Louisville homeless outreach specialists save family from 'life-and-death' situation

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A young mother and two small children were facing a life-and-death situation, but city workers went above and beyond to help the family survive.

Nova Stubbs and Montez Phoenix are homeless outreach specialist for the city of Louisville. But recently, they responded to a different call.

"We got a call, because what she did is she was fleeing a domestic violence case, and she called 911," Stubbs said.

Last week, they found a domestic violence victim and her two small children who were living out a car.

"We encountered them at a gas station on the west end," Stubbs said.

The pair immediately started trying to connect the family with resources.

"We tried to get her housed, get her into shelter, and unfortunately, there wasn't enough resources at first," Stubbs said.

"We weren't going to stop until we were able to get her somewhere, like I told my partner, we're not going anywhere until we get her somewhere," Phoenix said.

Louisville Metro Police Sgt. Christina Beaven helped find an opportunity for the family.

"They had exhausted every resource, and then I reached out to victim services, and they came out and took over and we were able to get her in a beautiful spot that night," Beaven said.

Beaven, who works at LMPD's First Division, said the persistence of the outreach workers saved a life.

"A lot of our runs that we make start with problems like this, and if we don't take this seriously, if we don't have partnerships, if we don't have some places to go to, to turn to, then things escalate," Beaven said.

Stubbs and Phoenix refused to give up in the situation because they believed it was a matter of life and death.

"Because she didn't know what she was going to do with her children," Phoenix said. "She didn't know her next steps, but we got the help that she needed."

According to data from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 45% of Kentucky women and 35% of Kentucky men experience intimate partner physical violence and/or rape in their lifetimes. On a typical day in Kentucky, local domestic violence hotlines receive more than 19,000 calls.

The Center for Women and Families' emergency hotline is 1-844-237-2331. The 24-hour hotline provides crisis response, emergency shelter, sexual assault services and more.