Center for Community Health Education, Research & Service (CCHERS), Inc.

The Community Advocacy Program, established in 1995, is a partnership of CCHERS’ domestic violence prevention and intervention programs based in community health centers. The Community Advocacy Program has three primary objectives:

• to provide direct services for victims of domestic violence. These services include crisis intervention, safety assessment and planning, advocacy, assistance with housing and shelter, education, and support groups for women, teens, and children exposed to violence.
• to improve the health care response to domestic violence. Using training and education of health care providers and staff, consultation, technical assistance, program development through interdisciplinary Domestic Violence Task Forces, and quality assurance efforts such as focus groups, domestic violence program and clinical staff enhance the capacity of community health centers and their staff to screen for and identify domestic violence, enhancing early detection and intervention with families at risk for domestic violence.
• to collaborate in efforts to improve the community response to domestic violence. The CAP does this by enhancing linkages between community health center-based domestic violence programs and other local, statewide, and national prevention and intervention efforts.