Recent News Items

On August 24, legal advocates from around the state attended the TCFV-hosted conference, LEP Access in Texas: Dialogue, Information and Innovation. This training continues the efforts of ensuring that survivors of family violence with limited English proficiency in Texas are effectively served in family violence programs and courts.

In a TCFV survey conducted in 2009, 98% of legal advocates in family violence programs reported that they have experienced survivors coming to their doors with limited English proficiency. 71% of these legal advocates said that victims with LEP had negative outcomes in their legal cases due to the fact that they were LEP.

Coordination of community stakeholders in developing a language access plan is paramount to better serving LEP survivors. A panel discussion highlighting this coordination featured key participants who are instrumental in developing such a plan in Travis County, including the Honorable Lora Livingston, the Honorable Mike Denton, Abby Frank, attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project and Linda Phan, Executive Director of Saheli.

TCFV President Gloria Terry recently visited El Paso to launch an innovative new program in support of domestic violence victims working toward long-term economic stability. The city is one of the first in the nation to partner shelters and workforce solutions to assist victims with job skills and Individual Development Accounts for economic security. With funding from the Allstate Foundation and donated dollars, the impossible choice between an abusive relationship and homelessness has been erased for some Texans.  Terry’s story for the El Paso Times may be found here.

After careful consideration by a board search committee and by unanimous vote of the board of directors, we are honored to announce that Dyanne Purcell, former Chief Operating Officer for our organization, is the new Chief Executive Officer for the National Council on Family Violence, Texas Council on Family Violence and the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Dyanne is an outstanding leader who has demonstrated unwavering commitment to the mission and success of our organization since she first arrived over 13 years ago. She is a skilled communicator and brings 20+ years of nonprofit leadership and achievements to the CEO role. She is skilled at board, employee, donor and government relations, financial management and executive administration.

Dyanne has dedicated over 20 years of her life to touching and changing lives of individuals through non-profit advocacy and she is a perfect fit as the next leader of our organization. Because of her vast organizational knowledge and work in the domestic violence field there will be a seamless leadership transition.

Sheryl Cates will continue to serve the organization as CEO Emeritus through August 31, 2010. We are immensely grateful to Sheryl for her tremendous leadership, dedication and tireless efforts to create options and positive changes for domestic violence victims and survivors.

Gloria, Dyanne and the entire board remain fully committed to continuing the many important projects and initiatives currently underway and to fully supporting the work of our partners and allies in the domestic violence community.

The Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) has named Maria Jose Angelelli the National Crime Victims’ Rights Week champion for victims’ of domestic violence. Angelelli has dedicated over 26 years of her life to the movement to end family violence and has brought extensive knowledge and expertise to TCFV. She currently serves as the Support to Service Providers Director. She joined TCFV in 1992 as the Program Policy Coordinator, where she spent 12 years providing technical assistance and policy interpretation on the Texas Department of Human Services Family Violence Handbooks to family violence shelters and nonresidential programs across Texas. Please click here to read the ful press release. Continue Reading »

The Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) has partnered with Dallas Cowboys Football Star Jason Witten’s SCORE Foundation and SafeHaven of Tarrant County for the family violence prevention program “Coaching Boys into Men.”

Prevention specialists at TCFV and SafeHaven are training coaches from the Arlington and Birdville Independent School Districts so that they can teach young athletes about healthy and respectful relationships. Jason Witten is a powerful role model for both young athletes and coaches and also understands the role coaches have in instilling good values in young people. He has also witnessed family violence firsthand as a child and started the SCORE Foundation to work with families in crisis. Please click here to read more about this powerful partnership.

By Steve Zimmerman

When most of us hear the words “business model” our thoughts instinctively turn to the various revenue streams in our organization. We think of government contracts which fund specific programs or traditional fundraising strategies such as special events. Revenue strategies only address half the equation. Nonprofit businesses have more responsibility than merely being financially viable; they also need to have an impact–achieving their mission in making our communities safer and better places to live. Therefore, nonprofit business models must incorporate both mission impact and financial viability.

The Matrix Map is a tool that visually demonstrates these two components of an organization’s business model. By plotting both programmatic and fundraising activities in the matrix according to their mission impact and profitability, we can see how they work together to create a sustainable business model or, more likely these days, a challenged model. Continue Reading »

The National Census of Domestic Violence Services (Census) is an annual unduplicated count of adults and children who seek services from U.S. family violence shelters and non-residential programs during a single 24-hour survey period. The National Network to end Domestic Violence (NNEDV) conducts the Census and produces a national report that demonstrates the life-saving work provided by local family violence programs.

This past year, a record number of programs participated in the 2009 Census which adds greatly to the validity of the results. TCFV worked hard to bring awareness to the Census and to make sure programs knew how to correctly respond. Survey results found that over 5,000 victims of domestic violence were served in one day including nearly 2,000 hotline calls to programs. Services provided included emergency shelters, transitional housing, individual counseling, legal advocacy and children’s support. TCFV would like to thank programs for taking time to complete the Census. The results for the surveys for 2006 to present can be accessed on www.nnedv.org.

The BIPP Educational Series is training curriculum that is replacing TCFV’s BIPP: Dedication. After feedback from various professionals in the BIPP field, CJAD-funded program coordinators and facilitators, attendees from Dedication and the BIPP Annual Conference, TCFV chose to re-organize and expand BIPP training workshops to meet all levels of continuing education for BIPP professionals.

The new educational series will be comprised of two parts. Part one will focus on foundational information that includes beginner-intermediate level topics. Part two will focus on intermediate-advanced level topics. The educational series is comprised of a combination of classroom and self-paced online modules. Each part will guarantee 20 hours of CJAD-approved hours. By attending both parts, attendees will obtain the 40 hours total. Continue Reading »