1 A Program Summary

A Program Summary Jewel D. Fannin HSM/270 May 5, 2012 Dr. Mary Johnson University of Phoenix College

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The Bell Domestic Violence Agency is an organization that wants to fulfill all the needs of a civilization that has a number of different needs. Human service programs help people live their lives and also help to pull them out of hopeless or despairing lifestyles. Over the last five years Bell Domestic Violence agency has a mission for the organization which is to reduce trauma, empower survivors, and promote recovery through direct services. Also being committed in reducing the incidence of sexual assault and domestic violence through education and further strives to challenge the societal norms and beliefs that condone and perpetuate violence in the community. Their most important concern lies within their strategic mission statement which is to support families in the following ways.

Promote the well-being of young men, women, and children whose lives have been

affected by domestic violence, and to reduce the prevalence of domestic violence through increased service provision, education, and awareness.

Improve the quality of life of families with a member or members affected by abuse,

through the provision of services responsive to their needs.

Provide young people who are or have been affected by violence or abuse programs

designed to gain the skills, confidence, and personal support referrals to enable them to lead fulfilled and successful life.

Bell Domestic Violence agency has a mission for the organization which is to reduce trauma, empower survivors, and promote recovery through direct services. Also being committed in reducing the incidence of sexual assault and domestic violence through education and further

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strives to challenge the societal norms and beliefs that condone and perpetuate violence in the community. The Bell Domestic Violence Agency is a program that aims to help the community by providing people of the community support on a wide scale. As we all know domestic violence is a part of every town across the globe. For Bell the plan is to decrease issues of types of violence by services or counseling, and other means of therapy needed for clients. The Bell agency has seen rising numbers of types of violence in the past years. Violence is not just assumed as physical, its verbal, sexual, and emotionally given. In order to get the numbers of this abuse down, Bell has set forth a goal to reach out to the people of the community and give hope once again when there was none. Through this out-reach the Bell agency will provide men, women, and children of all ages the education on domestic and sexual abuse. Domestic violence and abuse as said before does not always consist of being physically or sexually abused. Victims can experience control of finances, intimidation, isolation from family, threats of violence to family or friends, brainwashing, prevention of medical attention or dental care, scorn, threats of weapons and threats of death. Countless amounts of children have been involved in witnessing domestic violence in the home. Studies have shown that up to 10 million children have witnessed domestic violence (Domestic Violence Statistics, 2012). Some children can show the same signs of being abused as those who only witness the abuse. Signs such as aggression, withdrawn, antisocial, depressed, difficulty at school, and challenged with making friends are just a few. The Bell Domestic Violence agency is headstrong to let the community know that resources are available for those in need. Finding protection from any physical and mental situations can be difficult if the help is not there. Many men, women and children are too fearful

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of reporting any acts of violence in the home because of no resources to turn too. Most cases such as this leaves the individual responsible for the abuse left without punishment. Such circumstances as these can leave a person without hope, not a chance of ever living without fear for themselves, their families, or their children. Living with a constant fear is like not ever being able to take a good breath. Ninety-two percent of women listed that their top concern is to reduce domestic violence and sexual assault (2012). In order to begin helping the community a plan must be built. Program planning and evaluation go hand in hand, you cannot have one without the other. Program planning basically means taking the steps to decide what needs to be done, who will assume the duties, and when and where. Evaluation means to analyze and evaluate the needs for the population that you are trying to reach out to. Planning for your program is just as important and evaluation, one is just as significant as the other. Programs take funding and funding is not just going to come out of nowhere. Both of these factors are vital in reaching the goal that an agency wants to reach in order for accomplishment. These are two interworking activities that when properly planned can be integrated into a coordinated set of ongoing operations that help promote and support each other. Program planning is a process that will help to advance more change in an acknowledged human service problem. This continuing process will continue while developing different programs associate with the agency, while identifying any unexpected obstacles in the future of the organization. Evaluation can aid long-term strategic planning for program manager, community leaders, and policy makers. Very often an organization must think of ways to get alternate funding. The Bell Domestic Violence agency has applied for a grant for research-violence against women with the

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National Institute of Justice. The research grant will aid in the research and evaluation on specific issues that are related to sexual violence, and stalking, as well as teen dating violence. Funding is awarded in the amount of $3 million for up to six awards. The Bell Domestic Violence Agency has other resources of alternative funding which have been chosen as annual fundraisers in which the community can become involved and feel valued. Ideas for funding will randomly change as seen fit, to name a few events such as silent auctions, carnivals, bake sales, and cook offs will aid in raising money for the organization. By implementing this source of the funding the community will receive education on the elements of violence against women, men, and children, and become aware of resources available to them in their community as well. To ensure outcomes are delivered on decision, implementation planning must be carried out. Bell Domestic Violence Agency has indentified the areas of need, program focus, and has set program priorities. Getting a program up and running takes a lot of hard work and perseverance. To become successful in sustaining an effective program with positive outcomes it takes strong leadership. Programs offered are set on the individual needs of the clients. Not all cases will the same and most may not benefit from the same types of programs. Most cases involve women choosing to leave the life of abuse they have been subjected too, meaning they will be in search of shelter for themselves and possibly their children. The needs of shelter resources and a place to seek safety are of the upmost importance program for Bell. Domestic Violence has been agreed upon as a major worldwide problem. At least 1 out of 5 women has been affected by domestic violence. The Bell domestic violence agency chooses the project wide evaluation plan. This type of evaluation was chosen because it will permit the agency to plan out, join, or connect different parts of the project to reach a goal. As we all know

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domestic violence has several different circumstances and a number of different types of needs to be accessed. By gathering all the data and reviewing it as well before the project ends will allow any revising that needs to be done. Certain circumstances within any type of project may need to have changes made before the final step is made, some programs may reveal themselves as not needed and some may just need to be expanded. You need a detailed idea of how the agency as a whole is going to implement the project. How the staff going to implement the project and actions the team will take to reach the goal. Bell believes that as long as the goals, objectives, strategies, and evaluation methods are put forth the agency will be on the right road to having a successful program. Empowerment evaluation method will be implemented through which the clients and staff will be asked to conduct and fill out surveys. Choosing or creating an evaluation plan for any agency takes clear and intricate thought. You have to decide on what type of evaluation that would be of the most use and get the most considered necessary results for your program. Empowerment Evaluation being a choice is based on bringing the staff together to evaluate the program. Those who are working in the program will have direct knowledge of how the program is helping clients and the cost is much cheaper than bringing in someone to do the evaluations as well. This type of evaluation would help clients feel their input is valued and this would in addition help the program to advance, and improve. The next type of evaluation chosen is a project wide evaluation plan which can be applied to several different aspects of the agency instead of just one focus. Any type of violence has different needs to be met in different areas, which means that there are differenced within each

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case a client has. Having a much broader outreach is much more convenient than just offering one basic type of assistance. Project wide evaluation plan is the type that focuses on the whole program or big picture and evaluating the progress as a whole (Yuen & Terao. 2003). (It takes team work when working in such areas as domestic violence, not just from the staff but also the clients as well. Like a road map you have to a destination in sight and see the best way to get there that is the importance of planning. Evaluations are your answers from staff, clients, and or the people of the community these will tell you what is wrong, what needs to be improved, what can wait and what needs changed at the present. Evaluations are not only for the purpose of improving areas that need improvement. The Bell Domestic Violence Agency overall wants to be a light in the community of which perhaps there was none before. Bell is committed to making the change for men, women, and children and to become educated on the types of violence, to feel secure, safe, and continue to recover from the life they chose to leave behind.

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References Domestic Violence Statistics. (2012). Retrieved May 5, 2012, from http://domesticviolencestatistics.org/domestic-violence-statistics/

(Yuen, & Terao, 2003). Practical Grant Writing and Program Evaluation. Retrieved April 6, 2012 from http://axiaecampus.phoenis.edu