Safe Homes, Safe Communities

On behalf of our staff, volunteers, and Board of Directors, the Center for Advancing Domestic
Peace wishes to thank you for your interest in our work. We are excited and encouraged by the progress we have made in the past year with a new name and funding for an innovative case management program designed not only to encourage greater opportunity for service participants’ successful completion of our Skills and Beliefs for Domestic Peace direct service program, but also to strengthen our connection to the communities we serve.

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Serving 450 men and 40 women last year, with services in English and Spanish for all
participants, the Center maintains offices in the Tri-Taylor and South Shore communities and Spanish speaking services in the Back-of-the Yards (New City) neighborhood. The Center for Advancing Domestic Peace remains the only 501(c)(3) non-profit community-based charitable
organization in Illinois committed to intervention in and prevention of intimate partner violence, as its primary mission, while working directly with people who have chosen to abuse. Actively working in close partnership with agencies that serve battered women and their children as well as the Cook County Court, the police and other community providers, the Center serves as an essential member of a coordinated community response to domestic violence which includes ensuring the safety of survivors.

Even as this challenging economy has threatened to derail organizations like ours, we have in
addition to practicing careful fiscal oversight used it as an opportunity to find creative ways to
achieve our mission. For instance over the last two years Charlie Stoops, one of the Center’s co-founders, has run the Chicago Marathon to benefit the Center financially and to raise awareness that Every One has a Role in Ending Domestic Violence. In the coming year we will continue to work to enable the successful completion of our program by participants while also working to support more active community engagement in addressing domestic violence as we can no longer afford the psychological and economic toll on individuals, families, and communities caused by domestic violence.

We ask you to continue to work with us to not only imagine a new generation committed to
domestic peace in every home but also to make it happen!

Christine Call

We all have a role in ending domestic violence

When most people think about how to end domestic violence, what usually comes to mind is helping battered women leave their abuser. And, while ensuring the safety of victims and their children needs to be a top priority, it is unfortunately only part of the equation. That’s because the majority of those who abuse are likely to do so again unless they receive counseling and support to stop their violent behavior.

Through more than a decade of providing partner abuse intervention services, in south and west side Chicago neighborhoods with some of the highest rates of community violence, we have seen first hand the transformative impact these programs can have. Many of those we serve are men who bring their own traumatic history of abuse, having witnessed or experienced it as children. And, even though committing an act of domestic violence is what ultimately brings them to our doors, they are often also struggling with a range of other issues - such as poverty, unemployment, and substance abuse – that can stand in the way of their rehabilitation.

Helping perpetrators recognize and address the factors that may contribute to their abusive behavior is not only essential to developing the skills necessary for building healthier relationships with intimate partners but also their families. In fact, 83% of those mandated to participate in our program are fathers whose desire to be better role models for their children can be a powerful motivator to change.

If we are ever going to put an end to the destructive, intergenerational cycle of domestic abuse, then we must acknowledge the reality that it impacts all of us, regardless of gender, and that the collective efforts of both women and men will be necessary to solve this critical public health problem.

National Domestic Violence Awareness month ended in October but we must commit ourselves to ending domestic violence every month. Let’s support those who have abused in turning their lives around and engage them as partners in the work to create more peace in our homes and communities.

Christine Call, Ph.D., LCSW, Co-Founder & Executive Director
Craig Morris, MA, Vice-Chair, Board of Directors