Content by Keyword: Place-Based Initiatives and Community/Faith-Based Partnerships

The domestic violence community in San Diego County views itself as extremely lucky that it has been able to develop a system of coordinated and comprehensive services while being spared a lawsuit or a tragic and publicized case (as has happened in many other communities). The coordination and communication among providers has developed slowly ove

Training in and by community agencies has also been an important component of the coordination effort. In order to break down barriers, especially in the early days of the council, it was important for victim advocates and shelter workers to learn about what the police and prosecutors do, just as it has been important for the police department and

While the medical services protocol was developed in 1990, only recently has the medical community become increasingly involved. Much of this growth is due to the Scripps Hospital of San Diego's involvement in the emergency room pilot project developed and run by the Family Violence Prevention Fund in San Francisco. (For a complete description of

The role of advocacy is very strong in the San Diego County domestic violence community, which views advocacy as the responsibility of everyone, not just victim advocates and shelter workers. All service providers, even those whose main contact is with the offender, make an effort to contact the victim to notify her of her rights, options and avai

The specialized domestic violence units not only coordinate with each other, but also with many community social service providers. The specialized unit at the San Diego Police Department consists of 19 detectives, 3 sergeants, 5 light duty officers, and 5 volunteers. This unit investigates all domestic violence cases where an arrest has been made

The San Diego DV Council includes over 200 members from agencies throughout the county that provide services to victims and perpetrators of domestic violence, the medical community, social services agencies, law enforcement, prosecutors offices, judges, and the military.

The City Attorney's Office has been a strong leader in the San Diego County domestic violence community's effort to coordinate the response to domestic violence. Along with victim advocates, they were instrumental in developing the Domestic Violence Task Force and subsequent Council, as well as developing the first specialized unit in San Diego.

The San Diego Domestic Violence Council (DV Council) began as a formal task force in 1989, and was officially recognized by City and County Officials at that time. Prior to this, many of the members had been meeting informally for several years. An important event for San Diego's efforts came in 1986 when California passed legislation defining dom

The main vehicles for an increasingly coordinated response to domestic violence in San Diego County are the San Diego Domestic Violence Council (DV Council), specialized domestic violence units and programs in several agencies, and many formal and informal relationships among service providers that have developed through the DV Council.

San Diego County is a large sprawling metropolitan area near the Mexican border, and with a population of over 2.6 million, it is one of California's largest counties. It has a racially and ethnically diverse population, which is nearly 10 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 7 percent African American, 1 percent Native American, and the rest white. Ab

The obvious strengths of the service and support system for domestic violence on the Range are Minnesota's progressive laws on the issue, strong local awareness of the issue and willingness to treat it seriously, and the cooperation in evidence among the many agencies and organizations involved in the system. The gaps in the system include, for th

The Range Community The fact that this is a small, stable rural community makes a big difference in the ease with which coordination happens, and the familiarity of all the players with each other. Most sit on each others' boards and have interacted in numerous ways over the years. It is also important that RWA has been around for so long, and

The Family Violence Council counts among its members representatives from every potentially relevant element of the Range community, including schools, social services, health professionals, batterer intervention services, chemical dependency treatment providers, representatives of the business community, and women who have been battered as well a

RWA is involved in extensive training and education activities; in addition, other agencies and parts of the system conduct their own trainings on domestic violence, participate in cross- training with RWA, and share some other mechanisms (e.g., a monthly lunch) on related topics. RWA participates in ongoing educational efforts such as "Teens, Cri

RWA serves as the focal point for many services and coordination activities, and participates in everything that it does not run directly. The basic domestic violence services for the area are run by RWA with eight staff, and include a 24-hour crisis line, support groups, and a system of safe homes; there is also a transitional housing program wit

Thanks in part to the Range Intervention Project and the many-year commitment of RWA, and thanks in part to the efforts of people working within most of the criminal justice and court sectors, most parts of the criminal justice system on the Range have adopted policies and practices to improve their response to domestic violence cases. All law enf

Range Women's Advocates (RWA) has been at the center of the local response to domestic violence since that response began in the late 1970s. Everyone we interviewed mentioned the importance of that consistency and persistence in moving Northern St. Louis County in the direction of more awareness of and direct supportive actions for victims of dome

Two organizations are key to the development of the coordinated community response to domestic violence on the Range—the Range Women's Advocates (RWA), and the Family Violence Council. RWA provides services and advocacy for battered women, offers extensive educational activities to schools and community groups, contracts for and monitors battere

Northern St. Louis County and surrounding areas are known throughout Minnesota as "the Range" because the Mesabi Iron Range was the main reason for settlement of the area and the core of its economic base until the end of the 1960s. The largest town is Hibbing, with about 18,000 people; the Range Women's Advocates, the primary domestic violence ad