Community Health Action of Staten Island received a $100,000 grant to provide counseling to batterers, as they oversee programs to help abused women and children.
"Each morning when I review the previous day's arrest, the number of domestic violence incidents is only second to drug offenses," said Daniel Donovan, Richmond County district attorney.
The grant was in the works long before the domestic violence incident involving former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice and his wife, but New York state Sen. Diane Savino said it presses the overall problem of domestic violence, which in many cases is repeated because many victims don't leave for good.
"Yesterday, we were shocked and appalled by what we saw with Ray Rice and his wife, (and) equally shocked in her statement supporting her husband," said Savino.
But experts said many women return to abusive environments for reasons, like the need for financial support or their children.
Staten Island in 2010 had 1,927 domestic violence arrests; that number has climbed steadily to more than 2,600 in 2013. The increase is attributed to more women reporting the incidents, said Donovan.
"Much of domestic violence comes from trauma, trauma inflicted on people from the day they were born, and then they repeat it in subsequent relationships," said Donovan.
The key is repairing damage that leads to domestic violence.
"The thing we want to do is give everyone in the family the tools to change the behavior and shift the whole paradigm of domestic violence in families," said Diane Arneth, CEO of CHASI.
"When that woman is courageous enough to say 'he hit me' for the last time and takes her kids at 1 in the morning, we want to be able to capture her and protect her from further abuse," said Arneth. "And that's what we think this program will do."