Coordination Initiatives in BC
CCWS provides services to coordination initiatives across BC. We also provide services to communities who are interested in developing new initiatives.
Download Contact Information for All BC Coordination Initiatives (pdf file)
History of Coordination in BC
Since 1989, community organizations and the Victim Services and Crime Prevention Division of the Ministry of Attorney General (now the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General) have been involved in the development of violence against women coordination initiatives. These initiatives bring system-based and community-based representatives together to enhance collaboration on local responses to violence against women. In 1989, the Ministry of Attorney General funded seven community coordination initiatives, modelled on coordination projects in Victoria, BC, and London, Ontario, and on the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention program. Since that time, more initiatives have been started across the province, although since 2002 none have been funded by the provincial government. Currently there are coordination initiatives in over fifty communities across BC, many of them in rural and isolated areas.
The work of the CCWS Project has been grounded in the evidence-based research and the experience of other communities in Canada and the United States where coordination among law enforcement and community service providers has proven to be one of the most effective methods of increasing women’s safety. Communities with a coordinated response are more likely than other communities to have more effective referral systems, a better understanding of mutual roles and responsibilities and a more efficient use of resources. For more information about coordination initiatives, go to the CCWS Publications page.