How ready are you to begin incorporating more flexible, survivor-driven services
as part of a Domestic Violence Housing First program model? Below are some questions from Volunteers of America, Oregon – Home Free to help you consider what steps you may need to take to better position your agency to enact new approaches.
- Does your program have a mechanism to collect survivor input and do so regularly?
- Are survivors requesting services that you are not able to provide? What are they?
- Do you conduct periodic strategic planning processes that include an environmental scan?
- Are you aware of services gaps in your community’s domestic violence response that your program could be the best provider to begin addressing?
- When you look at participants who access your services, do you see under-representation of specific ethnic or cultural groups?
- Do you have more than one route or access point through which survivors can enter your program?
- Do you have discretionary funds in your budget that can be used to help survivors address financial barriers to safety and stabilization?
- Does your staffing pattern allow for advocates to leave the office/shelter and provide advocacy services in other community settings?
- Do you have the capacity to provide advocates to accompany survivors to court hearings, Child Welfare appointments, etc. when requested?
- Do you require a shelter stay in order for participants to qualify for housing or other services?
- Are you able to provide services for survivors still with their abusers?
- Do you have funding streams that have room for program innovation should you decide to make a shift in your core services?
- Do you have partnerships across systems (police, prosecutors, housing authority, child welfare, self-sufficiency, etc.) that might be strengthened with more face-to-face contact?
- Do you visit with survivors in settings other than your office or shelter?
- How satisfied are you with the degree to which your program model allows you to adapt services to each survivor’s unique context and needs?