Be A Volunteer

Community engagement encompasses a range of services and activities that include elements of community building, education, and mobilization, and focus on getting more community members involved in preventing domestic violence and supporting safe and equitable relationships. All take into account the needs, cultural histories, and practices of the communities for which they are designed. Services commonly offered by most community-based advocacy programs include but are not limited to:

• Safety planning, including discussion of options for safety at home, at work, in transit, for Internet and phone use, and safety for children. Safety is a key focus of all the programs.
• “Advocacy based counseling”, as well as advocacy and support for any relevant issue identified by the survivor, provided in-person or by phone.
• Assisting survivors in finding shelter, transitional and long-term housing.
• Emergency assistance, including help with emergency taxi vouchers, motel vouchers, food, clothing, rental assistance, and other urgent needs.
• Support groups, which may be structured or unstructured.
• Assistance with life skills such as banking, transportation, acculturation issues, and others.
• Providing service in the client’s own language, through interpreters and/or through bi-or multi-lingual staff.
• Assistance with referrals to healthcare, mental health, and chemical dependency services, when needed.
• Legal advocacy, including providing information about the court system, explaining legal options, accompanying clients to court for civil, criminal and immigration matters, and making referrals to legal service agencies.
• Support for parenting, including assistance with childcare, school enrollment, referrals to healthcare and mental health services for children.
• Supportive services for children of program participants.