What We Do
Survivor Committee
The Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence recognizes that our work, to truly benefit survivors of domestic violence, must find a way to hear the voices of survivors. Our work must be informed by those voices.
With that goal in mind, we have created the “Survivor’s Committee.” This committee meets several times a year and connects regularly via e-mail. The committee serves as a review for Coalition goals, legislative agendas, protocols, etc. Survivors review information, discuss ideas and planned actions and submit comments regarding these ideas and actions. The Coalition uses the comments to help inform the directions the Coalition takes.
In 2003 the Survivor Committee put together an entire conference which trained over 300 people on domestic violence issues. The conference, “Hear Our Voices” was completely planned and coordinated by survivors. Most of the presenters were also survivors. The objective of the conference was to get participants to recognize and value the knowledge base of survivors. According to the evaluations, the objective was met.
Currently the Survivor Committee is working on developing a procedure to conduct focus groups. The Committee would like to have focus groups in each region of the state to discuss community strengths and weaknesses in assisting victims get safe.
If you are a survivor of domestic violence and would like to participate in the Survivor Committee, please contact GCADV at info@gcadv.org.