PEACE Domestic Violence Agency Essay

The PEACE Domestic Violence agency’s mission is to â€Å"reduce victim trauma, empower survivors, and promote recovery through direct services† (University of Phoenix, 2012, para. 9). Also, according to University of Phoenix Appendix B (2012),PEACE also strives to reducing the occurrence of sexual assault and domestic violence by educating the abused and the community and proposing ways to fight against social norms and beliefs. It will reside in the city of Portland, a large metropolitan city, that has been experiencing a rise in reports of not only domestic, spousal, and child abuse, but also youth violence, assault, and road rage over the last five years. PEACE is looking for funding from the National Foundation’s funding program and by doing so strives promote the well-being of people whose lives have been affected by domestic violence, improve the quality of life of families with a member in prison, provide people who are (or have been) involved with the criminal justice system with a rehabilitation program where they can obtain the skills and support networks needed to lead fulfilled lives. â€Å"The Small Grants Program offers one-time grants of up to $5,000 to registered charities with an annual budget under $500,000 and the Investor Program is an innovative funding program designed to support six organizations under each of the objectives of the Supporting Families program, with up to $150,000 a year for up to 3 years† (University of Phoenix, 2012, para. 11). The program needs not only proper funding but the ability to allocate that funding in ways that will benefit the community in the fastest and most effective way possible. Because of this, PEACE will be looking into alternative funding. The Community Innovation Challenge is one of the most important ways PEACE will try and obtain nontraditional funding. The Community Innovation Challenge is a grant program that gives approved organizations money so they can enact faster and more efficient ways of serving and bettering the community. This kind of funding would benefit PEACE because a domestic violence agency like PEACE is helpful to the community on so many levels – children to adults to those looking to be rehabilitated. PEACE would be a prime candidate for this grant because of this reason and the money would be used to assist workers in their education on the matters at hand as well as paying for more workers if the organization gets too large for the current staff amount. PEACE will also be looking into outsourcing and setting up charity booths at frequently visited locations like outside a grocery store or at a shopping center. Sending emails and/or letters to local businesses, companies, and even other organizations looking for financial assistance, ideas, and information is definitely helpful and it also allows smaller businesses to get their name on the map and helping out the organization if they were to become something like a sponsor. Setting up charity booths also allows people from many different walks of life to see my program’s cause and contribute something, anything, if they can. Funding from these two sources can normally be used in many ways but it is also not always a large amount. Access to smaller amounts of funding gives PEACE ways to buy low cost items when they are affordable. Things like more seating, chair cushions, water tanks, even coffee and muffins†¦ All these things can help people feel more welcome and safe which is important with organizations like PEACE. Signing up for a few free subscription/database-type sites will give access to funds as well. These websites allow a program to look for nontraditional sources of funding as well as give them updates for when new opportunities come up that apply to the program. This is especially helpful for busy programs that may not have the man power to go out and hunt for funding sources while also working with the program as much as The mission of the PEACE Domestic Violence Agency is to reduce victim trauma, empower survivors, and promote recovery through direct services. Their curriculum is based largely around the need of the community and they set out to provide the best, most varied care they can. Starting with professionally trained staff who are looked over by a small administration PEACE locates those in need of assistance and brings them to a place where those needs can be met on an individual basis as well as on a group basis. The stakeholders for PEACE start with the administration and staff of the agency who put themselves on the line taking care of their clients and looking for sources of funding to make sure things are taken care of. Staff and administration need to have their physical and mental needs taken care of and provided for so they can then provide for the community. This may mean more staff need to be trained and employed to keep everyone at the top of their game or the spaces available for clients needs to be cut so staff do not find themselves over-taxed. Domestic abuse is a very serious thing and it cannot be taken lightly by anyone. One false step – be it a forgotten case notebook, a less-than-attentive staff member, or what have you – can severely endanger the clients. It is imperative that the clients are put into the hands of fully educated, completely able staff. A majority of funding sources are open only to non-profit, 501(c)3 organizations. These organizations must also be in good standing to receive funds and therefore PEACE is eligible to apply for this type of funding. A private foundation is deemed to be any non-profit that supports the work of public charities through the award of grants (2009). In order to receive funds a foundation is required to file a Form 1023 with the IRS. Form 1023 is a 28 page form gives the IRS the information they need to conduct audits of the foundation’s activities. The duty of staff and the administration is to make sure the program meets the requirements of the funders constantly because they would lose funding if they have anything that presents itself as a conflict of interest of it there is anything going on that the funders do not like (2009). Non-profit organizations and their boards are bound to very strict rules and therefore discrimination against an individual or treating a group better than another individual or group can result in the foundation being shut down. Records of a program must be maintained in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), including the filing of an annual Form 990 with the IRS. All members of the staff and management are responsible to the rules for non-profits. Documentation has to be well understood and applied consistently and correctly. The administrators of PEACE have to find evaluators that can ensure the evaluations show an honest picture of the group effort, effectiveness, and c ontribution to the community so granters can rely on the information provided. The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act is an example of such a funding foundation that can create such a picture. Their mission is to decrease the occurrence of domestic abuse as well as to increase well-being and progress in society as a whole. This foundation is federally funded often pulling in quite a few million dollars that are then allocated to them by the government as well as allocated to sister organizations and other funding opportunities. Being federally funded there is a close eye on the limited resources of the foundation so the funders can be sure the money is spent in the most effective manner to benefit the greatest number of people. The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act serves organizations and people all over the United. The foundation has control over where their money is used and they try to concentrate their focus on organizations that will benefit the community around them the most. They, more specifically, tend to fund essential services that sit at the core of ending domestic violence. Emergency shelters, hotlines, and advocacy as well as primary and secondary prevention are all looked at highly. Another stakeholder in the PEACE Domestic Violence Agency is the community itself. Community evaluation will be an active part of the results that affect ongoing funding by attending the program, first of all, and also by giving feedback on the effectiveness of this program and the staff of said program in their community. The input of the community needs to be taken into consideration when looking at progress evaluations and data that has been collected before making decisions to change, mend, or modify the program. Community member have the biggest input on when, where, and how group sessions are bei ng held and, more importantly, when, where, and how private sessions are being held. Children cannot be expected to want to sit through late meetings, parents may not have time during the day because of work†¦ There are so many factors that need to be looked at in order to please the wants and needs of the community. This will be important also keep constant monitoring of to allow individuals and families to have time for different kinds of activities and help, as well as to allow the help they’ve currently received (or have been receiving) to process and sink in. However, the community cannot affect or change the goals of funding institutions. Therefore, they have to work with the funder’s restrictions and requirements so that no single group is held in a higher spot on the list of things that need funding or the list of people that need assistance. Every one of the stakeholders at PEACE Domestic Violence Agency has an effect on the design and implementation of the program. The community, the clients, the staff and finally the administration all s hare a common goal and they all hold the progress and fate of the program in their hands. They all want to see an improvement in the society, they all want to see higher quality of life, and they all want someone (even themselves) to feel safe when they go to sleep at night. This means strong staff, an introduction of life skills, increased community involvement, increased collaboration with funders and the state, a reduction in high risk behaviors, and a decrease in the amount of reported domestic abuse cases. By taking these things into account PEACE Domestic Violence Agency will be a long lasting, effective program. Program planning and evaluation process can provide opportunities for program improvement because they will catch instances of the program not meeting the expectations of the funders, workers, and the community. It is vital for PEACE to carefully create a program plan because, with an organization that is helping a myriad of kinds of victims of domestic abuse, it is easy to give the wrong message to workers and the community. PEACE also provides assistance to people who are looking to be rehabilitated so it would be bad for them if their organization came off as only being there to help the hurt or, in my opinion, even worse: As being there to make sure the people know they did wrong but not actually help them. The evaluation process can keep track of the kinds of clients they get and also what places might need improvement. As the manager of a program anything that improves efficiency and the method for delivery of the service is helpful and those can be found through the evaluation process. As a funder, you would have every right to speak up if you thought your money was not being well spent. This comes into play first in the program planning because if you are looking for a specific kind of program you can gladly put forth an effort to make that happen whether it be with time, money, or both. It also comes into play with the evaluation process. As a funder it would be part of your responsibility to check where funds are going and when and to check if there are more efficient and helpful ways of delivering the funds and how they are spent. Outcome Measure: Reduce the amount of domestic violence report, to assist people and families in dealing with life after abuse, and to help with rehabilitation and reintroduction. * Baseline Data: Portland has experienced increasing reports of domestic and youth violence, spousal and child abuse, assault, and incidents of road rage over the last 5 years. * Evaluation Design: Trained observers, staff * Source of Information/Instrument(s): Police reports, reports from other domestic abuse locations * Who Will Collect the Data: Collection of data will be done by a small team of staff specifically brought together to gather and process data. * Timing of Data Collection: Overall data collection every three months (to look for progress) with an update to data made every forty-five days. * Population or Sample: Population (Applicable men, women and children of Portland) * How Will the Data be Described/Analyzed: Total new/repeat counts of domestic abuse in the form of percentages (increase or decrease) Process Measure: Number of staff trained to handle the abused * Source of Information/Instrument(s): Training sign-in sheets * Who Will Collect the Data: Administration assistant will help participants sign-in * Timing of Data Collection: Before the training session * Population or Sample: Population (all participants) * How Will the Data be Described/Analyzed: Total number of staff properly trained. Process Measure: Number of sessions delivered per group * Source of Information/Instrument(s): Staff session logs * Who Will Collect the Data: Staff * Timing of Data Collection: During and after each session * Population or Sample: Population (all staff will fill out session logs) * How Will the Data be Described/Analyzed: Frequency of sessions per group per staff, as well as an average frequency of sessions across the board. Process Measure: Measures of program fidelity * Source of Information/Instrument(s): Trained observers, staff checklists, client surveys * Who Will Collect the Data: Trained observers, staff, and clients * Timing of Data Collection: Trained observers will attend one session per group each month and staff and clients will fill out biweekly checklists and surveys * Population or Sample: Population (All staff and willing clients as well as observers) * How Will the Data be Described/Analyzed: Qualitative data from observations and data collected from checklists and surveys will be compiled, summarized, and given to administration to show who is being passionate and faithful to the cause as well as what improvements need to be made and where. This evaluation plan will include process evaluation, outcome evaluations, formative evaluations, and summative evaluations. Process evaluations will evaluate all procedures and tasks involved with implementing these programs. Process evaluations will also monitor the program and ensure feedback throughout the length of the program. This is exceptionally beneficial when running a program that is solely need-based and those needs only discovered through dealing with the clients the program is trying to help. Without feedback process cannot be made and goals, no matter how small, cannot be achieved. By performing process evaluations on the effectiveness of the groups as well as the staff themselves and comparing that to data collected by clients the best possible steps can be made towards the goal reducing the effect of domestic violence on Portland. Outcome evaluations will collect quantitative and qualitative data from ongoing programs to document any short-term results that have been achieved as well as open doors to any new short-term goals and changes that have to be made to current ones. Task-focused results such as the number of staff who put their name on the sign-up sheet to be trained, how many clients return, and how many young adults seek help with rehabilitation on their own describe the output of the activity and short-term results, like the percentage of clients that are willing to fill out an end-of-session survey, describe the immediate effects of the program on the community. Information such as an increase in knowledge, changed in attitude, and behavioral shifts are part of a long list of data that can be discovered after an outcome evaluation. Outcome evaluations will come in handy the most when trying to figure out if the community is being reached properly and clients are being treated as best as they can be. It will also be helpful determining what activities are out-of-date or just plain not helpful anymore and what activities can take their place. Formative evaluations, which include pre-testing and competency exams, allow an organization to assess the strengths and weaknesses in their approach to their goals, staff, target audience for their services, and even their advertising campaign! Formative evaluations also help an organization discover if any changes need to be made, if they can be made, or if the program is not going to succeed. By testing messages, products, and services on small groups also helps an organization work out kinks before implementing it on a larger scale. By taking the data gained from a finished formative evaluation an organization can get a better idea of their company, its workers, and its clients and will help them decide if it is better to sink, or hopefully more often, swim. Summative evaluations include any combination of measurements and judgments that allow conclusions about the impact, outcome, and benefits of a program or method. Allowing an organization to stick to such an out of the box, abstract, non-linear form of evaluating it can pick and chose what will get them the most information the fastest. This can be, by far, the most efficient way to help an organization make progress. With an organization that has a lot of different sections, like this one, it can produce the best progress reports because there is not a single mainline format that has to be followed; Just whatever works. I believe I would find pre-post surveys with questions that have people rate things one through five, attendance sheets, and tally sheets to keep record of happenings the most useful. In an organization that has sections that help polar opposite cases (e.g. young adults straight from walking the line of a criminal who wish to find assistance in becoming rehabilitated and young mothers who have been abused and who have children who were abused that are looking for help with learning how to get through their fears and move on with life) there cannot be one set way to document things. Surveys will always be near the top of the data collecting tools list because people can put whatever they want however they want and can truly express themselves if they so chose. An organization cannot necessarily ask two groups, like the two mentioned above, â€Å"How did you feel when the counselor asked you to talk about your personal experiences with being abused,† because the young adult who is looking to be rehabilitated may not have been abused. Attendance sheets are a very important part of an organization as well because it will allow the organization to know how many people they are reaching and if they need to step their game up or not. References Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (2013). http://www.mass.gov/anf/budget-taxes-and- procurement/working-for-you/community-innovation-challenge-grant/. Retrieved from http://www.mass.gov/anf/budget-taxes-and-procurement/working-for-you/community-innovation- challenge-grant/ National Network to End Domestic Violence. (2012). Family Violence Prevention & Services Act. Retrieved from http://www.nnedv.org/policy/issues/fvpsa.html United States Interagency Council on Homelessnes. (2011). Family Violence Prevention and Services Act. Retrieved from http://www.usich.gov/funding_programs/programs/family_violence_prevention_and_services_act/ University of Phoenix. (2012). Appendix B. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, HSM270 – Program Planning and Grant Proposal Writing in Human Services website. Weill Cornell Medical College. (2013). http://weill.cornell.edu/research/grants_and_contracts/research_development/se