May 24, 2021

The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence established a diverse and interdisciplinary Statewide Leadership Team to develop a five-year plan for preventing domestic violence in the commonwealth.

Rooted in a social justice approach, the plan looks at the prevalence of domestic violence by acknowledging the various structural and institutional oppressions and disparities in risk factors that impact rates of domestic violence.

Christiana Paradis, director of Susquehanna’s Violence Intervention and Prevention Center and instructor in women’s studies, represented Susquehanna on the SLT. The 28-member SLT represents organizations from across the state whose work requires knowledge of and experience with the risk factors for intimate partner violence.

“Susquehanna University takes very seriously its role as an institution of higher learning in educating our students about intimate partner violence, and prevention is a significant part of that,” Paradis said. “In addition to this five-year plan, which serves as a roadmap for preventing domestic violence, Susquehanna also uses various programming means to train students, faculty and staff in bystander intervention, healthy relationships, consent and more.”

Before embarking on creation of the state action plan, SLT members were trained on PCADV’s vision of prevention and the Prevention Institute’s THRIVE Model, which focuses on community and societal efforts for prevention.

The full five-year Prevention State Action plan and the complete list of SLT members and organizations can be viewed here.

Both the development of the SLT and the state action plan are funded by a five-year DELTA Impact grant awarded by the Centers for Disease Control to the PCADV in 2018.