Brief History of the Network
(aka DVAC, SADVAC)
1995 to 2013
Connie Monahan, MPH
Current Network Steering Committee Member
Past Co-Chair of DVAC
Active Network member since inception
The early years… 1995
 Injury Prevention Successes
 DWI, adult seat belts, child car seats, flammable sleepwear, helmet laws,
pedestrian safety, falls among elderly, poison safety, etc…
 Strategies that were effective for Unintentional Injuries – would they
work for Intentional or Violence-Related Injuries?
 Former Surgeon General C Everett Koop (1991) focus: “identifying
violence as a public health issue…”
 Violence Against Women Act (1994)
 Systems Change/Multi-Disciplinary Teams for Public Health issues:
getting different disciplines to share, cross-train, and problem solve
based on how the victim moves through the multiple systems.
 NM: DV Special commissioners, DV Tsar, IPV Death Review Team…
People who helped start…
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Victor LaCerva, MD
Tom Rutledge, JD
DOH staff: Barak Wolff, Tress Schnell, Sandra Cashman, Frieda Brady
UNM Center for Injury Prevention: Cameron Crandall, Lenora Olson
DV Special Commissioners: Debra Seeley, Stan Whitaker, Nan Nash
Governor’s DV Tsar: Sandra Gardner and later, Sharon Pino
CVRC: Sheila Allen, VAWA Grant Manager
Other State agencies: CYFD, AGO, DPS…
Women’s Agenda: Susan Loubet
Leaders with Native DV: Peggy Bird, Eleana Giacci, Gwen Packard
Rural Domestic Violence Programs/Shelters, rural/state Law
Enforcement Agencies, Service Providers, DA Victim Advocates
Initial Activities/Spillovers
 DOH received small grants (CDC, OVW, STIPDA) to support DV crosstraining, meetings, community development, Women’s Summit…
 Discussion items – licensure of providers, standardizing services,
jurisdiction of restraining orders, dedicated DV police units…
 Activities
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Tri-fold brochure (low tech!)
Letters
Action items – where individual acted with “support” from DVAC
Meetings with candidates from opposing sides…
 Rural programs came, learned, and went back to their communities to
replicate efforts specific to their region
Products
DVAC Initial format
 Volunteer two co-chairs with a two year term
 Group met last Wednesday of the month, first every month
and later every other month – talk of quarterly meetings
 Switched meetings between Albuquerque and Santa Fe
 Tried regional meetings
 Tried to attach a specific Alb/Bernalillo County DV meeting
after the statewide DVAC/Network
 Tried to include violence against children
 Tried to focus on violence against Native women
Name….
 Started as Domestic Violence Advisory Council – DVAC
 Included sexual assault – SADVAC
 Included stalking – and the acronym got convoluted!
 Became THE NETWORK in 2003
Mission Statement
The NETWORK works to end domestic and sexual violence
in New Mexico. The NETWORK is an inclusive collaborative
of multidisciplinary, multicultural domestic violence and
sexual assault program providers and organizations
dedicated to strengthening policies, protocols and services
to reduce the incidence of sexual assault and domestic
violence in state and tribal communities. This mission will be
accomplished through information and resource sharing;
cross-training; identifying gaps, critical needs and/or
duplications of services; fostering new partnerships; and
collaborating on and supporting legislative efforts.
Facilitator/Steering Committee
 Deb Hall (2003-2011)
 Anne Lightsey (2012 – current)
 Idea was to have outside facilitator to allow for healthy discussion
with diverse opinions among members
 Steering Committee – volunteer team of 6 to 10 members with
two year terms, with representation from both DV and SA
 Responsibilities/application on website
 Funds from NMCSAP and NMCADV for facilitator & food
 In-kind support from DOH
How do we measure success?
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Meeting the objectives of the Mission Statement
Participation at the meetings – both numbers and diversity
Dialogue at the meetings – including disagreement/discord
List the topics covered by panel presentation as a indirect
measure of shared information and new learning
 Development of our website: www.thenetwork-dvsa.org
 People don’t sleep during the meeting and food gets eaten…
Frustrations/Learning Curves
 Desire to DO something instead of JUST learning/talking
 With inconsistent participation/attendance, we often have to start at
square 1 again and again
 Losing the diversity of attendance
 CEU’s for counselors/social workers is good but…
 Reluctance to get involved/take a position when legislation is issue
 Need the safety to allow diverse opinion
 Technology – website, list serve, conference call, minutes
 The more public our outreach, the more sanitized the content…
Wrapping Up
 Do others remember differently or have something
else to add?
 Where do we go from here –
 If we know where we’ve come from, would we DO
things differently now?
 Time and money is involved and with limited resources
and work overload – is the Network worthwhile?