This section profiles collaborations from across the United States that are working to improve services for women with disabilities and Deaf women who have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. The collaborations profiled in this section receive funding through the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women’s Education, Training and Enhanced Services to End Violence Against and Abuse of Women with Disabilities Grant Program to support their work. This grant program provides funding to local collaborations made up of organizations that serve people with disabilities and those that serve survivors of domestic and sexual violence, as well as collaborations commonly comprised of coalitions and advocacy organizations that are working to foster change within multiple communities across their state.  

 

After a period of intensive planning and development, these collaborations work to increase each of their partner organization’s capacities to serve survivors with disabilities and Deaf survivors. Victim service providers focus on increasing accessibility, while disability service providers focus on increasing safety. These collaborations also work to enhance the ways their partner organizations work together to better serve these survivors. They create inter-agency response protocols, resource sharing agreements, and joint training opportunities. To make sure their improvements are sustained, organizations are incorporating the changes they make into their formal policies and operating procedures.

 

Each collaboration's profile includes information on their partner agencies and pilot sites (if applicable) and provides an overview of their work together, including the promising practices they are creating. These promising practices may include sample policies and protocols guiding staff interactions (for example, model accommodation policies, screening and referral policies and protocols, and cross agency response protocols); curriculum to increase staff knowledge of key topics; and tools to assess and address organizational accessibility and responsiveness.    

 

This section contains information on currently funded OVW Disability Grant Program collaborations, as well as information on past grantees, and the important and promising practices they are creating. As their work evolves, so will the information contained in this section. Please check back periodically for new information.