Key Initiatives
Tubman Family Alliance is committed to using new and innovative ways of preventing and educating the community about family violence. Here is a sample of some of our latest key initiatives:
StopFamilyViolence.com Awareness Bands
Tubman Family Alliance launched a major awareness campaign on Mother's Day (5/8/05) to engage community members in the effort to stop family violence.
Inscribed with StopFamilyViolence.com, the purple awareness bands offer a clear directive to the community and a place for those experiencing abuse and concerned others to get help and information.
The distinctive StopFamilyViolence.com awareness bands launched publicly this past Mother's Day as part of the University of St. Thomas' 16th Annual Teeter-Totter-A-Thon. The men of St. Thomas' Ireland Hall sold the bracelets as part of their annual fundraiser and awareness event for family violence prevention.
Advanced Wireless Communications is leading the effort to sell the StopFamilyViolence.com awareness bands at nine of its retail stores throughout the metro. Other corporations and local retailers are signing up daily to promote family violence prevention. The awareness bracelets are available to purchase for $2.00 each.
If your organization would like to offer the StopFamilyViolence.com awareness bands at its location, or you would like an individual bulk order of 10 or more bands, please contact the Development Department at 612-825-3333.
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Holistic Program
Tubman Family Alliance developed an innovative option for court-ordered Domestic Violence Treatment with a high level of potential long-term success for those who have been abusive and a counseling method that now ranks among the most effective in the nation for working with domestic abuse offenders. This innovative program helps men and women learn to understand and control their violence feelings.
The Holistic Counseling Program, established in July 1999 for men who are abusive, now serves as the centerpiece of the agency’s efforts to prevent family violence, rather than simply intervening after violence has occurred. In 2001, the program was expanded to serve women who have been abusive toward a loved one.
Tubman’s Holistic Counseling Program educates men, women, and teen boys who are abusive about new behaviors, helping them identify their strengths and core values as essential steps in the process of healing and becoming whole. Participants learn to discard old reactions and achieve lives free from violence by embracing new concepts.
After four years of growth, the program is building a strong success rate among now former perpetrators.
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Restorative Justice
Tubman is the first agency in the nation to partner with the judicial system, law enforcement and community members to use a restorative justice program to resolve domestic violence crimes. This approach is addresses the needs of all those affected by the crime, including the victim, the offender and the community.
When a person does harm by committing an act of family violence, many lives, as well as the larger community, are profoundly affected. Restorative justice recognizes that crimes violate human relationships and impact the fabric of our communities.
Traditionally, the criminal justice system’s punitive “do the crime, do the time” approach has focused solely on punishment of the perpetrator, leaving unmet the wider needs of everyone else affected by the crime. Restorative justice is a philosophical approach that provides an alternative to the traditional criminal justice system. It moves the administration of law from the court to the community in cases where it is more effective for the group of people affected by the crime to determine an individualized and ultimately more meaningful resolution than would be achieved by a standard punishment administered by a judge. Restorative justice addresses the damage that has been done and attempts to repair harm; restore individuals, families, and communities; promote accountability and responsibility; and build relationships. These practices allow those affected by a crime to have a voice in determining the resolution of the case, such as what will be included in the perpetrator’s sentence, what support do those involved need in order to move towards a healthier future, and how can the harm that has been done be restored so that a true, deeper level of healing is realized.
At the heart of restorative justice is “Circle Sentencing,” a process through which a group of people affected by the crime gathers together to create an individualized sentence tailored to the offender convicted in that case. The “Circle” is often comprised of concerned family members, friends, legal professionals, and other community members who want to help. For instance, a Sentencing Circle may include the victim and offender, their respective families and friends, a prosecutor, and neighbors who want to see a more appropriate resolution to the crime than simply to send the offender to jail. The Circle will consensually determine a sentence that is appropriate for that particular offender. In restorative justice cases, the offender admits guilt and has a desire to change. The process is more meaningful than a traditional court sentencing because it is individualized and the Circle participants are committed to helping restore everyone involved. The Circle is established in such a way that everyone participates, has equal status, is given uninterrupted time to speak, and the sentences are consensual with everyone—including the victim and offender. Once the sentence is in place, Follow-up Circles meet to implement the sentence and maintain accountability, and Healing Circles are offered to victims and other affected parties. Restorative justice approaches also include, but are not limited to, Victim-Offender Conferencing, Family Group Conferencing, and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Tubman Family Alliance began by using restorative justice practices in 1996 to mediate non-domestic assaults involving mostly juvenile offenders. This process furthered our resolve to establish a restorative justice approach for family violence crimes. In 1997, when restorative justice was still in its early stages in Minnesota, Tubman Family Alliance was—and still is—the first family violence agency to incorporate a restorative justice approach in the work of ending and preventing family violence. Tubman is leading the nation in applying restorative justice practices to family violence crimes.
In the spring of 1997, the First Nations people of Yukon, Canada, brought Peacemaking Circles to Minnesota, providing training on the Circle process to Tubman Family Alliance advocates, judges, law enforcement, probation officers, prosecutors, and community members. Following the training, the Washington County Circle Council was formed to provide leadership in implementing and overseeing Circles in Washington County. In its first year, five non-domestic crimes that involved offenders who had family violence histories went through the Circle process.
In 1998, after more intensive Circle training led by First Nations, Tubman Family Alliance worked closely with the Cottage Grove community in implementing the first Circle Sentencing pilot project dealing with family violence crimes. Similar Circle Sentencing projects have since expanded into the Stillwater area.
Since Tubman’s initial endeavor with restorative justice, approximately 20 cases have gone through the Circle Sentencing process. Of those cases, 95% of the offenders have not committed any further violent crimes.
While we acknowledge that this process is not for every family violence case, our hope is that a restorative justice approach can be expanded to every community served by Tubman Family Alliance so that victims will have more choices in resolving the crime, healing can occur on a deeper level by all parties, and families and communities can experience true restoration.
Currently, Tubman Family Alliance sits on the Board for the Minnesota Restorative Services Coalition. More information about restorative practices in Minnesota can be obtained on their Web site at www.mnmrsc.org.
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Minnesota Child Response Center (MnCRC)
MnCRC History & Overview
The Minnesota Child Response Center (MnCRC) was created when the community partnership known as the Minnesota Child Response Initiative, then based at Tubman Family Alliance, received a four year federal grant effective 10/1/05 from the US Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to join the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) as a Community Treatment and Services Center. MnCRC is a "virtual" center, housed at the University of Minnesota, whose work is done at partner agency sites (clinics, shelters, housing agencies, schools, and homes) throughout the Metro area.
MnCRC Goals
By learning from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and working among partner agencies-culturally specific and mainstream social service, mental health and housing providers, schools, police and the University of Minnesota-the MnCRC's Goals are to:
1. Increase access to trauma-informed services through community needs assessment, resource mapping, and immediate and accurate identification and screening by front line providers (such as shelter advocates, supportive housing case managers, police and school personnel). Crisis intervention for traumatized children is provided by the Child Development Policing Program (CDPP) throughout the city of Minneapolis.
2. Raise the standard of care for traumatized children by adapting and disseminating best practice treatment approaches:
a. Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is
individual therapy for children with anxiety, posttraumatic stress
disorder, or depression symptoms. Participating sites include
community mental health agencies and selected supportive
housing agencies across the metro area.
b. Parenting Through Change (PTC) is an evidence-based
parenting group curriculum designed for parents in transition.
Participating sites include selected shelters, community
agencies and supportive housing programs.
c. Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS)
is a group intervention for war-exposed refugee students in
Minneapolis public schools.
3. Establish broad community and provider consensus on the mental health needs of traumatized children and the best practices to address these needs.
4. Create sustainable change at the community, local, and state levels through implementation of best practices for trauma-informed services.
5. Actively participate in National Child Traumatic Stress Network activities to expand the reach throughout Minnesota and the upper Midwest. SAMHSA stipulates that a minimum of 25% of our funding must support contributions toward and participation in official NCTSN activities, including product development.
childresponse.org
Current Collaborating Partners
African American Family Services
Centro Inc.
Children, Youth, and Family Consortium at the University of Minnesota
CornerHouse
Family and Children's Services
Minneapolis City Attorney's Office
Minneapolis Police Department
Minneapolis Public Schools
Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE)
Tubman Family Alliance
Washburn Child Guidance Center
Women of Nations
Support for MCRI is provided by: US Department of Justice Violence Against Women Office, State of MN center for Crime Victim Services and Office of Drug Policy, Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation, CyberOptics Corporation, the Kopp Family Foundation and the Minneapolis Foundation.
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