Center Against Domestic Violence
The Center Against Domestic Violence (CADV) is a shelter for women and children of all ages that have been exposed to domestic violence. CADV is based out of Brooklyn, New York.
History
The Center started at a “speak out” session in Brooklyn in 1976. More than a hundred women attended this meeting and shared stories of how domestic violence had changed their lives. What was understood was that there was no place were abused women could find safety for their children and themselves. In the 1990’s the Center extended its operations to high school students and developed the revolutionary PEER program (Pride, Education, Equality and Respect). This was a teen relationship program. Today CADV is the largest relationship prevention abuse program in New York, reaching out to over 30,000 students each year.
Throughout the history of the Center, CADV has shown continued efforts to aid victims of abuse and end the cycle of violence altogether. Today the Center houses up to 1,000 women and children each year in three different shelters.
Main Objectives
The Center Against Domestic Violence provides a multitude of services. As victims contact the Center, a case manager is assigned each new victim and provides assistance in various forms, including financial, medical, legal, educational and psychological.
The Center aims at creating a sense of community, where victims help each other to make informed life choices. The groups hold their meetings in Spanish and English. In addition to the support groups, several workshops are offered. These workshops provide the victims with the tools to build skills and confidence, lead their families to new lives, free of violence.
Timeline
- 1976: The Center is created.
- 1977: The Center Against Domestic Violence, incorporated as the Center for the Elimination of Violence in the Family, Inc., is New York State’s first organization founded to end domestic violence.
- 1989: Children’s Growing Place, the first Agency for Child Development day care and afterschool program in a domestic violence shelter, opens with specialized programming for children from violent families.
- 1998: The Center is invited to present as a “Best Practice” at the United Nations Safer Cities for Women Conference.
- 2003: The Center Against Domestic Violence begins a partnership with the Department for the Aged and the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence to train court personnel and police about elder abuse.
- 2005: The Center Against Domestic Violence begins working with the Bank Street College of Education to draft a program of healthy relationship education for elementary school children, the first program for young students to prevent relationship abuse.
- 2009: More than 30 years of aiding victims of domestic abuse.
References
- http://www.cadvny.org/