OCDV - New Initiatives

The Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence coordinates the provision of the domestic violence services provided by 14 New York City agencies and over 400 community based organizations. Since January 2002, Commissioner Yolanda B. Jimenez has worked with the various agencies and organizations to institute a number of new projects and practices. Several of these initiatives are highlighted below.

Family Justice Center
The Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence and the Kings County District Attorney’s Office opened a Family Justice Center in downtown Brooklyn on July 20, 2005. Family Justice Centers are also being planned for the Bronx and Queens. The Center allows victims to access comprehensive services more easily by putting dedicated domestic violence prosecutors and all essential service providers under one roof.

With one appointment, victims can meet with a prosecutor, petition for an order of protection, receive legal advice on housing and custody issues, speak with a trained counselor, and apply for housing and financial assistance.

The key feature of the Center is the on-site presence of the entire Domestic Violence Bureau of the Kings County District Attorney’s Office. The Center is also supported by representatives from 9 government agencies, 25 community based and organizations and programs, 6 faith-based organizations, and 6 universities.

Funded in part by an award from the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women, New York City was selected as one of 15 sites nationwide to create a Family Justice Center.

Language Line Program Expands Citywide
The Language Line Program has been expanded to equip all police precincts with direct, instant access to language interpreters 24 hours a day. Each precinct stationhouse has special dual-handset telephones with access to interpreters in over 150 different languages. Now victims who do not speak English can tell their stories to the police and get the help they need. Funded by the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women, the Language Line Program also encourages victims to seek help from the police, while increasing batterer accountability.

Since the Program launched in March 2004, Language Line phones have been used over 1,000 times in over 30 languages including: Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Farsi, Greek, Haitian-Creole, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish and Urdu. Language no longer needs to be a barrier for crime victims who are seeking help.

Domestic Violence Response Teams Pilot Program (DVRT)
The DVRT Pilot Program coordinates the delivery of domestic violence services to high-risk households in two precincts (in Brooklyn and the Bronx) with the highest rates of domestic violence. In its first two years, DVRT served over 175 victims. Despite the high-risk nature of the cases, over 96% of the total participants have not reported any subsequent physical harm since their entry into the program.

Through DVRT, the City is able to analyze the flow of service delivery. Based upon in-depth discussion of cases, DVRT develops recommendations to enhance the provision of services citywide. Several major policy changes which improved service delivery to domestic violence victims have resulted from DVRT.

New York City Police Department (NYPD)
The NYPD has dedicated Domestic Violence Prevention Officers in each of its 76 precincts. Police officers responded to over 222,000 domestic violence calls last year, a daily average of over 600 calls.

Digital 911 System
Announced by the Mayor in 2002, this system allows judges to hear high quality digital recordings of victims' 911 calls at arraignments before bail is set. These recordings, which have been particularly helpful in prosecuting domestic violence cases, can now be retrieved in less than 24 hours, whereas a year ago it could take up to three months.

Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) System
Implemented by the Department of Correction and the Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator, VINE assists crime victims in determining the custody status of inmates within the Department of Correction.

Crime victims may obtain this information by calling 1-888-VINE4NY from any touch-tone phone. Victims also have the option of being notified when the inmate is released.

On average, social workers at City hospitals assist over 2,500 domestic violence victims each year. Research shows that more than one-third of all women who sought care in hospital emergency rooms for violence-related injuries were injured by an intimate partner.

Project H.E.A.L. (Hospital Emergency Assistance Link)
Project H.E.A.L. is a comprehensive plan to improve the services provided to domestic violence victims at all 11 City public hospitals. It enhances the ability of City hospitals to identify victims; document their injuries; and connect them with social and legal services.

Newly designed screening protocols will assist healthcare providers in identifying these victims. In addition to emergency care, healthcare providers are capable of detecting domestic violence in its earliest stages in thousands of people who visit primary care doctors and specialists for routine visits.

Prevention Efforts with Young Parents
North Central Bronx Hospital, in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, has developed a model pilot program to help prevent domestic violence and child abuse. Separate parenting classes for young mothers and fathers have been held in the hospital in the participants’ primary language. The classes cover topics such as healthy relationships, the effects of abuse on children, well-baby information, and parenting skills.

Best Practices Manual for Healthcare Providers
The Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence developed and distributed a best practices manual, Medical Providers’ Guide to Managing the Care of Domestic Violence Patients Within a Cultural Context, for healthcare providers on the assessment and treatment of domestic violence victims in diverse populations. The manual has been distributed citywide to over 2,500 healthcare providers.

Clinician Guide for Identifying, Treating and Preventing Family Violence
In 2002, the Health and Hospital Corporation consolidated existing family violence policies in the Clinician Guide for Identifying, Treating and Preventing Family Violence. It serves as a practical reference for preventing, identifying, treating and managing family violence in the community. The guide also provides information on the latest developments in treatment, prevention, research and expert advice on family violence.

Take Care New York
On March 24, 2004, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced their “Take Care New York” policy which addresses the key preventable causes of illness and death in New York City. The policy outlines 10 steps for New Yorkers to take in order live a longer and healthier life, including having a home free of domestic violence.

Emergency Shelter
To meet the demand for shelter requests, the Human Resources Administration has increased the number of available domestic violence shelter beds by 35.7% since last year. In recognition of the need to increase shelter space for physically disabled domestic violence victims, a facility specially designed for disabled victims will be constructed.

Prior to this administration, shelter requests were on average three times higher than the number of available beds. This ratio has steadily decreased, and the City is closer to meeting the demand for shelter than ever before.

HARTS (Housing Assistance for Relocation and Transitional Services)
HARTS was implemented by the New York City Housing Authority to assist families moving into public housing from shelters, and individuals relocating to public housing with domestic violence or intimidated witness priority. Victims receive intensive case management, and individual service plans are developed for each family.

Although domestic violence occurs across all demographics - race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability status, religion - research in New York City has found that foreign-born women are overrepresented as victims when compared with the general population. In turn, OCDV has made multilingual community outreach a cornerstone in the effort to reduce violent crime in the home. As a result of our efforts, calls to the New York City Domestic Violence Hotline have increased by 5.6% from 2003 to 2004.

Commissioner Jimenez and Tiki Barber record new P.S.A.
Commissioner Yolanda B. Jimenez recently recorded a new domestic violence prevention public service announcement with New York Giants Running Back Tiki Barber. Tune into Lifetime Television to view the spot.

Lifetime's Commitment to Stop Violence Against Women

Watch press conference (in Real Media)

New York Breaks the Silence Together
This Spring, OCDV joined the New York Women’s Agenda and Altria Group, Inc. to launch New York Breaks the Silence Together a campaign which increases awareness of domestic violence in the workplace.

Click here to view ad campaign

Grassroots Education Expanded
OCDV partnered with local service providers to design and distribute awareness materials in 16 different languages. The resulting public education campaign provides useful information on domestic violence and sexual assault to immigrants and others in brochures, palm-sized information cards and posters. These materials have been distributed to schools, hospitals, houses of worship, public libraries, and government offices citywide.

Community Meetings to Increase Local Awareness
OCDV partners with local leaders to increase awareness of domestic violence in communities recently impacted by brutal incidents. Business leaders, police officers, community members, social workers, and government officials come together to make one message clear: language-specific help is available in the local community, and victims can receive assistance regardless of immigrant status consistent with the Mayor’s Executive Order 41.

Extending Message to Independent and Mainstream Media
OCDV's message is brought to mainstream, local and ethnic press in multiple languages. In addition to regularly hosting multilingual press conferences, in 2004 and 2005 Chinese, Korean, and Spanish Public Services Announcements ("PSAs") were aired on local radio and TV stations. PSAs produced in Spanish by Channel 41 and in English by Lifetime Television also aired.

Wireless Phone Donation Program
In a partnership with Verizon Wireless, the City is also increasing victim safety through the P.H.O.N.E.S Program. Cell phones that dial 911 and the City’s Domestic Violence Hotline are distributed to victims in need citywide. These phones are funded through a phone recycling program which is managed by Verizon Wireless.

Wireless phones and equipment from all carriers can be brought to any Verizon Wireless Communications Store located in the five Boroughs. Proceeds from the program go directly back into communities through the emergency phone program or through grants that fund local domestic violence programs.

Prevention, especially among young people, is critical in efforts to end the cycle of violence. In 2004, The Department of Youth and Community Development (“DYCD”) allocated over $4 million dollars to contracts for violence prevention and intervention services, including six programs that involve the whole family in violence prevention.

Domestic Violence Prevention and High-Risk Youth
In October 2005, OCDV and DYCD were awarded a federal grant to bring relationship abuse prevention to one of the City’s most vulnerable populations - runaway homeless youth. The project will collect baseline data to assess the extent of the problem citywide and will develop a training program to teach youth about the dynamics of relationship abuse and provide skills to help them avoid unhealthy and destructive relationships.

Special modules will be developed to target specific at-risk groups including lesbian/ gay/ bisexual/ transgender youth, immigrants, and teenage mothers with children. Incorporating data from youth interviews, the project will also develop a public awareness campaign.

Adopt-A-School/Relationship Abuse Prevention Program (RAPP)
RAPP is a comprehensive, school-based teen relationship abuse program. Its focus on prevention, intervention, professional development, community outreach and parent education allows for full integration of the services throughout the school community while ensuring a "zero-tolerance" approach to abuse in all of its forms. RAPP currently exists in 20 high schools, and the Human Resource Administration will expand it to 10 more middle and high schools in fall, 2005.

Youth Public Education Campaign
This grassroots public education campaign encourages adolescents involved in dating violence relationships to call the City's hotlines and service providers. Materials developed by OCDV have been distributed to all 400 public middle and high schools, hospitals, and after-school programs. The Department of Education has also committed to enhance their violence prevention curriculum in collaboration with the OCDV and DYCD.

Safe Havens Supervised Visitation Program
In 2003, the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence, the Administration for Children’s Services and two community based organizations began implementing a federal Safe Havens grant for a supervised visitation program in Queens specifically for families who have experienced domestic violence.

Through the program, court-ordered visits and exchanges of children between separated parents will be monitored by trained social workers in a safe environment. Parents can also receive counseling and support services in their language.

Domestic Violence Screening and Enhanced Training
On occasion, domestic violence victims come into contact with child welfare service providers before they are ready to seek assistance. In response, the Administration for Children’s Services (“ACS”) enhanced domestic violence screening and assessment tools for child protective staff. They also developed and implemented new training programs for staff and preventive service programs citywide.

The implementation of new screening and assessment tools and related training has improved the ability of child protective specialists and preventive program staff to respond to child safety issues. It provides victims of domestic violence with necessary safety planning assistance and referrals to appropriate community resources.

Clinical Consultation Program
In 2002, ACS launched the Clinical Consultation Program, which places 12 domestic violence coordinators in ACS child protective field offices throughout the City. These consultants work as part of a multidisciplinary team which also includes mental health and substance abuse specialists and a team coordinator. The domestic violence consultants provide case-specific consultation, office-based training, and assistance with referrals for community based resources.

ELDER ABUSE INITIATIVES

Elder Abuse Training for Law Enforcement
The NYC Elder Abuse Project has created training curricula for police, prosecutors and court personnel on the identification, investigation and prosecution of elder abuse crimes, including financial abuse. Click here to view the three curricula.

Intervention and Prevention
In order to address the increasing rates of domestic violence among the elderly, the Department for the Aging in 2002 contracted for the first time with community based organizations to provide elder abuse prevention and intervention services at community centers throughout the five boroughs. The programs provide supportive counseling, training in financial protection, legal referrals and violence prevention.

Domestic violence causes the U.S. to lose $1.8 billion in work productivity annually. To increase the awareness of the detrimental effects of domestic violence on the workplace, the New York Women’s Agenda created the New York Breaks the Silence Together corporate initiative with support from the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence, Altria Group, Inc. and Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence in 2004. This initiative provided resources to employers to help implement work place policies to address the issue of domestic violence.

Mayor Bloomberg has signed key legislation in order to increase the safety of victims:

June 6, 2005, Local Law 61 - Amended the City charter by creating a domestic violence fatality review committee to analyze aggregate family related homicide data in order to detect patterns and demographic changes. The committee will make recommendations to improve service delivery and ultimately reduce the number of domestic violence fatalities. Lead by the Commissioner of the Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence, this ten member committee, appointed by the Mayor, includes the following entities:

Amended the City's Human Rights Law by requiring that all employers provide reasonable accomodation to victims of domestic violence, sexual offenses and stalking. This augmented the current law (Local Law 1 of 2001) which made it unlawful for an employer to fire, refuse to hire, or discriminate against victims of domestic violence.

December 19, 2002, Local Law 43 - Added a new section to the Administrative Code which ensures that domestic violence victims who apply for emergency shelter or related services are not denied those services based on the lack of documentation of the incidence of domestic violence.

December 19, 2002, Local Law 44 - Amended the Administrative Code to expand the existing restrictions on the issuance of a permit to purchase and possess a rifle or a shotgun to anyone who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, a misdemeanor crime of assault within the last ten years, any combination of three misdemeanors, and to anyone who is subject to certain orders of protection issued for family offenses.