San Rafael, CA – The County of Marin’s collaborative effort to end intimate partner violence in local communities will be center stage on October 21 when the Marin County Board of Supervisors will hear a presentation on recent successes and the plan ahead.
Marin County Health and Human Services (HHS) will share The Framework for Preventing Intimate Partner Violence in Marin. HHS is recommending Board endorsement of comprehensive prevention strategies that coordinate existing efforts across sectors. Prevention efforts are designed to complement intervention and criminal justice responses.
Also on October 21, the Marin County Probation Office plans to show highlights of the recent Marin County Family Violence Prevention Summit, which included poignant, emotional speeches from victims of domestic violence and men convicted of domestic violence. On October 1 in San Rafael, those stories drew the 150-plus attendees closer together and made them more determined to end domestic abuse, the most common of all violent crimes in the county.
“There were moments of truth that made some uncomfortable, and that is when you know you have engaged your audience,” said summit co-organizer Melissa Davis, Deputy Probation Officer.
Summit participants represented broad range of stakeholders, community partners and other working to address this complex issue.
“It was inspirational to see people on the ground making a direct impact on this issue in daily lives, working to educate each other about the primary prevention strategies,” said Davis, who chairs the Marin County Family Violence Consortium with San Rafael Police Department Chief Diana Bishop. “That was the biggest win of the day – having so many different agencies represented along with community members who are passionate about ending intimate partner violence.”
The consortium’s momentum is especially timely because of widespread outrage toward high-profile national reports of physical abuse.
“The focus on prevention was very inspiring,” said Kim Turner, Executive Officer of Marin County Superior Court. “Too often, the focus has been on reacting to incidents of domestic violence rather than creating and reinforcing better supportive strategies for families. I believe that this summit was a great first step toward renewing our community commitment to healthy families.”
Between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014, 835 incidents of domestic violence – about 2.3 per day – were referred to the Marin County District Attorney's Office by local law enforcement agencies. Experts believe the number of incidents isn’t an accurate depiction of the problem because many domestic violence incidents are not reported to law enforcement.
The Framework provides a roadmap for implementing evidence based strategies for preventing violence and articulates:
- A common vision for preventing intimate partner violence
- Guiding principles that ground efforts for creating healthy conditions for reducing the likelihood of violence occurring in the first place; and
- The top prevention strategies that address the risk and protective factors that contribute to intimate partner violence in Marin.
The summit, sponsored by the Marin County Board of Supervisors, received financial contributions from the Marin County Probation Department, the Marin County District Attorney’s Office, Marin County Sheriff’s Office, Marin County Health and Human Services, Kaiser Permanente, and the Marin County Police Chiefs Association to create the event. For more information, contact Davis at mdavis@marincounty.org.
Learn more at Marin HHS’ webpage on Preventing Intimate Partner Violence in Marin (PIPVMarin).