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Site Of Old CPD Station To Be Turned Into Domestic Violence Shelter

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The state has chipped in some funding, and the city has donated the land to open the first new domestic violence shelter in Chicago in a decade.

WBBM Newsradio's Veronica Carter reports the $42 million shelter will be built on land that once housed a Chicago Police station in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, funded in part by a $1 million capital investment from the state. The city also reportedly gave up $1.8 million from a court settlement with a strip club to help fund the shelter.

Michelle Meyer, executive director of the Mutual Ground shelter in Aurora, said there are way too many victims of domestic violence.

"There's been a lot of news coverage about the Ray Rice situation, but what people don't understand is this is happening all the time, all over the world," she said.

Three-quarters of domestic abuse are women, and a woman is beaten in the United States every 15 seconds. An average of three women a day are killed by an intimate partner. An abusive husband or partner will hit a woman an average of 35 times before police are called.

Meyer said people stay in abusive relationships for a lot of reasons, but mostly hope.

"Usually, after an incident of domestic violence happens, there's a honeymoon stage where the offender is promising that it's never going to happen again, that he or she is going to go get counseling," she said. Often, they break that promises.

Meyer noted domestic abuse isn't limited to physical violence.

"A lot of people will say that the emotional abuse is worse than the physical abuse. The bruises will go away, but when you're constantly being told every single day that you're a piece of crap, or that you're fat, or you're stupid, or you're unworthy, it stays with you," Meyer said.

The new facility for will provide shelter and other services for 100 people, and has been slated to open next summer.

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