MDVPTB receives $1.1 million federal grant to develop safe havens and model supervised visitation practice.
Governor John Engler and the Family Independence Agency announced in late October that the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board (MDVPTB) has been selected by the U.S. Department of Justice to participate in the Safe Havens demonstration initiative that will build domestic violence Safe Havens and develop a model supervised visitation protocol. Michigan is the only state and one of three recipients of this funding nationally. This three-year federal grant totals 1.1 million dollars. The project goal is to provide adult and child survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, safety in supervised visitation and exchange settings. The three-year program will focus on the following objectives, to:

• provide survivors a safe, affordable age-and activity-appropriate means of visitation and exchange between parents separated because of domestic violence or sexual assault
• reduce trauma and anxiety to children of batterers who are afraid of visitation with an abusive parent
• eliminate the risk of emotional and physical abuse to children and/or child abductions during visitation
• increase information available to local supervised visitation centers’ staff and courts
• increase existing visitation center capabilities
• create policies, a model protocol and training opportunities.

MDVPTB will be working with four pilot Michigan visitation centers and other partners to execute the demonstration project. The four visitation centers are: HAVEN in Pontiac; Child and Parent Center in Jackson, Muskegon County Safe Haven Project in Muskegon (contact Sue Johnson at 231-759-7909 or Barb Olson at 231-724-6422); and Child and Family Services of Northwest Michigan in Traverse City. Additionally, MDVPTB will be collaborating on this project with the State Court Administrative Office and the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

MDVPTB receives a $35,000 federal grant to implement a one-year dating violence public awareness project.
Governor John Engler and the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, Family Independence Agency are pleased to announce that Michigan has received a federal grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. This funding will be 75% of the cost to implement a dating violence public awareness project involving the design and development of messages and accompanying resource information about dating violence. The messages will be played repeatedly on movie theater screens during the 15 minutes before feature films begin. Pilot projects will take place in four Michigan communities: Adrian, Grand Rapids, Lansing and Mt. Pleasant. The projects' goals are to:

• build public awareness that dating violence is prevalent and affects every community
• inform communities of the services and resources available to dating violence survivors
• foster community involvement to actively prevent dating violence
• raise awareness that dating violence is a global human rights violation, intricately linked to other forms of violence and oppression.

The timing for this project is ideal because criminal justice protections against domestic violence were extended April 1, 2002 to persons in dating relationships. MDVPTB will be working in collaboration with the domestic violence service provider agencies and institutions of higher education located in the four communities as well as the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

The theater screen campaign is the second recent initiative by the Board in this arena. This month, the Board distributed its Dating Violence Youth Education Package (DVYEP) to every high school in the state as well as the Intermediate School Districts. The DVYEP is suitable for educators or youth-group leaders of high-school age students. The package includes lesson plans for use by group leaders and background and resource information, surveys and other activities for students. It is also available in PDF format directly from the Board’s Web site (link to download index page).

Work on Grants to Encourage Arrest (GTEA) projects beginning.
The MDVPTB and its partners have begun work funded by the $750,000 federal grant from the Office of Justice Programs to encourage the treatment of domestic violence as serious violation of criminal law (See article in October, 2002 e-Report). U.S. Attorneys Offices have named liaisons to work on the GTEA’s Full Faith and Credit training initiative. Sheila Hackett Gaskell, Assistant United States Attorney, is the representative from the Eastern district and Leslie Hagen, Assistant U.S. Attorney, is the representative from the Western district. Work on other aspects of the multipart effort has also begun. The primary goals of the grant are to:

1) increase victim safety and offender accountability by providing the Attorney General’s assistance to local prosecutors that manage domestic violence cases
2) increase the coordination between local prosecutors and State and Federal law enforcement agencies
3) increase the information and training available and utilized by local and Tribal law enforcement and prosecutors on Michigan’s new Full Faith & Credit legislation.

PAAM hires Violence Against Women Training Attorney.
The Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan (PAAM) has hired Paul Lochner for its Violence Against Women Training Attorney position. Using federal S*T*O*P dollars, MDVPTB fully funds the PAAM position to train prosecutors throughout Michigan who handle domestic and sexual violence cases. Some of the projects PAAM expects to undertake include:

• conducting trial advocacy training seminars for prosecutors
• developing a trial manual
• publishing a Violence Against Women newsletter.

Lochner was PAAM’s Child Abuse Training Attorney for three years before being named as the Violence Against Women Training Attorney. He has held Assistant and Chief Assistant Prosecutor roles in Oakland, Livingston and Huron counties. Additionally, he spent four years on active duty in the Navy JAG. Mr. Lochner is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds a juris doctorate from the University of Notre Dame.

MCOLES updates its officer manual.
Using S*T*O*P funds provided through the MDVPTB, the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) has updated The Michigan Law Enforcement Response to Domestic Violence: Officer Manual. The update includes all of the domestic violence laws enacted in 2001 and that took effect in April and October of this year. The 340-page manuals are being distributed to Michigan police training academies and domestic violence instructors.

Michigan Judicial Institute publishes benchbook on Sexual Assault.
The Michigan Judicial Institute (MJI) has published and distributed Michigan’s first judicial benchbook on Sexual Assault, under a federal S*T*O*P Grant administered by MDVPTB. The Sexual Assault Benchbook addresses the substantive and procedural law governing criminal sexual conduct and other sexual offenses, as well as the nature and dynamics of sexual assault involving adult victims. The 650-page reference manual was shipped to 1,800 judges, magistrates and other officials in the judicial system. It is an important tool for not only the courts, but anyone who interacts with the civil and criminal justice systems on sexual assault cases. The publication is the second of its kind prepared by MJI with S*T*O*P funding. The Domestic Violence Benchbook: A Guide to Civil and Criminal Proceedings was updated in 2001. To learn more about other MJI publications, click here.

MDVPTB governance style continues to enhance working practices.
Four years ago, as federal funding and legislative attention to domestic violence was increasing, MDVPTB undertook a sustained effort to continuously enhance its own working practices. That effort has been paying off as the Board develops new partnerships and initiatives. The seven-member MDVTPB bases its working practices on the work of John Carver, called Policy Governance®. The principles of Policy Governance® help MDVPTB carefully create policy while holding the organization accountable for achieving its missions and avoiding unacceptable business practices. This style of governing adds leadership value in the fast-paced environment of domestic violence policy development. The Carver model has helped the Board clarify the role of the executive director and its membership, set its values and vision in policy language, demonstrate ongoing accountability for results, and keep a sensitive relationship with its constituency. The MDVPTB board members take their appointments seriously and have made the commitment to excellence in governance, through the use of this governance framework.

e-Report Feature: Tribal Communities domestic and sexual violence efforts.
November is American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month and that makes it an ideal time to consider the unique challenges of responding to domestic and sexual violence in tribal communities, as well as some examples of the innovative programming designed to address them.

Of course, perpetrators of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking plague nearly every culture worldwide. Unfortunately, however, studies such as the 1999 Bureau of Justice Statistics report on American Indians and Crime reveal that Native Americans are at greater risk than other Americans of this and other types of violence. Studies also show that perpetrators of violence against American Indians are often from a different racial group.

Many efforts are taking place at the Tribal, state and federal levels to better address violence against Indian women. When Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 2000, it specifically set aside 5% of the funds to go to Indian Tribal Governments under the Grants to Combat Violent Crimes Against Women. Another 5% of funding dollars was set aside under the Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies and Enforcement of Protection Orders Program, the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Enforcement Grant Program, and the Legal Assistance for Victims Program and the Safe Havens for Children Program. Additionally, the Violence Against Women Office (VAWO) administers discretionary funding to Indian Tribal Governments and Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions. These grants provide federally recognized Indian Tribes the opportunity to develop and strengthen the tribal justice system’s response to violent crimes committed against Native American women. The VAWO also offers technical assistance for implementation of these efforts. VAWO has designated Mending the Sacred Hoop, a S*T*O*P Violence Against Women Technical Assistance Project, as one such site.

Michigan’s new laws regarding Full Faith and Credit and the training initiatives to occur under the Grants to Encourage Arrest (see related story in this edition of e-Report) illustrate one example of how state and Tribal representatives are collaboratively addressing some of the complicated, cross-jurisdictional issues of enforcing protection orders.

In Michigan, there are twelve Federally Recognized Tribes, and several receive the VAWA funding. Each Tribe approaches the issues within the context of its own cultural, social and community structures, and many use a combination of VAWA dollars and other funding to accomplish their individual goals.

In the Hannahville Potawatomi Indian Community, for example, leaders took the approach of assessing their existing community strengths and building on them to reduce the rate of domestic violence by 75% between 1996-2001. In 2001, the Tribal Council adopted new codes for domestic violence which, among other changes, increased the number of domestic violence relationships to include, child in common, dating relationships and same-sex relationships. One expected result of the new code was a slight increase in domestic violence reports. The increase, however, opened the door for victim advocate, Ruth Oja, to begin prevention work through the Community school system.

Hannahville also wrote a “Crossing Borders-Causing Crossing Borders” section into its domestic violence code. It is listed as a potential additional charge to domestic violence, should the domestic violence assailant subsequently pursue a victim seeking safety with the Tribe. This crime is given the strongest possible penalty within the Tribal Court – one year in jail and a $5,000.00 fine. If the assailant is non-native, the Tribe has the ability to ban him from the Tribal Community and sue for up to four times the amount of the fine. Hannahville is also currently in the final drafting stages for new sexual assault and victim rights codes as a way of addressing these issues. For more information about the exciting programming in the Hannahville Potawatomi Indian Community, contact Ruth Oja, Victim Advocate, at ruthoja@hannahville.org.

The Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians is using community education as one of its approaches to domestic violence and sexual assault. For instance, the Tribe is currently producing a 2003 calendar using children’s drawings to speak out against violence in the community. The Lac Vieux Desert Band conducted a contest among children ages 5-12, asking them to draw pictures of the violence and crime they have seen or know about in their community. Among other types of crime, many of the children’s drawings involved domestic violence. Thirteen drawings were selected as winners and are now being compiled into the calendar for broad distribution. Accompanying each drawing is a message intended to raise awareness and call to action the members of the Tribe in combating violence in their community. One example is a message drawn from a Chinese Proverb, “A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which every passerby leaves a mark.” Other messages encourage talking circles or family meetings as a way to gather and communicate feelings about violent incidents. The calendar will also offer a list of agencies and phone numbers relevant to the community. The calendar is expected to be printed this month. For more information about this and other exciting projects occurring within the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, please contact Barb Larson, Victim Advocate, at lvdvoca@skyenet.net or check out their Web site.

What's Ahead?

• SAVE THE DATE! With support from the MDVPTB, the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community will be presenting a one-day mini-conference, “Healing Through the Arts & the Media: Ending Domestic Violence in the African American Community.” The mini-conference will be held on February 21, 2003. Watch for more information in the new year.

The MDVPTB e-Report is developed and written by the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board (MDVPTB) in association with Mort Crim Communications, Inc., who is under contract with MDVPTB to do final production and distribution of the e-Report as well as maintain the e-Report address database.

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