Community Plans to Address Domestic Violence: An Overview of Domestic Violence within the Context of Family and Community Violence

The purpose of this article is to review the various conceptual components of the issue of domestic violence by first explicating the numerous challenges to understanding the complexity of this issue. The societal costs from domestic violence within the broader purview of sexual assault, family violence and other violence in the community are described, as well as the challenges of developing community collaboration initiatives to comprehensively address family violence. Highlights are presented from a process evaluation from one community\u27s efforts to develop a community plan for a comprehensive and collaborative family violence approach that encompasses governmental, for-profit and nonprofit sectors. There are three essential components of community system development that are emphasized in addition to sufficient funding levels. They include the need for one specific organization to lead the collaborative effort and the dedication of the leaders of both that organization and other leaders within the community. Also, a cultural shift in attitudes is required from an organizational to a community focus for all persons involved with the effort