Advancing Implementation of Effective, Survivor-Centered Advocacy

• NCJ Number: 253088
• Author(s): Isak Griffiths; Karen Gehrt; Corinne Herges; Camarin Meno; Hope Holland; Nicole E. Allen
• Date Published: May 2019
• Length: 38 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2016-XV-GX-K006
• Sponsoring Agency: Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)
• Corporate Author: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Sale Source: Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)
• Publication Format: Document; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report describes the efforts of a researcher-practitioner partnership in developing and implementing a community-based advocacy model (the Community Advocacy Project) in a local domestic violence agency.

Abstract

The research partner is the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC), which has a long history of publicly engaged research. The practitioner partner is Courage Connection, a domestic-violence program in Champaign, Illinois, which has operated since 1971 in helping victims and survivors of domestic violence rebuild their lives. This researcher-practitioner partnership has the goal of implementing the Community Advocacy Project (CAP). Although the effectiveness of CAP has been well-established when implemented in university settings, there is less data regarding its effectiveness when implemented in community-based agencies. The aim of the current partnership is three-fold: 1) to facilitate the implementation of CAP at Courage Connection, which wants to expand its mobile advocacy capacity; 2) to increase its capacity to evaluate its efforts; and 3) to create instruments that will monitor and document the CAP implementation process. To date, the partnership has engaged in a number of efforts, including the development of Courage Connection's theory of change and establishing how CAP fits into this theory. This was accomplished through the collaborative development of a theory of change logic model. The partnership has also been establishing how Courage Connection could streamline its existing data-collection processes and establish new data-collection efforts. This will facilitate evaluation of the implementation of the CAP model. The project has also engaged in training frontline advocacy staff in the CAP model and developed instruments for examining the implementation process. These tasks are described in detail in this report. Although the pilot is not yet underway, the infrastructure is in place. Appended supplementary information