Shelters
Community Advocacy Programs
Safe Homes
Intervention Projects
Hospital/Clinic Advocacy Programs
Visitation Centers
Batterers Re-Education/Treatment Programs
Statewide programs
Shelters--A residential facility providing 24-hour emergency crisis intervention, temporary shelter (1-60+ days depending on need), legal and systems advocacy and accompaniment, support groups, children's advocacy, information & referral, transportation, community education, and training of community professionals. Legal advocates provide civil, criminal, family, juvenile, and tribal court advocacy. Shelters generally serve all women who call for help, though some shelters have a specific community or geographic focus, e.g. Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, for Latina battered women, including mono-lingual and immigrant/refugee women; Eagle's Nest Shelter, St. Paul, for American Indian battered women; rural shelters which generally serve a several-county region; and suburban shelters which set-aside some beds for women living within county boundaries. Currently, there are nine rural shelters and eleven metro shelters.
Community Advocacy Programs--A community-based program, established independently or as part of a shelter or other umbrella organization, providing 24-hour emergency crisis intervention, temporary shelter (through a local safe-home network or referral to a shelter), legal and systems advocacy and accompaniment, support groups, children's advocacy, information and referral, transportation, community education, and training of community professionals. Legal advocates provide civil, criminal, family, juvenile, and tribal court advocacy. Programs generally serve all women who call for help, though some programs have a specific community or geographic focus, e.g. White Earth Battered Women's Service, Naytahwaush and other reservation programs; rural programs which serve a one or two county area; and metro programs which serve specific neighborhoods or communities, e.g. Unity Center serving North Minneapolis communities. There are currently 73 community advocacy programs throughout the state.
Safe Homes--Part of the programming offered by some community advocacy programs and some shelters, both rural and metro. These are private homes in which owners volunteer to house battered women and their children on a short-term temporary basis (1-3 nights). One program in the metro area (Sojourner) has established a volunteer program among motel/hotel operators in which battered women are offered temporary (1-3 nights) free housing in vacant motel/hotel rooms. Most metro shelters use this network as a back-up when full or when placing women on waiting lists.
Intervention Projects--Programs established independently or as part of a shelter or community advocacy program to coordinate a consistent, effective response by the criminal justice system to domestic assault crimes. Intervention Projects organize within particular jurisdictions (cities, counties, or reservations) to monitor the response of the criminal justice system to crimes against battered women and their children and to improve arrest and conviction rates for these crimes. Legal advocates focus on criminal law, but also assist women with civil, family, and juvenile court advocacy as needed. There are currently 23 Intervention Projects throughout the state.
Hospital/Clinic Advocacy Programs--Programs established within hospitals or clinics to provide advocacy for battered women identified by medical service providers in the delivery of health care services. There are currently 6 such programs in the state.
Visitation Centers--Programs established independently or programming offered by some shelters and some community advocacy programs to provide a safe location for exchange of children for visitation and/or supervised visitation. Programs receive court referrals for supervised visitation. Some programs offer parenting education. There are currently 6 visitation centers in the state.
Batterers Re-Education/Treatment Programs--Programs established independently or as part of a shelter, community advocacy program, or intervention project to provide re-education, treatment, or intervention with perpetrators of domestic assault crimes. Most programs operate as a component of an intervention project, receiving court referrals as a condition of a stayed sentence. There are about 7 batterers re-education programs in the state operating out of Intervention Projects. There are many other mental health agencies providing programming for batterers throughout the state, some of which are collaborative with local battered women's programs.
Statewide Programs--Programs or projects established to advocate on a statewide level on behalf of battered women and their children, including some with a focus on a particular community.