PENNSYLVANIA COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Prevention Intervention Change
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Domestic violence is a pervasive and life-threatening crime and public health issue that affects millions of individuals across our nation. More than 1 in 3 women, 1 in 4 men and nearly half of all LGBTQ+ survivors in the U.S. have experienced rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence advances a mission to end intimate partner violence and all forms of violence and oppression.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Training and Technical Assistance
Training a broad spectrum of professionals to improve responses to, and safety and justice for, victims of domestic violence. PCADV trains law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, probation and parole officers, attorneys, advocates, healthcare providers and government agencies including children and youth, aging and welfare workers.
Contract Monitoring
PCADV manages the contract of all 59 local domestic violence organizations in Pennsylvania and ensures the consistent quality of accessible, effective, free and confidential services to meet the complex needs of victims and their children.
Prevention
Breaking the generational cycle of violence for children, teens and young adults by changing public attitudes and social norms to create a future in which lives are neither lost to nor limited by domestic violence
Public Policy and Social Change
Securing legislative, policy and social change at the state and national levels to meet the diverse needs of victims and communities in PA.
Economic Justice
PCADV has developed a model economic empowerment program based on best practices and proven strategies to assist survivors in gaining sustainable financial independence so that they can build a violence-free life for themselves and their children.
Victims Services
PCADV works to ensure accessible, free and confidential services to meet the complex needs of victims and their children.
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of evaluations conducted
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Contract Monitoring
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Contract and fiscal monitoring of local programs are conducted every three years. About one-third of the 59 programs are monitored each year.
Number of advocacy contacts with government leaders
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Public Policy and Social Change
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
*2021 data coming soon Public Policy staff meet regularly with government leaders to stay current and effect change with legislation around domestic violence.
Number of individuals attending community events or trainings
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Prevention
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
552 Community-wide Educational Awareness Activities with 148,924 Participants
Number of community events or trainings held and attendance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Prevention
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
7,032 Educational Awareness Activities with 148,924 Participants
Number of organizations accessing technical assistance offerings
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Training and Technical Assistance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of community-based organizations providing primary prevention services in violence
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Prevention
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
PCADV and its 59 member programs routinely engage in domestic violence prevention activities.
Number of hours of training
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Training and Technical Assistance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
*note, last year's data did not include member programs. 2570 trainings at PCADV & member programs with with 44,153 participants
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Victims Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
data verification in progress
Number of crisis hotline calls answered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Victims Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Total number of volunteer hours contributed to the organization
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Victims Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
COVID-19 affected this metric in particular
Number of clients participating in educational programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
*note, last year's data did not include member programs. PCADV member programs held 2570 trainings reaching 44,153 Participants
Total number of classes offered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
PCADV's learning institute offers 29 online asynchronous courses and 17 webinars in addition to 2570 trainings at PCADV & member programs with with 44,153 participants.
Number of bed nights (nights spent in shelter)
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
2021 coming soon
Number of people using homeless shelters per week
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
2021 coming soon
Hours of legal assistance offered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
2021 coming soon
Number of clients assisted with legal needs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
2021 coming soon
Number of training events conducted
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
2570 trainings at PCADV & member programs with with 44,153 participants. *note, last year's data did not include member programs
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence strives to create a collective culture of change that fosters safety, justice and autonomy. While local domestic violence programs offer direct service to those in need, PCADV provides the infrastructure, support, expertise and training to make their work effective. Stronger together, the Coalition provides a collective voice that amplifies many voices.
Cultivating a vision of a society free of domestic violence and working toward that future, PCADV’s programming focuses on three areas: Prevention, Intervention and Change.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
PCADV’s programming focuses on three areas: Prevention, Intervention and Change.
PREVENTION: Through its Prevention work, PCADV strives to stop intimate partner violence before it starts. Breaking the generational cycle of violence for children, teens and young adults by changing public attitudes and social norms will create a future in which lives are neither lost to, nor limited by, domestic violence.
INTERVENTION: All victims and survivors of domestic violence should have access to essential, life- saving services to build lives that are financially independent, free of violence, and sustainable. Key intervention programming is available through local agencies and includes Housing, Civil Legal Representation, Lethality Assessment Screening, Medical Advocacy, and Economic Justice.
Housing: Finding safe, affordable housing is crucial to a survivor’s ability to escape an abusive environment and build an independent life. PCADV is committed to supporting member programs in developing new innovative housing initiatives and ensuring that current housing options are working for victims and survivors.
Civil Legal Representation (CLR): Navigating a complex and often unfamiliar legal process is challenging for a survivor and is one of the most common barriers to leaving an abusive relationship. CLR attorneys provide direct legal representation for domestic violence survivors on matters of divorce, custody, support, immigration, housing, and protection from abuse within their county service areas.
Lethality Assessment Program (LAP): The Lethality Assessment Program (LAP) is a nationally recognized, evidence-based initiative with demonstrated success in strengthening partnerships between law enforcement and community-based domestic violence programs. Police officers are trained to identify the warning signs of domestic violence and follow a survivor-centered protocol for assessing potentially lethal situations when responding to domestic violence incidents.
Medical Advocacy Program (MAP): This initiative allows advocates to train medical personnel in a variety of professional settings about both the visible and emotional signs of domestic violence. A screening tool is used with individuals who present with certain symptoms to help identify signs of abuse.
Economic Justice: Financial abuse is present in more than 98% of cases. This initiative helps survivors access education, develop budgeting skills, repair credit, build savings, find affordable housing, and gain meaningful employment with living wages.
CHANGE: As the collective voice of its local domestic violence programs, PCADV is committed to making a lasting impact in the Commonwealth through policy work at the state and federal level. PCADV actively advocates for change and works to block policies that create additional barriers or penalize victims.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Founded in 1976, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV) is the oldest statewide domestic violence coalition in the nation. Each year, its network of 59 community-based programs provides free and confidential services to nearly 90,000 victims of domestic violence and their children in all 67 counties of the Commonwealth. The local programs and Coalition form interconnecting links in a chain of services and support to help victims and survivors find safety, obtain justice, and build lives free of abuse. More than 2.5 million victims and their children have been served by PCADV and its member programs since 1976.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
PCADV and its member programs have accomplished much over the years. The following are recent highlights:
March 2018: PCADV was awarded a five-year CDC DELTA Impact Grant to further its ground- breaking Prevention work.
November 2018 – PCADV was awarded VOCA funds to launch the Domestic Violence Housing First project.
January 2019 – PCADV awarded funding from HUD for the Eastern CoC to provide Rapid Rehousing for survivors, renewable annually.
On April 10, 2019, Act 79 went into effect, the most critical and significant expansion of the Protection from Abuse (PFA) Act and the Uniform Firearms Act in nearly a decade.
January 2020 – PCADV awarded funding from HUD for the Western CoC to provide Rapid Rehousing for survivors, renewable annually.
Spring 2020: PCADV completed the development of Coaching Girls Beyond the Game, a companion program for Coaching Boys Into Men. This female athletes curriculum for coaches and adult influencers uses a 12-week playbook to guide discussions that build a healthy self-image and relationship skills.
June 2020: PCADV was awarded a supplemental CDC DELTA grant to test and disseminate messaging that connects intimate partner prevention efforts to health inequities further exacerbated by the COVID-19 public health crisis.
August 2020: PCADV was selected to conduct a housing project in Southwestern Pennsylvania through funding from the National Alliance for Safe Housing to address the increased barriers presented by COVID-19.
August 2020: PCADV was proud to launch the Spanish version of its PA Safe Law site.
December 2020: PCADV was awarded a grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to continue its frontline response to survivor housing needs during COVID-19 in Southwestern Pennsylvania through 2021. This innovative, regional housing project uses survivor-driven advocacy and resilience funds to bridge the gap between rapid rehousing and unmet needs.
April 2021: PCADV was awarded $6.25 million in ESG-CV funds to support Homelessness Prevention and Emergency Shelter statewide with pass-through funding specific to 23 member programs.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, there is no unified system for data collection and reporting systems across all funders
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
PENNSYLVANIA COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Board of directorsas of 01/24/2022
Ms. Vashti Bledsoe
Lutheran Settlement House
Term: 2022 - 2020
Tom Hollerbach
Big Picture Worldwide
Thomas King
Borough of State College
Vashti Bledsoe, Board President
Lutheran Settlement House
Judy Chang, MD
UPMC
Patrick Dougherty
Law Office of Patrick Dougherty
Amy Eusebio
City of Philadelphia
Rhonda Fleming
Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh
Katherine Hamilton
Penn State University - World Campus
Mae Ling Kranz
Transitions of PA
Susan B Mathias
Geisinger
Nicole Molinaro
Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh
Ambika Roos
Ad Hoc LLC
Susan Higginbotham, CEO
PCADV
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 08/02/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.