IDAHO COALITION AGAINST SEXUAL & DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - Promising Futures

Improve systems and responses to abused parents and their children and youth exposed to domestic violence from underserved communities.

Coordinate the provision of enhanced services from four community domestic violence program and two culturally specific programs and a model to create meaningful access and culturally responsible services for abused parents and their children from underserved communities, including developing policies, and practices that promote positive parent/caregiver and child relationship building using dyadic methods.

Enhance evidence and practice informed strategies, advocacy, and interventions for children and youth from underserved communities exposed to domestic violence.

Built a stronger, more transparent relationship with the Indigenous demonstration site and Tribal domestic violence and sexual assault program from across the state. Through this relationship, the Indigenous leaders took a leading role in the integration of the Indigenous-specific projects.

Partnered with an Indigenous researcher to work closely with the Tribal domestic violence and sexual assault service providers to interpret the data of the Indigenous listening sessions. This partnership was a huge shift and priority for the team that allowed for creative storytelling strategies to unfold for both Indigenous communities and mainstream organizations seeking to enhance services for Indigenous women and children.

Hosted the Ti Novitawi Kocheukaakwe Virtual Conference Honoring Missing and Murdered Indigenous People for 400 registrants and covered a wide range of topics to inform, educate, and increase awareness around the epidemic, including the themes from the listening sessions from Indigenous survivors and their children.

Created a storytelling podcast that highlighted the themes in the listening sessions and interview findings for domestic violence and sexual assault programs and other service providers.

Sent Latinx campaign materials to over 200 community organizations, state entities, and health care providers, and received over 400 online order material requests from programs and organization in Idaho across the country.

Provided on-going quarterly webinars on Building Promising Futures Practice guidelines and issues related to anti-oppression and social equity, historical and vicarious trauma, and trauma-informed/healing practices for advocates.

Trained over 100 domestic violence and sexual assault advocates, state-level providers and service providers who work with parents and children impacted by domestic violence through a culturally-specific adapted version of Building Competence and Resilience in Children and Parents: The Advocate as Change Agent (Advocates as Change Agent) with Futures Without Violence and SSAPC faculty. The culturally-adaptive elements of the Advocate as Change Agents training provided a space for participants to go into a deeper self and organizational-level examination and helped participants identify ways they can enhance or re-create the work with children and families historically marginalized by society who are impacted by domestic violence.

Provided on-going technical assistance to the project’s demonstration sites that included brainstorming with children activities, reviewing curriculum, reviewing activities in campaign handbook, referrals, and tailoring activities that fit the demonstration sites’ needs.

A demonstration site worked with Idaho STARS (a state-wide agency that ensures childcare standards and issues childcare licenses) to obtain a childcare license in one of their facilities. Because they had the children’s culturally representative books, provided through this project, the demonstration site was able to meet step two of five, and get closer to becoming a license childcare provider. In addition they implemented and identified evidence-informed/evidence-based strategies and trainings specific to youth group settings in high schools and middle schools. They began two pilot groups titled Family Matters, an interactive program that modeled ways caregivers can plan with their children. The groups were held weekly, and attendance ranges from 10 to 15 participants including children. Materials used during the groups are intentionally inexpensive and easily accessible so that families can recreate the activities at home. The activities include children emotion scale coloring/activity book to measure and identify emotions, lavender-infused playdough, gardening, tie-dying and much more. The Family Matters group was the highest attended class at the agency, and was so successful that the agency is going to sustain the group after the end of Thriving Families, and just “get more creative” with group projects when there is no longer grant funding for activities.

Community-based demonstration site enhanced their efforts with integrating warm referrals to local domestic and sexual assault programs.

A demonstration site created a summers kids’ program that incorporated activated with children and parents/care givers and implemented the Strong Kids Club curriculum throughout the academic school year. Through this integration of these activities, there was an increased participation with families.

A demonstration site updated their intake forms that included holidays and cultural dietary needs; implemented safety planning conversation with mothers for them to feel comfortable having safety planning conversations with their own children; integrated children to be an integral part of the shelter touch to make children feel safe in the new environment; ungraded the common shelter area that was more inviting to children of all ages, including adolescents; and updated their policy to accept family members outside of the immediate family who were also directly impacted by domestic violence.

A demonstration site developed culturally-specific Spanish support groups for mothers impacted by domestic violence.

Worked with a community-based organization that works closely with resettled communities to build with their capacity to promote positive and supportive parent/caregiver and child relationships to support resettled families impacted by domestic violence through their programming.

Increase state and national-level collaboration and technical assistance on evidence and practice informed approaches to preventing and responding to children and youth impacted by domestic violence through 2 major state conferences with over 1,000 participants.

Hosted a multi-racial group of 37 members from across Idaho came together to explore a healing journey that deepened our relationship with one another that created a culture that was committed to unlearning colonized practices and embracing and celebrating the richness of the group’s differences and similarities through storytelling and connection.

Hosted a healing training for demonstration sites and domestic violence and sexual assault programs, totaling 50 participants. This gathering drew the wisdom of the community to co-create a blueprint for wellness against the backdrop of racism and its intersection with other forms of oppression-induced trauma: creating healthy boundaries, and healthy expressions of grief, pain and joy that allowed for healing and a space to fall in love with our community and ourselves more deeply—or for the first time. Participants received tools and information on how parents can talk to their children about things that matter and learn the impact that domestic violence has on children and on the parent-child relationship and received a free copy of Dr. Joi Lewis’ book, Healing: The Act of Radical Self-Care.

Thriving Families staff, internal researcher and evaluation team worked collaboratively toward less academic approach to outcome measurables and evaluation plan using a mix of qualitative and Indigenous research methodology.