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Domestic Violence Resources Directory
If you’re struggling to cope in an abusive relationship, you’re not alone. Experts estimate that over 10 million Americans are affected by domestic violence every year. Whether it’s physical or verbal abuse, it’s not OK, and you can take action to stop it. These vetted helplines are here for you.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline
Domestic Violence Resource
How We Help:The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides lifesaving tools and immediate support to enable victims to find safety and live lives free of abuse.
History:
For nearly 20 years, the National Domestic Violence Hotline has been the vital link to safety for women, men, children and fa ...milies affected by domestic violence. With the help of our dedicated advocates and staff, we respond to calls 24/7, 365 days a year.
We provide confidential, one-on-one support to each caller and chatter, offering crisis intervention, options for next steps and direct connection to sources for immediate safety. Our database holds more than 5,000 agencies and resources in communities all across the country. Bilingual advocates are on hand to speak with callers, and our Language Line offers translations in 170+ different languages.
The Hotline is an excellent source of help for concerned friends, family, co-workers and others seeking information and guidance on how to help someone they know. We work to educate communities all over through events, campaigns and dynamic partnerships with companies ranging from The Avon Foundation to Verizon. Today The Hotline is continuing to grow and explore new avenues of service.Read More »
For Men, For Women, For LGBT, For Children/Teens, For Elders, Non-profits
Location
Austin, TX
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National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence Resource
How We Help:NCADV works to raise awareness about domestic violence, educate and create programming and technical assistance, assist the public in addressing the issue, and to support those impacted by domestic violence.
History:
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) has worked since 1978 to make every home a safe home. The NCADV Publ ...ic Policy Office collaborates with other national organizations to promote legislation and policies that serve and protect victims and survivors of domestic violence, and we work to change the narrative surrounding domestic violence. We seek macro-level change in order to create a society in which domestic violence is never tolerated or minimized, victims and survivors are respected and service providers have the resources to serve all victims and survivors. In turn, we rely on our members and our partners’ members to provide grassroots support, contacting their congressional delegations and making their voices heard at the local level. We also provide technical support to individuals and groups seeking information on legislation, laws, policy, studies and other resources pertaining to domestic violence at the national level.
The Cosmetic & Reconstructive Support (CRS) Program™ of NCADV is the only direct service program NCADV offers to survivors. We currently work in partnership with the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) to assist survivors of domestic violence who cannot afford the cosmetic and reconstructive surgery needed to repair injuries caused by an abusive partner to their head, face or neck. Facial plastic surgeons from across the country volunteer their services to assist survivors in removing these physical scars of abuse. We will be expanding this program in 2015.
Since 1994, NCADV has been memorializing the many women, children and men killed by abusers in the U.S. through our Remember My Name™ project. Twenty years ago, RMN™ was created by Ms. Magazine and NCADV to bring awareness to the issue of domestic violence, honor those who have lost their lives and spotlight the all-too-common outcome of abusers' choices. Each year we produce a memorial poster listing the names and ages of those killed by an abuser and the state in which they died. To date, we have collected more than 10,000 names from all across the U.S. from family, friends and others who want to remember and honor those they have lost. RMN™ will be expanding soon through When I was Here™, a more in-depth arm of the program aimed at personalizing the lives of each victim through memories and information shared by those that knew them.
Reproductive coercion is the behavior used to pressure or coerce a woman into becoming pregnant or into continuing or ending a pregnancy against her will, through the use of manipulation, intimidation, threats and/or actual acts of violence. The Feminist Women’s Health Center (FWHC), NCADV and the National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS) have partnered to create a free educational toolkit to help bridge the gap between the fields of reproductive health and domestic violence; two fields that work for the good of our communities from different perspectives. This toolkit provides credible, unbiased information for women and individuals working in the domestic violence and reproductive health communities about reproductive coercion and offers practical solutions designed to empower women to take control of their own reproductive health. We will be offering trainings on this topic nationally in the near future.
Domestic violence increases a woman's risk of HIV/AIDS and an HIV/AIDS diagnosis can increase a woman's risk of domestic violence. While both issues are prominent in communities, collaboration between agencies that serve each population does not intrinsically exist. NCADV partners with Ensync Diversified Management Systems, Inc. to provide free trainings on this issue to front-line advocates within domestic violence programs and HIV/AIDS service agencies so that they may better assist survivors of domestic violence with accessing information and resources about HIV and vice-versa. Our goal is to strengthen community collaboration, enhance services and safety planning and create integrated client-centered services for survivors of DV and/or HIV.
NCADV’s Financial Education Project, Hope & Power, addresses one of the main barriers victims encounter when seeking safety and independence — financial independence. One of the most common reasons victims of domestic violence either stay with or return to an abuser is because they fear they will be unable to provide financially for themselves and or their children. In 2000, NCADV collaborated with the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) to develop these financial education materials in an ongoing effort to support victims of domestic violence in their endeavors to achieve economic self-sufficiency. The Hope and Power materials include topics such as safety planning, budgeting, identity theft, banking, predatory lending, credit, getting a job, money management and taxes.Read More »
For Men, For Women, For LGBT, For Children/Teens, For Elders, Non-profits, Legal Help
Location
Denver, CO
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Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
Domestic Violence Resource
How We Help: RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline in partnership with more than 1,100 local rape crisis centers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense.
History:
Among its programs, RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE. This nationwide partner ...ship of more than 1,100 local rape treatment hotlines provides victims of sexual assault with free, confidential services around the clock. The hotline helped 137,039 sexual assault victims in 2005 and has helped more than 1.5 million since it began in 1994.
In 2007, RAINN expanded its hotline services with the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline, the nation's first secure web-based hotline that provides live and completely confidential help to victims through an interface as intuitive as instant messaging. In November 2007, RAINN won the 2007 NPower Greater D.C. Region Technology Innovation Award for its innovative use of technology in the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline.Read More »
For Men, For Women, For LGBT, For Children/Teens, For Elders, Non-profits, Shelters, Rape Crisis Centers
Location
Washington, DC
Connect
National Network to End Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence Resource
How We Help:The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), a social change organization, is dedicated to creating a social, political and economic environment in which violence against women no longer exists.
History:
NNEDV was formed in 1990 when a small group of domestic violence victim advocates came together to promote federal legislatio ...n related to domestic violence. The group was known as the Domestic Violence Coalition on Public Policy.
Over the next four years, it became an alliance of domestic violence shelter programs and statewide groups and coalitions against domestic and sexual violence across the country.
In 1994, it led efforts to pass the landmark Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), authored by then-Senator Joe Biden. The historic law was the first federal legislation to strengthen the government’s response to crimes perpetrated against victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking.
In 1995, shortly after the passage of VAWA, this groundbreaking organization became the National Network to End Domestic Violence, an innovative group that served as the leading voice for domestic violence victims and their allies.
Today NNEDV provides training and assistance to the statewide and territorial coalitions against domestic violence. It also furthers public awareness of domestic violence and changes beliefs that condone intimate partner violence.
NNEDV works to make domestic violence a national priority, change the way communities respond to domestic violence and strengthen efforts against intimate partner violence at every level of government. Read More »
How We Help:We enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law, ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic, provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime, seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior and ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.
History:
The Judiciary Act of 1789, ch. 20, sec. 35, 1 Stat. 73, 92-93 (1789) created the Office of the Attorney General, a one-person ... part-time position. The workload quickly became too much for one person, necessitating the hiring of several assistants for the Attorney General. With an increasing amount of work to be done, private attorneys were retained to work on cases. In 1870, after the post-Civil War increase in the amount of litigation involving the United States necessitated the very expensive retention of a large number of private attorneys to handle the workload, a concerned Congress passed the Act to Establish the Department of Justice, ch. 150, 16 Stat. 162 (1870) setting it up as "an executive department of the government of the United States" with the Attorney General as its head. Officially coming into existence on July 1, 1870, the Department of Justice, was to handle the legal business of the United States. The Act gave the Department control over all criminal prosecutions and civil suits in which the United States had an interest. In addition, the Act gave the Attorney General and the Department control over federal law enforcement.Read More »
How We Help:OVC administers the Crime Victims Fund (the Fund), which is financed by fines and penalties paid by convicted federal offenders, not from tax dollars.
History:
Established in 1988 through an amendment to the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) of 1984, OVC is charged by Congress with administ ...ering the Crime Victims Fund (the Fund). Through OVC, the Fund supports a broad array of programs and services that focus on helping victims in the immediate aftermath of crime and continuing to support them as they rebuild their lives. Millions of dollars are invested annually in victim compensation and assistance in every U.S. state and territory, as well as for training, technical assistance, and other capacity-building programs designed to enhance service providers’ ability to support victims of crime in communities across the Nation.Read More »
How We Help:NO MORE is a unifying symbol and campaign to raise public awareness and engage bystanders around ending domestic violence and sexual assault.
History:
Launched in March 2013 by a coalition of leading advocacy groups, service providers, the U.S. Department of Justice and major ... corporations, NO MORE is supported by hundreds of national and local groups and by thousands of individuals, organizations, universities and communities who are using its signature blue symbol to increase visibility for domestic violence and sexual assault.
NO MORE was conceived to amplify the power of the domestic violence and sexual assault movement using a unifying symbol to drive awareness and break down the barriers of stigma, silence and shame that keep people from talking about these issues and taking action to prevent them. Cofounded as a public/private partnership, NO MORE was created as a platform for those working to end domestic violence/sexual assault, in the belief that greater dialogue will fuel enhanced funding for direct service, advocacy and prevention.Read More »
How We Help:Loveisrespect’s mission is to engage, educate and empower young people to prevent and end abusive relationships.
History:
Loveisrespect (originally loveisrespect, National Dating Abuse Helpline) was launched in February 2007 as a project of the Na ...tional Domestic Violence Hotline with a supporting grant from Liz Claiborne, Inc. It was the first 24-hour resource for teens who were experiencing dating violence and abuse and is the only teen helpline serving all of the United States and its territories.
In 2011, loveisrespect grew even stronger as The Hotline entered into a strategic partnership with Break the Cycle, another national leader in preventing dating abuse. That same year, with support from Mary Kay Inc., loveisrespect launched 24-hour text services as an addition to our phone and live chat services. Vice President Joe Biden, who has spent decades working to end violence against women, premiered the text service and sent the very first text message to a loveisrespect advocate.
We are proud to call loveisrespect the ultimate resource to engage, educate and empower youth to prevent and end abusive relationships!Read More »
How We Help:Providing a missing voice in Washington for state coalitions and local programs advocating and organizing against sexual violence and for survivors
History:
Led advocacy efforts to pass the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act including historic policies to addre ...ss sexual assault and support underserved survivors. Successfully advocated for the first federal funding source specifically to fund services for sexual assault survivors, the Sexual Assault Services Program, in 2005. Secured yearly increases in appropriations for the Sexual Assault Services Program including an $8 milllion increase in fiscal year 2011 when most social services programs were being cut. Negotiated language to improve the responsiveness of VAWA Rural, STOP, Arrest, and Legal Assistance programs to the issue of sexual assault. Sustained funding levels for CDC programs including the Rape Prevention Education Program as budgets were cut. Provided leadership on the Violence Against Women National Advisory Committee. Assisted federal agencies to develop policies that are trauma-informed and survivor focused. Spoken out on high profile sexual assault cases asking that offenders be held accountable.Read More »
How We Help:The National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence designs, provides and customizes training and consultation; influences policy, promotes collaboration; and enhances diversity with the goal of ending domestic and sexual violence.
History:
When Deborah D. Tucker, MPA, and Sarah M. Buel, JD, founded the National Training Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence in 1 ...998, their vision was to create an organization that encouraged and created unprecedented levels of collaboration among professionals working to end violence against women. See the National Center's introductory letter to national and state organizations, friends and supporters.
The reason behind this vision was simple: after decades of work in the field, these two women understood that the most successful efforts – the kind of efforts that save lives and transform our society – are always the result of individuals and organizations working together.
Renamed the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence in 2003, our organization helps a myriad of professionals who work with victims and perpetrators; law enforcement; criminal justice professionals such as prosecutors, judges and probation officers; health care professionals including emergency response teams, nurses and doctors; domestic violence and sexual assault advocates and service providers; and counselors and social workers. In addition to these professionals, the National Center also works with local, state and federal agencies; state and national organizations; educators, researchers, faith community leaders, media, community leaders, elected officials, policymakers, and all branches of the military.
This breadth of experience brings a high level of expertise to our work, whether that work involves training, consultation or public policy advocacy. Having partnered with so many diverse groups – in all 50 states, as well as Mexico and Puerto Rico – we are able to share the big picture around issues of domestic and sexual violence, and to connect organizations and people who benefit by knowing one another, but who might not connect otherwise.
Perhaps though, the most important thing to know about the work of the National Center is how much we all enjoy doing it. We look forward to helping you in any way we can, as we work together to end violence against women.Read More »
