For Better Times - Spring 2023

From the Desk of Vickie Smith

I am very excited to share this latest version of For Better Times. This spring we are seeing the efforts of our collaborative processes to increase accessibility to services for any person who is experiencing domestic violence in Illinois.

Our largest effort was a very successful advocacy campaign last legislative session that increased the funding available for more services. This funding has been used to increase staff and space to allow more people to get into services when they request assistance. Additionally, the funded providers in Illinois are dramatically increasing their efforts around public education and outreach to enhance the understanding that domestic violence occurs in all communities and in all sorts of families and relationships. Many of the funded agencies are also putting significant time and resources into developing prevention efforts in schools and other areas. For the first time ever, our providers are experiencing close to adequate resources to provide the types of programming that have the potential to actually reduce incidents of domestic violence.

The local agency that we are highlighting in this edition has now been able to open a second shelter and increase their presence for all services in another county. Harbor House is just one example of what a DV agency can accomplish when funding is provided to not only get them beyond crisis operation mode but really step back and plan for more interventions and preventions. This agency is a great example of what building partnerships with other community organizations and individuals can bring about for the reduction of all violence in our communities.

Our featured Board Member in this edition, Sharon Spinks, has the same perspective. The more ICADV is able to collaborate with others across the state to increase capacity of resources for survivors and their families, the more impact we have.

News reports on a daily basis are putting a great deal of emphasis on increasing reports of crime across our state and across the country. Here in Illinois, we believe our expanded abilities to reach more families struggling with domestic violence puts us on the cusp of making real inroads in reducing this violence.

You too can be a part of this effort. Join ICADV as an individual member or contact us if your organization is interested in helping reduce domestic violence in Illinois. You can also contact a program near you and find out how to help in that way. It will take each and every one of us to end domestic violence. We are on the path, so please join us.

In Peace,

Vickie Smith

President and CEO

ICADV is excited to welcome Swedish Hospital: Pathways Program

as our newest Community Partner Member!

The Pathways Program began in 2014 as part of Swedish Hospital's Women's Health Initiative and was developed to strengthen the hospital’s ability to identify and assist patients who are survivors of interpersonal violence. Their mission is to identify patients impacted by domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual assault; respond with culturally competent and trauma-informed care, support and referrals and prevent these forms of violence through education, training, raising awareness, and advocacy. The Pathways Program trains healthcare providers and allied professionals to screen patients, assess their immediate needs, engage in safety planning, provide them with comfort care packages and educational resources and connect them with community-based partner agencies-including safe transport to emergency shelters, legal advocacy, and counseling.

Swedish Hospital is located in Chicago, IL and offers a wide range of health and wellness services to the city's north and northwest sides. ICADV is excited to welcome Swedish Hospital - Pathways Program to the network of services available to survivors within Illinois.

Read more about their work: https://swedishcovenant.org/community/pathways-program

and find them on social media:

ICADV Welcomes New Staff Member

The ICADV team grew once again in January! Get to know our newest staff member:

➤ Coffee or Tea: Coffee every morning; sweet tea to soothe my Southern soul!

➤ Dogs or Cats: Both - equal opportunity pet person here!

➤ Cubs or Cards: ...neither? I like the Cards but I also am not really a sports person.

➤ Favorite Season: Winter

➤ Favorite Book: Tough one. Most recently, This is How it Always Is; more classically, Wuthering Heights.

➤ Three Words to Describe You: Empathetic, Passionate, Thoughtful

➤ Favorite Quote: "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

-- Maya Angelou

Chloé McMurray

she/her

Chief Capacity Building Officer

The Chief Capacity Building Officer is the strategic visionary who leads the Technical Assistance team efforts. This position provides technical assistance to member agencies in providing trauma informed, survivor centered services that adhere to the Illinois Services Guidelines for DV Providers which are approved by ICADV and the IL Department of Human Services (IDHS).

➤ Fun Fact About You: I served as Chair of the Inclusivity Committee at the Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence where I started a monthly Lunch & Learn series dedicated to learning about cultural responsiveness and underserved populations.

➤ Why ICADV?: I was surrounded by domestic violence in one way or another growing up; it touched every life around me and everyone important to me. I always thought that giving back in this way was healing parts of myself and those around me and maybe, in the karmic universe, helped things balance. Wherever I go and whatever I do, I want to help people learn and grow. ICADV is and has always been about teaching and growing and also learning, never being afraid to take a risk to help programs and help survivors. ICADV is kind of magical in that way.

Member Agency Spotlight

As mentioned in the opening letter of this edition of For Better Times, we are focusing on the expansion of accessibility of services for anyone in Illinois that is experiencing domestic violence. This article will focus on just one member program, Harbor House, which provides 24-hour emergency services in Kankakee and Iroquois counties.

Harbor House was founded in the 1970s by a group of volunteers. At first, they were just available in Kankakee but expanded to Iroquois County in 1987. They opened the first 24-hour emergency shelter in 1986.

The current Executive Director, Jenny Schoenwetter, joined Harbor House in August of 2018. She was working in higher education fundraising and seeking employment internationally when a mentor told her about the opening for the Executive Director at Harbor House. At first, she dismissed the idea, but the mentor strongly encouraged her, saying Jenny would be great at it, so she started looking into it more and agreed.

She knew of Harbor House having been on the local United Way Board for several years but didn’t fully understand what they provided. In researching the organization as she considered the Executive Director position, Jenny realized it aligned with her personal mission. With adult hindsight, she now understands that her childhood and the things her parents did really prepared her for this work of ending gender based violence.

Some of the Harbor House Team

with Harbor House’s celebrity, Mark Wynn

ICADV & IDHS

Supporting Survivors of Domestic Violence Statewide

ICADV is the only statewide coalition in Illinois made up of organizations whose primary mission is to provide safety, shelter, advocacy, and education to survivors of domestic violence and communities throughout the state. Our mission is to build networks of support for and with survivors and advance statewide policies and practices that transform societal attitudes and institutions to eliminate and prevent domestic abuse. We carry out this mission through the training, technical assistance, and advocacy provided to and on behalf of our membership. But we can’t end domestic violence alone. Stakeholder engagement and partnerships are key to sustaining and expanding the safety net for survivors of domestic violence and their children. Throughout ICADV’s 45-year history, working together with private and public entities at the state, local and national levels have been critical to the success of community-based agencies’ ability to meet the diverse needs of all survivors.

We hope to shed light on one of our key partners in these efforts.

Board Member Spotlight

Sharon Spinks

Sharon Spinks joined the ICADV Board in August of 2020. She is retired from the State of Illinois after a career in a variety of departments over 44 years. 14 of those years she spent in the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) Bureau of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, (now the Bureau of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Trafficking) including four years as Acting Bureau Chief. While in the Bureau Sharon significantly increased the partnership with ICADV to provide training and technical assistance to the IDHS funded agencies responding to families experiencing domestic violence across the state.

One of the efforts that Sharon shepherded while at the Bureau was the development and follow-up improvements to the Domestic Violence Services Provider Guidelines Manual. This manual serves as the basis for minimal requirements for contracting with the State of Illinois to provide services to victims of domestic violence and their dependents. Sharon felt that the improved collaborations with ICADV reflected the positive goals of the former Domestic Violence Advisory Council (DVAC) but with a different approach leading to better support for providers. ICADV and IDHS Bureau were able to improve communication and problem solving methods together to increase trainings overall and specialized technical assistance in particular to address unique challenges.

Sharon also views the Partner Abuse Intervention Program manual as a collaboration between IDHS, ICADV and providers of services to those causing harm as a means to improve services regarding accountability, intervention and prevention.

More than once ICADV and IDHS Bureau personnel, including Sharon, have presented at the national Family Violence Prevention and Services Program conferences to highlight the possibilities of support to local DV agencies when the coalition and the state administrator for DV services work together. Sharon expresses strong support in working as a team to accomplish positive growth and improvement. She is pleased that ICADV continues to partner with IDHS for the benefit of providers throughout the state.

When asked what the view from the ICADV Board seat might be different from her former perch in the Bureau at IDHS, she observed that ICADV keeps a close eye on the learning needs of providers with a focus on newer people coming in to the work. She lifted the work that ICADV is doing to support DV agencies and assist them with keeping up with trends and needs for supporting staff working in the trenches every day.

ICADV is lucky to have Sharon on Board. She has been very active and supportive and still manages to enjoy her retirement by traveling with her daughter and spending one day a week with her amazing grand-nieces.

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