Training and Technical Assistance

Supporting excellence in achieving social justice

The Center provides training and technical assistance in four primary topic areas and to a variety of audiences. These include:

1. Coordinated Community Response

An effective and comprehensive strategy to address sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking in communities requires a coordinated community response (CCR) – engagement and active participation from key stakeholders across  throughout the community.

These individuals come together as a CCR Team to:

• Articulate a violence free vision for their community
  Identify what is needed for the community to achieve that vision
• Create a plan for addressing those needs
• Implementation and evaluate the success of that plan

Research and practice confirm that we must engage multiple entities in order to create the kind of broad cultural shifts necessary to effectively meet the needs of survivors, hold offenders accountable and prevent future incidents of gender-based violence.

Effective CCR Teams:

• Engage key stakeholders from throughout the community including organizations that respond directly to incidents of GBV, formal and informal leaders, and representatives from all aspects of the community, including the voices of typically marginalized groups;
• Ensure a timely, culturally relevant and respectful response to sexual assault, domestic and dating violence and stalking; and
• Maintain consistent, multi-tiered, and coordinated prevention and intervention strategies through shared oversight and inter-organizational  cooperation.

Our CCR Teams are often not the same as other collaborative groups that may already be in place in a community, such as a criminal legal system CCR or sexual assault response team that is activated when critical incidents occur. A community wide CCR Team looks holistically at the environment, focusing its efforts on creating an overall culture where gender-based violence is not tolerated.

Audiences

Campus

The Center on Domestic Violence is pleased to serve as a technical assistance provider for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Campus Grant program.

We provide training and support to college and university campuses in the following areas:

• Development, maintenance and assessment of coordinated community response (CCR) teams
• Creating CCR teams that are inclusive, culturally relevant and trauma-informed
• Building capacity on CCR teams to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of campus violence prevention and response programs
• Building capacity of project coordinators and directors to effectively facilitate multidisciplinary campus-based teams and campus and community partnerships.

We provide technical assistance and consultation for:

• Determining the composition, structure, and leadership of the CCR Team;
• Developing agendas, meeting structures, and strategic priorities for the CCR Team;
• Building campus and community partnerships;
• Identifying conflict resolution strategies;
• Negotiating power dynamics on campus or in the community;
• Creating brands and consistent messaging for CCR Team efforts
• Integrating and sustaining CCR Team efforts.

In addition to training and consultations, we develop resources and products that assist colleges and universities in addressing gender-based violence on an institutional level.

Find Resources for Campus-Based CCR Teams

To learn more about the CDV Campus Training and Technical Assistance Program, contact Shannon Collins at 303-315-2319 or shannon.collins@ucdenver.edu.

Rural

Research and practice confirm that the engagement of multiple entities are required to make the changes needed to effectively respond and prevent sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking and sex trafficking. 

The Center on Domestic Violence (CDV) partners with the Office of Violence Against Women for our Rural Communities Coordinated Response program as well. CDV provides targeted training and technical assistance for rural OVW grant recipients looking to build, strengthen, or revitalize a Coordinated Community Response or Sexual Assault Response Team. 

CDV’s focus is to encourage rural programs to work with a broad diversity of leaders from communities that may not have been traditionally involved in community planning in the past. Providing safety and healing for anyone forced to manage the effects of violence is at the core of a team’s purpose. Another function is to work with community leaders and change the conditions and social norms that support the perpetuation of all forms of violence.

At the heart of the Rural Communities Coordinated Response program is CDV’s commitment to building a learning community among rural program staff charged with facilitating a CCR or SARTeam—a community of practice. The assistance is provided through a number of methods - a Rural Communities Collaborative Response training institute; a webinar series focusing on developing the facilitation skills necessary to strengthen community partnerships; individual coaching and technical assistance; and on-site consultations and training.

2. Fostering Safe Futures

The Center provides training and technical assistance (TA) to youth serving organizations and their partners on:

1) Youth driven prevention and outreach strategies;

2) Services for youth victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking and sex trafficking; and

3) School-based interventions.

A variety of methods are used to deliver this TA that includes: website information; webinars; peer learning; coaching; and in-person workshops. TA focuses on addressing identified gap areas such as:

• The need for a deep understanding of the impact of GBV on children and youth, behavioral indicators in various settings, and effective intervention responses;

• Insight into the ways in which the dynamics of teen relationships differ from those of adults and how that affects engagement of youth in anti-violence work and as leaders;

• The need to integrate cultural responsiveness into the fabric of program operations; and

• The growing power of technology as a tool for coercive control and for the prevention of gender-based violence.

In providing strong services to children and youth the potential for reducing the damaging impact of violence on young people and the rates of gender violence overall is greatly increased.

3. Leadership and Organizational Management

The Vital Project

Once funded by the Colorado Department of Human Services Domestic Violence Program, Vital is now available on a fee for service basis. The purpose of this project is to assist domestic and sexual violence advocacy programs deal effectively with issues regarding administration and leadership and learn foundational skills that allow organizations to thrive. Despite its importance for long-term viability, leadership development is commonly overlooked by funders for groups that work in the field of gender-based violence.

4. A Resource

The Center on Domestic Violence serves the general public as a resource for information, support and referrals. The Center is frequently called upon to provide trainings, talks and classes on issues related to gender-violence. From individual classes with 4th year medical students to local direct service organizations dealing with board staff conflict, to communities struggling to build effective partnerships, we assist individuals, organizations and communities on an ongoing basis.

Community Education Series

These annual full-day training events are held twice a year. Students participating in the CDV’s academic programs attend. In addition, these exceptional workshops attract advocates, service providers, government agency staff, and others from Colorado and beyond.

Recent events

January, 2018

Pat McGann, Director of Strategy and Planning, Men Can Stop Rape
Mobilizing Men and Boys through Healthy Masculinity

August, 2018

Alison Boak, Executive Director, International Organization for Adolescents
The Trafficking of Children and Youth: Identification and Response

January, 2019

Cari Simon, Esq.
Sexual Assault in Schools: Title IX Rights and Remedies for K-12 Student Survivors

August, 2019

Lt. Mark Wynn (ret.)
Domestic/Sexual Violence Intervention, Effective Investigation, Community Collaboration and Response

There is no prerequisite to attend these presentations. By keeping these events open to the public, we provide educational opportunities for workers in gender-based violence and related fields and strengthen the infrastructure of those organizations charged with the responsibility to serve victim/survivors and advocate for social change.