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Coalition Connection
Your Weekly Source of News, Trainings, and Events
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Through a collective voice,
the WCADVSA is committed to provide leadership, education, and systems advocacy to advance social change and end violence.
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Welcome to your weekly edition of the Coalition Connection!
Not sure of the purpose of this newsletter? Click here to learn more. Are you having difficulty viewing this e-mail or do you feel like you are missing some of the information in the Connection? If so, click here for a few helpful hints.
We will highlight important information in this section each week that requires your action or attention. This week's highlights include:
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Opportunity
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WCADVSA Staff Attorney Positions
The WCADVSA Legal Project is funded through a grant received from the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program. The Legal Project has been funded by OVW since 1998 in competitive grant cycles. Two Staff Attorney positions and a Legal Assistant position are funded to complete the grant goals which include providing direct civil legal services on behalf of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking statewide.
Two positions are open - click below for complete position description, responsibilities, compensation and application process. Qualifications:
- Licensed to practice law in Wyoming.
- Knowledge of Wyoming courts, laws and procedures.
- Thorough understanding of family law, civil procedure, evidence, ethics and familiarity with criminal law.
- Understanding of issues and willingness to continue to learn about issues related to
domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault and a strong commitment to ending
violence against women. - Ability to provide professional, high quality and sensitive legal services to victims of
domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. - Ability to counsel and advise clients and provide referrals for people who are in crisis.
- Willingness and ability to work with people from varied backgrounds, cultures,
ethnicities and abilities. - Proficiency with computer and Internet technologies and software programs,
including Microsoft Word and Excel. - Ability to work with law office management databases, including ABACUS.
- Strong written and oral communication skills.
- Demonstrated ability to manage time, keep detailed statistics, evaluate progress and
adjust activities to complete work within established time frames. - Ability to handle multiple projects and work independently as well as collaboratively.
- Demonstrated team building, limit setting, problem solving, creative/analytical
thinking and organizational skills, including report writing and grant writing. - Demonstrated project management skills, including staff supervision.
- Commitment to collaboration, team-building and professional development of staff.
Submission review process will begin May 14, 2021
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WY Maternal and Child Health Public Input Survey Open until May 9
The Maternal and Child Health Unit (MCH), part of the Wyoming Department of Health, is all about improving the health and well-being of Wyoming families and communities. We work to help women, infants, children, teens, and young adults, including those with special health care needs.
Right now we are looking back on the work we've done recently and the work we plan to do over the next year, and we need your help. We want to hear from all types of family members. You have knowledge, thoughts, and ideas about how the work we are doing can impact you, your family, and your community.
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Racial Disparity/Gap Analysis Study
The Wyoming Homeless Collaborative is conducting an analysis of any service access disparities amongst persons of racial and/or ethnic minorities.
They are wanting consumer perspective on these gaps in homeless services and disparities.
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Recruiting for a New Study on Men's Experiences of Partner Aggression
Researchers at George Mason University and Montclair State University are are recruiting men -- and anyone identifying as male -- for a new study on their experiences with aggression from their romantic partners.
If you are a man between the ages of 18-59 and have experienced aggression from a romantic partner at some point during your life, you may be eligible to participate in this study. We invite you to follow this link where you can complete an survey about your experiences. The survey takes about 20-30 minutes to complete, is under the direction of Denise A. Hines, Ph.D., George Mason University, and is being funded by George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services.
Please contact Dr. Hines at dhines2@gmu.edu or 1-703-993-2024, if you have any questions. Participation is completely voluntary and you can withdraw your participation at any time. IRBNet number: 1689545-1.
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RedRover's Grants for DV Organizations - Pet-friendly Programs
As a reminder, our grant opportunities include covering the cost of boarding while a survivor stays at a domestic violence shelter ( Safe Escape grants) to helping create pet-friendly housing programs ( Safe Housing grants). We're currently able to offer up to $20,000 for our Safe Housing grants which may be used to create pet-friendly spaces on-site or off-site.
The next round of applications for our Safe Housing grants are due May 15th and then again on October 15th.
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Our Work
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Survivor Storytelling Showcase 
As part of SAAM 2021, the WCADVSA has created a space on our website to honor and support survivors.
We serve to uplift the voices of survivors throughout their journeys toward healing. This space serves as a platform for survivors throughout Wyoming to share their experiences through storytelling and artwork. Below you will find the stories survivors share to heal from their trauma and inspire the change we need to end gender-based violence. From written word to photovoice - we hear you. We see you. We believe you.
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Silent Witness Initiative
Planning for the 2021 Silent Witness Ceremony is underway, and we are so excited to be working with Taneesa Congdon of the Sweetwater County YWCA The Center for Families and Children who will be hosting the 24th-year ceremony October 9 in Rock Springs..
A couple of notes and requests to help us in organizing the initiative:
1. The WCADVSA is responsible for the addition of new silhouettes to the exhibit. If you are aware of a DV homicide victim in your community that meets the criteria below, please share this information with Pam by June 18. We will connect with each program that submits information to discuss the process to connect with the family about inclusion into the exhibit. Criteria for inclusion in the Wyoming Silent Witness Initiative: - GENDER: Initiative focus is on women who have been murdered as a result of domestic violence.
- RELATIONSHIP: Spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend or ex-boyfriend (established relationship), share a child or is pregnant by perpetrator. Other extenuating circumstances will be evaluated on a case by case basis.
- ASSOCIATED VICTIMS: Males who are murdered during a domestic violence homicide may be included on the Male silhouette with a small shield that includes their name and age at time of death.
- TIME FRAME: Crime occurred/or was prosecuted since 1985. (If crime or prosecution does not fall within the last ten years, the Silhouette may be added for 2 years then retired.) Silhouette cannot be added until there has been an adjudication of the case.
- CAUSE OF DEATH: Must have been a domestic violence homicide.
- OTHER: Women who have been murdered as a result of domestic violence in another state, territory or country who may or may not be a native of Wyoming but have family living in Wyoming requesting their loved one be included in the exhibit.
2. If you have updated contact information for Silent Witness family members, please share that with Pam. 3. We would love to have more involvement on the committee from program members, advocates, law enforcement, victim witness associates, etc. If interested in participating, please connect with Kristen. The role of the State Silent Witness Committee is to provide a state level voice and perspective for the Wyoming Silent Witness Initiative. The duties of the committee are to: - Be involved!
- Annually review and approve the Guidelines
- Select the annual host community
- Annually review the mission statement
- Attend the Silent Witness Ceremony each year to support programs and provide assistance the day of.
- The Division of Victim Services may be able to help with per-diem expenses for committee members.
- Host a call with the prior community, the committee, and the current community to open the dialogue, allow for initial questions to be answered.
- Host a call after the Silent Witness Ceremony for the committee to debrief and make a plan to stay committed to and increase involvement around the call to action.
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Funds to Reduce Education, Employment, and Job Training Barriers for Survivors
With support from The Allstate Foundation, the WCADVSA has funds to support education, employment, and job training barriers for survivors. These funds can be used to help support survivors in obtaining G.E.D.s, job skills training, certifications, licenses, continuing education, education/job-related supplies such as uniforms, tools, and/or other equipment, transportation-related support, etc.
If your program is offering training on the Allstate Moving Ahead Curriculum or other economic empowerment training, you may request funds to support and encourage survivor participation such as offering food and/or childcare during economic empowerment events and training or gas gift cards for survivors to get to the training).
Member programs may also inquire about offering scholarships to help support survivor participation in job training programs.
If you have any questions, please connect with Trish Worley.
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Monthly Program Call - May 4
During the early days of COVID, we were gathering daily to share issues and concerns effecting the operation of your programs and impact on your clients.
As the months rolled on, we decreased calls to weekly, then bi-weekly. As we begin the new year, we will be holding monthly program calls to provide a space for sharing and support. Calls will be at 1:00 pm on the first Tuesday of each month. The next call is scheduled for May 4.
As always, the Coalition staff is available anytime to answer questions or provide support to your program.
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Policy Updates
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Brown Bag: Campus Victim Services Policy Update 
This interactive brown bag webinar on May 4 at 11:00 am, will provide an update of federal policies and funding legislation impacting campus victim service programs and student-survivors. NOVA will be joined by panelists from the Clery Center, NASPA and Ujima, Inc. to discuss navigating the evolving federal landscape of campus victim services including VAWA, VOCA, Title IX, and the Clery Act. We encourage all campus advocates and allied professionals to join us for this important discussion about legislation and policies impacting campus victim service programs and student-survivors in 2021.
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Virtual Congressional Briefing: Domestic Violence Counts Report
We are so excited that our coalition community can join us this year because the event is virtual! We can't wait to release the report and bring the data to life with our amazing panelists.
Please join us at Facebook.com/nnedv at 12:00 pm on May 11. Make sure to Like our Facebook page to receive a notification when we are live.
Panelists:
Deborah J. Vagins, President and CEO of NNEDV
Zaida Hernandez, Sisters Overcoming Abusive Relationships (SOAR)
Rachna Khare, Executive Director, Daya Houston
Cierra Hart, Housing and Economic Justice Manager, New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence
Dr. Leila Woods, MSSW, Assistant Professor, Director of Evaluation for the Center for Violence Prevention, Department of Ob/Gyn, University of Texas, Medical Branch
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Continuing Action: Contact Senators Barrasso & Lummis each week! 
Senators Lummis and Barrasso have not signed on to support this.
If they refuse to co-sponsor VAWA, they should co-sponosor the VOCA Fix!! Use this toolkit to find sample telephone scripts, sample emails and more.
You can also submit an op-ed or a letter to the editor to your local newspaper to put very public pressure on them to cosponsor of S.611. Templates can be found in the toolkit. If you get an op-ed or letter to the editor published, please let us know so we can highlight it!
One of the key parts of VAWA reauthorization is the restoration of tribal jurisdiction over sexual assault and other crimes. It's an important part of tribal sovereignty. Our colleagues at the National Congress of American Indians Task Force on Violence Against Women created a 2021 Toolkit about these provisions, why they matter, and next steps for VAWA. We expect both the Justice for Native Survivors of Sexual Violence Act and the Native Youth and Tribal Officer Protection Act to be reintroduced in the coming weeks. These bills mirror the jurisdiction provisions included in the House VAWA bill and we need additional co-sponsors to support these life-saving bills
Advocates were successful to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 2013 which reaffirmed tribal jurisdiction over certain domestic violence cases. Mobilize today to help in the efforts to reauthorize VAWA in 2021 with important tribal provisions.
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Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced a bi-partisan Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act of 2021 (S. 1275), companion bill to bipartisan H.R. 2119 introduced last month! The bill is near identical to the FVPSA reauthorization bills introduced in the last Congress (S. 2259 and H.R. 5041). S. 1275 would:
- Increase the funding authorization level to $253 million to respond to very low per-program funding levels and adjust the current formula to increase access to FVPSA funds for programs not currently funded.
- Expand support for and access to culturally-specific programs by authorizing a new grant program to provide enhanced access to services for racial and ethnic minority populations.
- Strengthen the capacity of Indian tribes to exercise their sovereign authority to more fully respond to domestic violence in their communities by increasing resources for tribes, and authorizing funding for tribal coalitions, and authorizing the currently funded Alaska Native Women's Resource Center.
- Meaningfully invest in domestic violence prevention by increasing support for evidence-informed, community-based prevention demonstration projects and funding new initiatives that bring these approaches to more communities across the country.
- Create a new underserved populations grant program.
Click here to ask Senators Barrasso and Lummis to support this important bill.
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Monthly Policy Calls for Program Staff/Board/Volunteers Only
Tara Muir, our public policy director, will connect with all of you on federal and state policy issues! Usually 4th Fridays at lunch. All questions welcome.
May - update during Membership Meeting
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Training and Events |
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Wyoming Webinars, Training, and Events
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Healthy Moms, Happy Babies (HMHB) Community-Based Webinar 
Coming to Your Community in Summer 2021!
Many staff of home visitation, early childhood and similar programs struggle with how best to address issues of domestic violence (DV) among their clients. The impact of DV on parents' and children's physical and mental health and risk for substance use and persistent perinatal depression is well documented. To support communities' capacity in DV prevention, response, and healing, we are providing Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies (HMHB) webinars. We aspire to reach each county in Wyoming, and invite you to lead in identifying community partners to invite to the webinars.
This summer and early fall, a team of people from Wyoming Departments of Family Services, Health, and Corrections, along with Wyoming Children's Trust Fund and WCADVSA, will provide training. The 3-hour webinar provides healing approaches to DV prevention and response for staff of home visitation, early childhood, and other community programs, with attuned approaches to DV for survivors.
HMHB is an interactive curriculum that addresses the barriers and difficulties staff experience in addressing DV. The training will address how personal and or vicarious trauma or abuse may impact our ability to do this work. Specific strategies and tools, personal and organizational, will be presented to address the needs of front-line staff and managers so that they feel adequately situated to hear a positive disclosure of abuse.
We hope sharing in this interactive learning space with your fellow community members and organizations will be another capacity building opportunity for all. If you're interested, please click here to choose some weeks that look good for a potential webinar for your community, and Susie will reach out to you to talk about this in more detail. For more information email Susie Markus or call her at 307-222-3352 or 307-274-6292.
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National Webinars, Training, and Events
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Native American Fatherhood & Families Association Webinars 
We offer training for those that are diligently working towards improving family relationships, improving responsible fatherhood and motherhood, reducing recidivism, reducing substance abuse, and improving safety for our children. We have a vision to pave our way into a future where fathers and mothers will experience a true happy & safe family.
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Supporting Family Resiliency through Relationships with Animals: 3-part Webinar Series
Who Should Attend These Webinars?
Domestic violence professionals, including; dv advocates, child advocates and shelter staff, child and family trauma therapists, counselors, child welfare professionals, early childhood professionals, and educators.
Series Learning Objectives:
1) Understand how human-animal interactions can support resilience and healing for adult and child survivors of domestic violence.
2) Understand how programs serving families who experience domestic violence can increase their capacity to meet the diverse needs of survivors by becoming animal-friendly spaces
Part 2 - Wednesday, May 5 1:00 pm: Sheltering Animals & Families Together (SAF-T)®- Actionable Insights from the Field
Part 3 - Wednesday, June 2 1:00 pm: Supporting Children with Therapy Animals: Human-Animal Interactions for Children Survivors of Domestic Violence and Child Maltreatment
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Virtual Congressional Briefing: Domestic Violence Counts Report
We are so excited that our coalition community can join us this year because the event is virtual! We can't wait to release the report and bring the data to life with our amazing panelists.
Please join us at Facebook.com/nnedv at 12:00 pm on May 11. Make sure to Like our Facebook page to receive a notification when we are live.
Panelists:
Deborah J. Vagins, President and CEO of NNEDV
Zaida Hernandez, Sisters Overcoming Abusive Relationships (SOAR)
Rachna Khare, Executive Director, Daya Houston
Cierra Hart, Housing and Economic Justice Manager, New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence
Dr. Leila Woods, MSSW, Assistant Professor, Director of Evaluation for the Center for Violence Prevention, Department of Ob/Gyn, University of Texas, Medical Branch
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Save The Date - Transforming the Culture of Power
Transforming the Culture of Power: Indigenous Transformative/Restorative Circle Practices on Healing and Thriving Together in Community. May 11-13, 2021. This free virtual national summit will meet from 9 to 4 each day and feature interactive breakout sessions.
Multicultural communities are invited to participate in deep dialogues so that together we can heal the historic wounds we carry in our body, minds, and spirits, wounds that are rooted in systems of governance based on racial and gender inequality.
To prevent continued harm and transform our communities, we need tools that foster dialogues across differences and community-building circle practices to heal both those who harm, and those who are harmed. The summit will honor values of love, compassion, reframing how we walk in balance in our lives, empathy, humility, wisdom sharing, connecting to the land, sacredness, honesty, courage, truth, vision questing, accountability and courage to change - these are the necessary ingredients to build a vibrant, thriving community based on equity for all.
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Conference on Crimes Against Women Virtual Conference
The Conference on Crimes Against Women provides best practices and training from the nation's leading experts on violence against women. Individuals in the fields of law enforcement, prosecution, family law, social work, advocacy, medicine, members of the military, tribal communities, campus safety professionals, and others who work directly with female victims of crime attend this conference to learn the latest techniques and cuttingedge strategies applicable to their fields.
This year's Virtual Conference will feature 6 half-days of training split over 2 weeks beginning May 17 to allow for maximum flexibility in your schedule! Webinars will be a mix of live and on-demand. Can't watch all the webinars live? We will be recording all of the webinars and they will be available for 60 days following the Conference!
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Upcoming Conference and Webinars from the Battered Women's Justice Project
May 27th - June 17th (every Thursday) 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
May 18, 12:00 pm
May 19 10:00 am
June 9 12:00 pm
June 22 12:00 pm
Part I: July 13 12:00 pm Part II: July 2712:00 pm
August 11 12:00 pm
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Click here to view a variety of upcoming webinars, national training, and conferences.
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Resource Center |
New Financial Empowerment Resources for Survivors 
Our partners at The Allstate Foundation launched the Moving Ahead Curriculum - Online, a platform providing domestic violence survivors access to free, on-demand education to help achieve financial independence and rebuild their lives. The new online curriculum is available in English and Spanish and covers a variety of important financial topics, including budgeting and setting financial goals, managing debt and improving credit.
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ERAP Applications Now Open 
Governor Mark Gordon signed legislation that authorized the Wyoming Department of Family Services to launch the federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) in Wyoming. ERAP applications opened online at 8 a.m. on Thursday, April 29 at dfs.wyo.gov/erap
The ERAP pays landlords and broadband and utility companies on behalf of Wyoming renters who are unable to pay rent, internet and/or utility payments due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Steps for Renters
We encourage renters to look at the documentation requirements on the ERAP webpage and make a plan for collecting them. Below are important steps to take.
- Talk to your landlord. Share ERAP information with your landlord and let them know you intend to apply as soon as applications become available.
- Start collecting information. Collect your landlord's contact information, including email address and phone number. Make sure you have a copy of the signed lease agreement. This will be necessary information to complete your application.
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Report: SSA's Reliance on Flawed Data from Private Company Leads to Low-Income People Losing Vital SSI Benefits 
Washington, D.C. - Thousands of extremely low-income older adults and people with disabilities have likely had their Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits cut off erroneously, bringing many of them to the brink of homelessness, according to a groundbreaking report from the National Consumer Law Center and Justice in Aging. Since 2018, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has used a private database from LexisNexis called Accurint for Government to determine whether SSI recipients had unreported real estate that could disqualify them from receiving SSI. The problem? Many of the LexisNexis reports are riddled with errors, and SSA is using potentially erroneous information to cut people off without conducting any independent investigation.
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Through our Presents Program, PRESENT NOW provides personalized gifts to children living in transitional domestic violence shelters. Children at our partner shelters are eligible to receive up to three presents during their stay, one for their birthday, one for back to school, and one for valentines day.
This program is the core pillar of our effort to provide children in domestic violence shelters with joy, comfort, and relief during a time of crisis. PRESENT NOW currently serves 44 shelters in 5 states, and we are now expanding nationally. We would like to provide potential funding and our in-kind Presents Program to qualifying shelters in Wyoming.
If your shelter is interested in participating in this program, please contact Zach Leonard at (424) 330-0002 or
(617) 710-8747 cell to set up a call to learn more.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday declared racism a "serious public health threat," becoming the largest federal agency to do so.
"A growing body of research shows that centuries of racism in this country has had a profound and negative impact on communities of color," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement published on the agency's website.
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Most rape crisis and domestic-violence programs wouldn't survive without government funding that ties them to the police-and it's left advocates trapped in a toxic dynamic.
Katie Bement expected hard conversations when she put a Black Lives Matter sign on her office lawn. She believed the relationships she'd built with police chiefs and sheriffs were solid and trusting, that they could bear the weight of a national reckoning with racism. Bement is the executive director of Embrace, a sexual assault and domestic violence advocacy organization in northwestern Wisconsin. She was proud to have police officers on her board of directors; she believed that having strong ties to law enforcement kept survivors safer.
But in September 2020, Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald resigned from Embrace's board. In a closed-door meeting, he convinced the county health department to rescind a $25,000 annual grant that paid for crisis counseling and emergency housing. Over the next week, 14 of the 17 police departments in the region cut ties with Embrace. Hard conversations are for equal relationships, and Bement realized that what she had with the police was anything but.
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End Abuse of People with Disabilities Newsletter
Resources: Responding to Sexual Assault of People with Disabilities
People with disabilities are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault and other violent crime than people without disabilities (BJS). The rate is even higher for specific groups of people with disabilities, including women, people with psychiatric and cognitive disabilities, and people of color with disabilities.
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NLIHC's Advocates' Guide 2021 Now Available Online 
The Advocates' Guide is NLIHC's resource about virtually every federal affordable housing program and policy pertaining to low-income people. The Advocates' Guide, written by NLIHC staff and other leading experts in the field, contains summaries of housing and community development programs as well as housing policy advocacy tools and other information. It contains all the information advocates need to advocate with public officials, in both the legislative and executive branches of government.
New in this year's Advocates' Guide is detailed information about COVID-19 housing and homelessness response programs; the policy priorities of NLIHC's new HoUSed campaign for racial housing justice and universal, stable, and affordable housing; and actions taken by the Biden administration related to fair housing and protections for immigrant households and LBGTQ individuals, among other things.
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Spotlight |
Take Action During the 2021 National Week of  Action for MMIWG
In 2021, the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center (NIWRC) and our National Partners Work Group on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls are organizing a full National Week of Action (April 29-May 5) to call the nation and the world to action in honor of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. We encourage all individuals and organizations to take action by participating in these virtual events and organizing additional actions in your communities on and around May 5th. Join us in saying 'enough is enough'-not one more stolen sister.
Indigenous-led, grassroots efforts are exposing systemic barriers through federal and local legislation that mandates the attention to the federal trust responsibility and the equitable response of governments in consultation with tribes to address the MMIWQG crisis. The voices of families, advocates, and Indigenous nations will not be silenced.
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Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
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Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved.
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