Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Articles

Vol. 11 No. 3 (2020)

From Theory to Practice: Forging a Collaborative Evaluation Strategy for a Culturally-Informed Domestic Violence Initiative

Submitted
June 5, 2023
Published
2020-08-14

Abstract

Community programs for domestic violence (DV) in the U.S. have historically focused on White populations. Few programs exist to meet the needs of racial/ethnic minority populations, including Latinx women, who encounter greater barriers to access services than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Casa de Esperanza is one of the few organizations in the U.S. focused on addressing the unique needs of Latinx survivors of DV. In particular, their Family Advocacy Initiative (FAI) seeks to support Latinx communities impacted by DV by facilitating a variety of services including a 24-hour hotline, shelter, community advocacy, and transitional housing support network. This program utilizes Casa de Esperanza’s Latina Advocacy Framework, which was developed to address the unique risks, considerations, and needs of Latinx communities, but has yet to be empirically evaluated. As part of a graduate community psychology course on assessment, consultation, and evaluation, a university-community partnership was established to explore the process of defining, designing, and planning an evaluation of Casa de Esperanza’s FAI. This paper describes the university team’s process in learning about Casa de Esperanza and the FAI and collaboratively developing an evaluation plan. We briefly summarize the program’s theory of change, review its logic model, and present results from a focus group conducted with program staff. Based on this information we discuss the evaluation and recommendations for implementing it. Throughout the paper, we highlight the need for culturally sensitive programs for survivors of DV and the importance and benefits of collaborative community partnerships and evidence-based evaluative learning.