District Of Columbia Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Community Education and Public Awareness: The DC Coalition works to engage district residents in the movement to end domestic violence. We communicate through regular updates to our website and social media platforms, highlighting issues that impact survivors of domestic violence including gun violence, sex trafficking, homelessness, access to safe abortion, legislation, and other pertinent topics. Our website also serves as a clearinghouse of local resources and information, including online training modules. Our social media platforms highlight the different awareness months such as Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) in October, Stalking Awareness Month in January, and Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month in February. For DVAM, DCCADV staff and member programs held our annual Paint The Town Purple event, chalking about healthy relationships at fourteen metro stops around the city and sharing domestic violence awareness information with community members. We also participated in DVAM tabling events at local small businesses For Purple Thursday, we held our annual photo challenge, asking DC business and residents to dress in purple to honor survivors on the 3rd Thursday of DVAM and post to social media, tagging the Coalition. We also participated in tabling events at local businesses. DCCADV engaged with community members through other outreach events including, Dawn Dalton was invited as a keynote speaker to open the National Coalition Against Domestic Violences Annual Conference, DCCADV also hosted a panel discussion on the Supreme Court case U.S. v. Rahimithe SCOTUS case where DCCADV led the development and filing of an amicus brief centered on survivor experiences. Other outreach events included presentations and/or tabling at the U.S. Department of Labor, DC Womens Bureau, Internal Review Service, and the United States Citizen and Immigration Services at the Department of Homeland Security.

Policy and Systems Change: In July 2024, DCCADV convened a Policy Forum for its members to identify the policy agenda for the upcoming legislative session. Additionally, throughout the year our policy team reviewed, researched, testified, and discussed with our member programs ten pieces of legislation that impact survivors. The legislation covered the issues of: housing and homelessness, schools and school safety, community violence and firearms, mandatory reporting and privacy, criminal legal process, victim services coordination, occupational licensing, and grant revocation. A member survey, discussions, and Survivor Advisory Board input were utilized to collect information on the funding needed from The DC Government to support survivors of domestic violence. This compiled budgetary information was put to a member vote to finalize the FY2025 DC Domestic Violence Budget Platform. The Coalition staff and member programs have utilized this platform in our advocacy with The Mayors administration and DC Council. DCCADV launched our Survivor Board Advisory (SAB) in October 2021 and the group continues to meet monthly to provide insight and feedback on DCCADV programs including the budget platform development, policy priorities, training, and systems advocacy efforts. In 2024 the SAB spent time to further develop its structure to better meet the needs of member programs and government officialsin order for them to benefit from the expertise of the SAB, and the group worked to create more opportunity for the SAB members to have greater impact on funding decisions, program development, and priorities. DCCADV staff participated in numerous meetings of the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) and its subcommittees including the ICH Emergency Response and Shelter Operations (ERSO) and ICH Housing Solutions committee. Additionally, DCCADV staff participated in meetings addressing intersecting needs of survivors of domestic violence, including participation in The Fair Budget Coalition, DC Girls Coalition, and the Victim Assistance Network, as well as leading advocacy efforts to address service issues within the Courts Crime Victim Compensation program.

Membership Support: Throughout the course of the year DCCADV held regular working groups addressing specific areas of focus: Culturally Specific Service Providers work group - DCCADV convenes eight member programs who provide culturally specific services to survivors of domestic violence. These quarterly meetings create designated space to discuss the unique needs of the populations they serve and incorporate strategies to overcome systemic barriers faced by members of the community. This past year our focus centered around building the capacity of these smaller organizations to offer housing services. We know that the survivors served by these culturally specific domestic violence programs dont often access shelters or traditional forms or emergency housing. Programs learned about upcoming funding opportunities, training about how to build relationships with landlords, and learning about services available through DCs Office of Tenant Rights. Policy Task Force - DCCADV quarterly convenes our Policy Task Force meetings for member programs and the broader legal and service fields that impact domestic violence survivors most closely. Throughout the year we kept member programs and allied organizations updated on DC legislation impacting domestic violence response and access to services. Attendees also contributed thought partnership to the planning of the Policy Forum. Policy Task Force meetings continue to serve as a critical space for member programs and allied organizations to inform and collaborate across the District on local legislative and policy efforts and responses. The Domestic Violence Housing Continuum (DVHC) met quarterly to discuss new and needed supports for housing, partnering with The Community Partnership to End Homelessness and the Department of Human Services to include domestic violence services at the Aston Project, a new non-congregate mainstream homeless shelter, and how best to work with the DC Victim Helpline. We also hosted a training for housing providers on making their shelter environments and services welcoming and accessible to Deaf survivors, facilitated by member program Deaf DAWN. Membership Steering Committee is made up of five elected member executive directors, each representing one of the five service categories of membership. The committee meets monthly to inform the Coalitions work and processes. The past year the Steering Committee presented to the full Membership several recommended changes to the structures supporting member engagement, including operational assessments of member programs, DCCADV and applying organizations, and a Membership Dues implementation structure. These both were passed unanimously by our membership. The committee also reviewed our updated membership application form and process, informed our annual member survey and budget advocacy development, as well as led small group conversations with member programs to hear directly from Executive Directors about DCCADVs budget platform development and coordination with other victim service budget advocacy efforts in DC.Our Data Work Group was launched in March 2023 for member programs to share data collection processes, communicate about data points, and find ways to clearly communicate the needs of survivors in DC. In FY2024 the group met to discuss challenges with data collection and provided technical assistance to intake staff at domestic violence organizations on the Osnium database and intersections with survivor confidentiality and reporting. The group also identified existing data sets about domestic violence in DC as well as data needs from DC agencies, including questions to ask of each government agencythese efforts are a part of our five-year Needs Assessment Project. Coalition staff then held a series of conversations with DC agencies about their procedures around domestic violence and the needs they see among domestic violence survivors.