"Really genuine relationships [are] based on mutual interest… [and] truly finding alignment… [that] isn’t just them agreeing with you."
Creating new or deepening existing relationships with community partners is an important strategy for preventing intimate partner violence! Building meaningful relationships is both a pathway to impactful change and an important prevention goal and outcome in and of itself.
In the DELTA FOCUS project, coalition-building approaches were designed to increase two or more organizations’ abilities to work collaboratively on statewide or community intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention programs, policies, or resources. Partners are vital to embedding prevention approaches into routine practices of public health, education, and violence prevention agencies and systems. Multiple partners working together can build on each agency or organization’s strength, whether it is leadership, planning, resources, delivery, or evaluation.
This story features lessons learned from coalitions in California, Delaware, and Michigan whose approaches focused on building a network of partners working collaboratively to support IPV and TDV prevention.
Each coalition learned that to create new, and deepen existing, partner networks they needed to attend closely and responsively to how they built relationships. They did this by approaching relationship building as a long-term process, balancing communication with an openness to input, and fostering trust by being authentic and present for partners.
Tools for Adaptation
- Strategic Communications for Adolescent Dating Abuse from the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
- Measuring Champion Building Efforts: User’s Guide for the California DELTA FOCUS Alignment Tracker & Champion Building Tool (March 2016) from the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence & Strategic Prevention Solutions
- Meeting & Event Observation Checklist from the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence & Strategic Prevention Solutions
- Strengthening Partner-Building Efforts through Evaluation of Partner Alignment presented by Patricia Reyes of Strategic Prevention Solutions at the 2017 American Economic Association Conference
- Paradigm Shift 2.0: A Coalition’s Decade-long Journey into the Public Health Approach to Violence (October 2016) by Noël Duckworth in the Delaware Journal of Public Health, Volume 2, Issue 4
- Domestic Violence & Health: Understanding the Connections between Domestic Violence, Public Health and Health Equity (2017) presented by Lauren Camphausen and Marcey Rezac for the Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence
- Flyer – Domestic Violence and Health: A Three-Part Training Series by the Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence in partnership with the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services
- Flyer – Online Activism Conservatory by the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence
- PowerPoint – Stay Woke: Lessons Learned from the AC (2018) presented by Layla Elabed, Amanda Ajrouche, and Megan King for the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence Annual Conference
- Highlights from the Project by the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence
- Origins of Intersectionality (2018) by Lisa Winchell-Caldwell for the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence
- Research Poster – Mutually Beneficial Evaluation Tools: A Focus on Relevance, Value, and Organizational Context (2018) by Rachael Goodman-Williams & Tracey Helms, Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence
- Every Girls Education Campaign Posters: “When we give the message” and “An educated girl will" by the ACCESS Coordinated Community Response Team
- Purple Hijab and Kufi Day flyers: #ICAGoesPurple #SYCAgainstDV from ACCESS
- Know Your Rights by the DELTA FOCUS Coordinated Community Response Team, Working with Faith Communities
Highlighted Projects
- California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
- Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence
- Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence
Related Resources from DELTA FOCUS Grantees
- Engagement: Making the Case and Building a Movement for Prevention
- TA Question: How do I build relationships and work with communities I’m not part of? (April 2020) by Mo Lewis of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center
