Public Awareness

OPDV Bulletin: Warren & Washington Counties -- A Sample Community

OPDV interviewed Jeanne Noordsy, Coordinator of the Domestic Violence Community Coordination Council (DVCCC) of Warren & Washington Counties. The DVCCC is a task force that works on a coordinated community response to domestic violence.

OPDV: What is the history of the task force?
Jeanne: The task force was formed in 1995 by the Domestic Violence Project (DVP) of Catholic Charities, which is the domestic violence program in Glens Falls serving Warren and Washington Counties. Initially, the focus was to bring together different parts of the criminal justice system from both counties – district attorneys, probation, as many police and sheriffs departments as possible, along with victim services. We met every other month, basically getting the dialogue going ("Where are we now? What are the gaps in our response to domestic violence?"). The first of five training conferences took place during that time.

In 1998, the DVP applied for, and was awarded, a VAWA STOP grant to fund a full-time position of Coordinator of the task force. I had been at DVP as an advocate and moved into the position of Coordinator. It was an exciting time. The Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence had just released the Model Domestic Violence Policy for Counties, and it just made so much sense. During that first year, we expanded the task force to include a much wider group. Health care was first, then the Legal Aid Society, Head Start, Child Protective Services...it grew and grew. A community-wide needs assessment was conducted by holding face to face meetings with all the agencies who were members [of the task force] and plenty who were not members. A full day conference using the Domestic Violence Model Policy for Counties as a springboard was held and the DVCCC began meeting monthly.

OPDV: How do you define community?
Jeanne: People living together in a network. It can be formalized; there are all kinds of agreements in place between people – between citizens and public agencies (e.g., that police pledge to protect the public and uphold laws.) Community also includes "informal" structures.

I think there’s an opportunity in "community" for people to be the best that they can be, inspired by the goal to be an effective part of a whole, knowing others are depending on you. It can motivate each of us to improve. I believe we innately want to be helpful to each other, to be cooperative. We have a sense of satisfaction when things "click" and go well.

I very much like having the word "community" in our name. It constantly brings things back to shared responsibility, shared goals, shared strength. It also implies inclusiveness, and I believe the DVCCC represents that; we have grown and stretched to be inclusive of many parts, to listen to what each has to say.

OPDV: Why do you think having a task force is important?
Jeanne: This sounds cliche but it’s true: none of us can do it alone. Domestic violence is something that the whole community experiences. Teachers tell us how young children come to school and say, "Daddy hit mommy last night," and they want to know how to respond to these children. Clergy come to us asking for guidance as to what to say and not to say in counseling and preaching. Doctors and nurses want to figure out how to talk to their patients about domestic violence.

The task force is important for many reasons. We bring people together from diverse parts of the community, finding out about how best to help each other. It’s a way to see the big picture. It’s a way to get things done (like putting together a conference) that would be hard to do alone. It’s an avenue for getting out information, a way to educate each other and the public. It generates new connections and gives us access to the various systems. Ideally it’s also a structure to hold each other accountable, either by policy or just knowing you’re going to be seeing the rest of the group at the next meeting.

OPDV: What challenges have you faced?
Jeanne: The biggest challenge is simply trying to live up to what we are: a huge interdisciplinary body! It’s a challenge to effectively address how to improve the response to domestic violence by all these sectors. As the group grew, it became a little unwieldy to have monthly meetings and work on individual projects, so we’ve formed subcommittees. They meet more frequently than the overall group, and that seems to be working. There are a lot of models and programs out there. I’m constantly trying to learn about different approaches.

One of the biggest challenges is keeping people’s eyes on the prize. It’s easy to identify the gaps, issues and problems. It’s harder to keep everyone on task for the many steps it can take to implement a solution. I have to be the group consciousness – that we’re doing this because otherwise we’re going to keep having that problem we discussed three months ago. We have to do the addressing part of identifying and addressing problems!

OPDV: What are some of your major accomplishments?
Jeanne: The relationships that have been built - I can’t overstate what a great accomplishment that is. We have had some real successes. One subcommittee, the health care project, developed a Model Policies & Partnership Plan (see more on this in Health Care Workgroup) and the district attorneys offices are nearly done with their prosecution policy. We have two case review teams that share information, analyze specific cases and put what they learn into practice. We’ve done training in many different sectors of the community. At our annual conferences, we have trained groups such as lawyers, police, judges, health care professionals, etc. We conduct all sorts of public awareness and outreach projects throughout the year.

We have been working on a bench card for judges, and that has led to a big accomplishment: Glens Falls was chosen by the Office of Court Administration (OCA) as one of three communities in the state for a
new misdemeanor domestic violence court! [Editor’s note: see “Better Serving Families in Crisis: Integrated Domestic Violence Courts.”] OCA identified that the communities picked were ones with good working structures in place. I am confident that the DVCCC had a lot to do with that view of this community. Also, being chosen by the State as one of the communities to participate in the rural project was a major accomplishment.

OPDV: What advice do you have for other task force coordinators?
Jeanne: Focus on relationship-building. Set timelines and hold yourselves accountable (within reason). Don’t try to do too much! Stick to a project and see it through successfully. This may mean redefining success...better to do a pilot project and have it be successful than burn yourself out trying to do it in all 16 police departments at once. Have fun. If it’s not fun (or satisfying), figure out why and change things. Find the ways to get buy-in. Find the ways to foster and share leadership. Train the trainers. Take mediation training (not about mediating abuse, but about mediating solutions, agencies, etc.) Bring what works for you in other parts of your life. This work is about people...so if it works for you elsewhere, it will probably work here.

OPDV: What are some key elements of a successful coordinated community response?
Jeanne: Regarding the structure of the group and group dynamics: the attitudes and behaviors of the council members are key. We all benefit from vision, creativity, enthusiasm, respect, teamwork and willingness to try another way. It’s important to build on the strengths of the members and their agencies. Everyone needs to make a long-term and "unconditional" commitment to the goal. You need to make time to work on projects. If you don’t have a full-time coordinator, look into getting funding, perhaps with support by a group of member agencies. Utilize existing resources, tap into leadership of key people, and build relationships! They are so valuable.

Regarding the response to domestic violence, the bottom line is that all sectors or systems focus on holding the offender accountable, not figuring out why the victim did or didn’t do something. In everything I do, I keep the four guiding principles in mind:

Victim safety and self-determination
Abuser accountability
Systems’ responsibility
Promoting a coordinated community response grounded in the principles of zero tolerance.

[The Guiding Principles are discussed in detail in the Governor’s Model Domestic Violence Policy for Counties. See www.opdv.state.ny.us/coordination/model_policy/index.html]

OPDV: What is your vision, long term?
Jeanne: My vision is for my community (and every community in New York) to follow what is laid out in the Governor’s Model Policy for Counties. We know how to stop domestic violence in this country. It hasn’t happened yet because of the time and energy it will take for people to be re-oriented from their institutionalized ways of doing things. It’s so obvious to me – intuitively as well as what’s explained in the introduction – that the Policy came from the [battered women’s] movement; it meshes perfectly with my vision.

I also have a vision that we move things towards shining the light on how violence against women is a piece of the oppression of women, and how the oppression of women is a piece of oppressive forces in society that include racism and poverty and much more. When we see the big picture, that it’s much more than just locking up "bad people," it’s about a big shift towards "community" – embracing everyone in community, including women, children, and people of all races and religions. Respecting the rights of all human beings.

ODPV: Can people contact you for more details and/or guidance?
Jeanne: Of course. They can call me at 518-793-9496 or send an e-mail to dvccc@spa.net

Mission Statement of the DVCCC

The Warren & Washington Counties Domestic Violence Community Coordination Council is a multi-agency council formed in 1995, composed of representatives of many of the following disciplines: courts, prosecutors, probation, law enforcement, lawyers and legal services, law guardians, health care, crime victim advocates, batterer intervention programs, domestic violence advocates, sexual assault service providers, child protective/preventive services, educators, mental health practitioners, substance abuse services, clergy, and social and human services.

The DVCCC seeks to bring together the entities that are responsible for responding to domestic violence in an effort to further enhance their cooperation and ultimate effectiveness. Through seeking ways to increase safety for victims and accountability for those who batter, the DVCCC’s goal is stopping domestic violence in our community. The DVCCC meets regularly to fulfill this mission.