to help correct some of the problems in [the community].

Vance Community Partners is currently renovating a space adjacent to the offices of Vance Investigations and Corporate Solutions, the for-profit private investigation firm Vance heads. The space on the 200 block of Cherry Street will be used for workshops and training in partnership with other organizations.

Learn more about Vance Community Partners here.

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