To: Board of Supervisors
From: Marla Stuart, Employment and Human Services Director
Report Title: Proclaim October 2024 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
ADOPT a resolution declaring October 2024 Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Contra Costa County, as recommended by the Employment and Human Services Director.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No fiscal impact for this action.
BACKGROUND:
Domestic Violence Awareness Month is a national campaign dedicated to raising awareness about domestic violence. In 1989, Congress declared the month of October to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM). Every October, organizations and individuals unite across the country for a national effort to uplift the needs, voices, and experiences of survivors. In 1995, the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV) convened several national domestic violence organizations to launch a new effort to support domestic violence program’s awareness and education efforts for DVAM. This collaborative effort became the Domestic Violence Awareness Project (DVAP), which comes up with an annual theme to inspire people to action.
For 2024, the theme for DVAM is “Heal, Hold, & Center” to promote embracing the many cultural ways we can heal from violence and oppression, commit to holding space for survivors, and center those most marginalized in all our efforts to end domestic violence.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The County will not recognize Domestic Violence Awareness Month in 2024.
CHILDREN’S IMPACT STATEMENT:
This resolution supports all five of Contra Costa County’s community outcomes of the Children’s Report Card: (1) “Children Ready for and Succeeding in School”; (2) “Children and Youth Healthy and Preparing for Productive Adulthood”; (3) “Families that are Economically Self-Sufficient”; (4) “Families that are Safe, Stable and Nurturing”; and (5) “Communities that are Safe and Provide a High Quality of Life for Children and Families.”
The Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County, California
body
IN THE MATTER OF Proclaiming October 2024 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Contra Costa County:
WHEREAS, domestic violence refers to a pattern of abusive and coercive behaviors used to exert power and control over an intimate partner or close familial individual affecting that person’s physical, emotional, mental, sexual, and/or spiritual wellbeing and relationships; and
WHEREAS, in 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Statistics Center reports that Contra Costa law enforcement agencies received 3,218 domestic violence-related calls for service, of which 2,842 (about 88%) involved the use of a weapon and, per the Coroner’s Office and the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, 13 domestic violence-related homicides occurred; and
WHEREAS, this year’s National Domestic Violence Awareness Month theme “Heal, Hold, & Center” builds on the premise that there is no survivor justice without racial justice and calls for us to work together to embrace the many cultural ways we can heal from violence and oppression, hold space for survivors, and center those most marginalized in all our efforts to end domestic violence; and
WHEREAS, for the past 23 years, the Contra Costa Alliance to End Abuse has been pivotal in implementing the Board of Supervisors' policy to end interpersonal violence in the County, including domestic violence, by building cross-sector public-private partnerships that foster awareness, support innovative intervention and prevention efforts, and address inequities so survivors can access services tailored to their needs; and
WHEREAS, STAND! for Families Free of Violence is a founding partner of the Contra Costa Alliance to End Abuse and, for 47 years, has promoted safe and strong families by offering a comprehensive range of prevention, intervention, and treatment programs to address domestic violence, sexual violence, and child abuse in Contra Costa County. In 2023, STAND! for Families Free of Violence responded to over 12,000 crisis calls through their 24/7 crisis support hotline (1-888-215-5555), provided emergency shelter and support to hundreds of survivors while meeting their unique needs, delivered immediate emotional support, high-danger lethality screening, and safety planning, and elevated youth voices while training over 1,000 youth on Teen Dating Violence Prevention; and
WHEREAS, through the Alliance to End Abuse’s Families Thrive Project, Community Strengths, in consultation with partners, has developed free toolkits for organizations to support the healing process for people who experience intimate partner violence, especially those from historically marginalized communities. The Culturally Sustaining Approaches to Prevention Toolkit, reviewed and informed by RCF Connects’ Equity for Black Women and Girls initiative and its Sister Circles, seeks to amplify the voices, needs, and hopes of Black women and girls and engage and strengthen culturally sustaining practices. The Trauma Informed Practices in Organizations Toolkit, shaped by work done with The Latina Center, helps organizations adopt trauma-informed principles to break the trauma cycle and promote healing; and
WHEREAS, for the past 13 and a half years, the Contra Costa Family Justice Alliance (d.b.a. Family Justice Center) has partnered with local and community-based organizations to assist interpersonal violence survivors through its three Family Justice Centers in the County offering multiple healing spaces and survivor leadership and empowerment programs. The fourth and new South County Family Justice Center in Danville will extend this support to meet the critical needs of elder and immigrant survivors and their families; and
WHEREAS, everyone has a role in giving rise to safe and thriving communities for all and is invited to register and partake in the Mission Possible Conference III: Creating Community and Opportunity to learn and share how connection, healing, belonging, and economic opportunities, prevent violence.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors urges all residents to actively participate in the efforts to end domestic violence in our homes, in our schools, and in our communities, and does hereby proclaim October 2024 as “Domestic Violence Awareness Month.”
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