The New York Women's Foundation
Communities Coordinated Against Violence: A Model Program
Alisa del Tufo, Co-director of the Family Violence Project, the Urban Justice Center
Violence in the family is a problem that cuts across race, ethnicity, socioeconomic, sexual orientation, religious, and age classifications. Although in New York City the numbers of abused women and children seeking help is quite high (in 2001, there were 233,617 "Domestic Incident Reports" filled out by the New York Police Department and over 144,000 calls to the City's domestic violence hotline), experts agree that this is only the tip of the iceberg, representing about 10% of the actual levels of violence in the home. This is made terribly clear when a female domestic homicide or assault occurs and the victim has not been the client of a domestic violence agency. A recent survey showed that only one out of forty-five abused women had ever contacted a domestic violence organization. Language, culture, religion, awareness, availability, and values stand in the way. Consider:
 •  In New York City, seventy percent of the families who are clients of the Administration for Children's Services for child maltreatment are also experiencing adult domestic violence;
 •  For every abused woman and her children who are able to access the city's domestic violence emergency shelters, fifty are turned away for lack of space;
 •  In New York City, fifty-four percent of female victims of intimate-partner homicide are foreign born; and
 •  Foreign-born abused women are less likely than any other group to reach out for assistance from governmental agencies or programs outside of their immediate communities.
For nearly a decade, domestic violence advocates around the country have realized that the traditional, shelter-based models of intervention are inadequate to address family violence victims' complex needs. These models are limited by their crisis-oriented requirements that women and children identify themselves as domestic violence victims and be ready to leave their homes. Further, current models focus almost exclusively on women and children, ignoring the larger social context for family violence — especially the role that men and social institutions play in the problem.

Federal initiatives such as the Violence Against Women Act, which channeled millions of dollars into the criminal justice system and enhancement of police interventions with perpetrators, have resulted in a proliferation of family violence efforts coordinating the criminal justice response with programs focusing on batterers'. These new practices, although important, have alienated communities already mistrustful of the criminal justice system, and they have overlooked any family for whom criminal justice intervention is not possible.

Indeed, many abused women and their children live in violent homes coping with their problem alone and in silence. Victims often try to manage the violence themselves rather than risk being humiliated by publicly acknowledging the problem or asking for help from traditional domestic violence agencies. However, these same families often obtain other kinds of support — health services, child care, mental health services — from organizations in their community that they know and trust but which do not have the expertise to provide effective domestic violence intervention.

Shelters and hotlines, although essential, do not address the concerns and needs of most abused women and their children until they are in crisis. Responses designed by government institutions, no matter how well-intentioned, are often perceived with suspicion by new immigrants and communities of color. In order to prevent violence in the family and mitigate its negative consequences, information and services must be available within the community programs that people already use and trust — before the problem becomes a crisis.

Since its founding in 1993, the Family Violence Project of the Urban Justice Center (UJC) has developed innovative programs that address family violence and the national trends demonstrating the need for more community-based intervention strategies. Communities Coordinated Against Violence (CONNECT) is a program designed to help New York City communities develop preventive and early intervention strategies that address violence in the family. CONNECT's goal is to provide culturally affirming and community-focused services designed to improve these organizations' ability to respond to family violence. CONNECT's approach provides a blend of capacity building, skills training, technical assistance, and community development that is focused on a particular geographic community in New York City.

For CONNECT's first year, the community chosen was Central Brooklyn. This neighborhood has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in New York City. The local precinct handles more than 7,000 Domestic Incident Reports each year, as well as a troublingly high incidence of domestic homicides. It is clear that traditional methods of providing services to battered women and their children is not enough to combat the complexity and severity of the problem. By strengthening the capacity of individuals and neighborhood-based services, CONNECT fosters the development of programs and methods that can respond to family violence in ways that are culturally affirming and community focused.

In 2002, we received $1 million from the New York City Council to implement CONNECT. CEP has established working partnerships with 35 community-based organizations in central Brooklyn, including health clinics, child care organizations and faith-based organizations. Staff provides each organization with a program of capacity building, training, resource development, and technical assistance that is designed to address the needs of their agency and clients. Our work has met with widespread enthusiasm in the community, as has the integration of our program into initiatives that are currently being planned by the Mayor, his Office to Combat Family Violence, the New York Police Department, and the Administration for Children's Services.


Alisa del Tufo has worked with domestic violence victims for decades. She founded Sanctuary for Families in 1983, the first New York City nonprofit to offer services to battered women and their children regardless of income. Ten years later she founded the Family Violence Project at the Urban Justice Center. She has a master's degree in divinity from Union Theological Seminary.