New Horizon Family Center is committed to ending interpersonal and sexual violence to create a better future for all. During the Month of July we want to empower our community to become violence free. Below is a community Check list designed to motivate and empower members of our community to work collaboratively to stop Domestic and sexual violence.

 

What You Can Do - Domestic Violence: A Community Checklist

 

RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY

• Become a safe place where victims can come for help.
• Educate the congregation about domestic and sexual violence.
• Speak out about domestic violence from the podium.
• Lead by example by volunteering to serve on the board of directors of a shelter or attend a training to become a crisis volunteer.
• Offer space for educational seminars or support group meetings.
• Partner with existing resources including your local domestic violence shelter.
• Prepare to be a resource by doing theological and scriptural homework to better understand and respond to family violence.
• Intervene if you suspect violence in a relationship.
• Support professional training for clergy and lay leaders.
• Address internal issues to assure that religious leaders are a safe resource for victims and their children.

 

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

• Make campuses a safe place.
• Increase awareness of sexual assault and dating violence on college campuses.
• Target specific groups, such as new students, for training and resources.
• Coordinate resources with local community service providers.
• Encourage reporting of violence.
• Provide services to the campus community through orientation and awareness programs.
• Develop an administration response to violence on campus.
• Review and revise the student code of conduct and policies to assure that violence against women is treated as seriously as other crimes.
• Provide a voice for women on campus to establish victim advocacy groups.
• Get the message out to the campus community.

 

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Create a community roundtable.
• Record domestic violence.
• Continue to educate through brochures distributed to law enforcement, courts and community locations.
• Provide clear guidance on responding to domestic violence.
• Ensure law enforcement is well informed.
• Reach out to frontlines, such as local battered women's shelters.
• Improve enforcement by implementing a registry of restraining orders and a uniform order of protection.
• Support and pursue legislative initiatives.
• Conduct training.
• Structure courts to respond to domestic violence/create specialized domestic violence courts.

 

 

 

HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS

• Incorporate training into curricula.
• Make resources available to patients.
• Support incorporation of protocols into accreditation process.
• Encourage continuing education on violence against women issues.
• Involve medical organizations and societies in increasing awareness.
• Feature violence against women on meeting agendas.
• Highlight commitment to violence against women issues.
• Develop a standard intake form.
• Ensure that employee assistance programs are responsive to victims of domestic violence.
• Volunteer to community organizations that serve victims of domestic violence.

 

SPORTS

• Bring sports leagues together in a common cause to combat violence.
• Create strict disciplinary policies.
• Push for Public Service Announcements during broadcast of sporting events.
• Promote the distribution of educational materials.
• Involve local sports heroes in community activities.
• Reach out to potential sponsors, such as local businesses of sporting equipment, for sponsorship of community awareness activities.

 

MEDIA

• Use the power of communication to urge thoughtful and accurate coverage of violence against women.
• Urge action through the local paper.
• Link media with experts.
• Organize public events.
• Encourage employee awareness.
• Build a bridge between media and law enforcement.
• Provide a forum for community leaders.
• Publicize local resources during reporting.

 

THE WORKPLACE

• Start with the top and get corporate leadership on board.
• Establish employee policies that meet the needs of victims of domestic violence.
• Ensure that employee assistance programs are responsive to victims of domestic violence.
• Provide management with the tools to respond to domestic violence.
• Educate employees about domestic violence.
• Share materials about domestic violence.
• Increase safety at the workplace.
• Coordinate with local law enforcement.
• Join in local community efforts to combat domestic violence.
• Donate time and resources.