Making the Case for Domestic Violence Prevention; Mapping Community Efforts

Manual: Making the Cost Benefit Case for Domestic Violence Prevention

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Making the Case for Domestic Violence Prevention Through the Lens of Cost-Benefit

A Manual for Domestic Violence Prevention Practitioners
(and the State and Local Policy-Makers They Present to)

Mapping Community Prevention Efforts

Among the work to be done by most counties is a clear and public mapping of each county’s various domestic violence response and prevention efforts – whether single efforts, isolated efforts, referral efforts, collaborative efforts, cross-sector collaborative efforts, or otherwise. Knowing all that is going on in one’s own county or community and integrating those efforts into a cohesive approach will likely increase the value of any given program.

We have included here examples of statewide mapping and strategic planning processes in Michigan and California (see side boxes). While these collaborative processes took place on the state level, they provide valuable information and could be adapted for use on a community or regional level.

A Vision for Prevention: Key Issues and Statewide Recommendations for the Primary Prevention of Violence Against Women in Michigan.

The recommendations in this report were developed over a year-long process that included the following activities:

Convened a leadership team made up of state-level partners.
Conducted an in-depth literature review of best practices for preventing violence against women.
Conducted a statewide survey of local program efforts to prevent violence against women.
Completed a nationwide survey of experts about best practices for preventing violence against women.
Formed a statewide violence against women prevention advisory group made up of both state-level partners and local prevention educators.
Created recommendations for the primary prevention of violence against women in Michigan.

A Vision for Prevention: Key Issues and Statewide Recommendations for the Primary Prevention of Violence Against Women in Michigan,
Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, 2003.
http://www.mcadsv.org/products/sa/MCADSV%20VFP%20booklet.pdf.

Violence Against Women Statewide Prevention Project (VAWSPP)

Coordinated by the Epidemiology and Prevention for Injury Control Branch (EPIC) of the California Department of Health Services, this statewide planning project worked with a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders as partners to identify changes in policy and institutional practice that would prevent all forms of violence against women. EPIC facilitated regional forums, analyzed policy documents, conducted interviews, and developed recommendations for the prevention of violence against women. The results were published in April 2004 in a report, Statewide Policy Recommendations for the Prevention of Violence Against Women.

These recommendations currently guide the work of EPIC’s Violence Prevention Unit (VPU). VAWSPP has contributed significantly to several new policy initiatives in the past year, including: proposed policies supporting the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in California; passage of two anti-trafficking bills that contain prevention strategies; a new Violence Against Women with Disabilities prevention initiative within EPIC; and the creation of a new California Violence Against Women Primary Prevention Partnership that is dedicated to establishing new funding sources and program initiatives for primary prevention.

For more information, please contact: Nancy Bagnato, Coordinator, Violence Against Women Statewide Prevention Project, NBagnato@dhs.ca.gov.