Mission
Domestic Violence Solutions for Santa Barbara County
works to end the intergenerational
cycle of domestic violence by providing prevention and intervention services and
by challenging society's attitudes, beliefs and behaviors to effect social change.
About Us
We are dedicated to:
- Providing
safe
and confidential shelter for battered women and their children throughout Santa
Barbara County.
- Providing emotional
support
and personal
advocacy
to battered women and other women
in crisis, enabling them to recognize strengths and resources within themselves.
We encourage women to be empowered to be free to make choices.
- Playing a leadership role in effecting social change by
educating the community,
by associations with other social change groups and by supporting the work of women's
rights organizations.
Philosophy
We affirm that we live in a society where resources, power, privileges, rewards
and justice are distributed unequally. Therefore we hold these truths to be self-evident:
- Domestic violence is not solely a woman's issue, nor is it solely a man's issue.
However, the vast majority of victims of domestic violence are women.
- Domestic violence is about power and control.
- Domestic violence is not a relationship problem.
- A person using power and control over another is entirely responsible for his/her
behavior and the outcome.
- Domestic violence affects all people in our society, not only the victim and the
perpetrator.
- Domestic violence is child abuse; it is a learned behavior; it affects the whole
family and is cyclical and intergenerational.
- Domestic violence feeds on silence.
Therefore, it is our conviction that:
- Domestic violence is preventable.
- With effective intervention, violent and abusive behavior and attitudes can be replaced
by healthy behavior and attitudes that are based on equality.
- Both men and women must work to end domestic violence.
- Societal norms must change if we are to end domestic violence.
Approved by the Board of Directors, November 15, 2001
Domestic Violence Solutions (DVS) is the county's only full-service domestic violence
agency, committed to ending the intergenerational cycle of domestic violence through
prevention and intervention services and through challenging society's attitudes,
beliefs, and behaviors to effect social change. DVS provides the county's only 24-hour
shelter service for battered women and their children, as well as the county's only
transitional housing program for domestic violence survivors. DVS also operates
four 24-hour hotlines; works to prevent domestic violence through teen outreach
and education programs; and provides comprehensive residential counseling services to women
and children affected by domestic violence. DVS programs serve Santa Barbara, Lompoc,
and Santa Maria.
Annual Financial Reports