Dream Big : A Simple, Complicated Idea to Stop Family Violence

Though help is out there for victims of domestic violence, it's not always easy to find. The people who seek it often go from agency to agency, telling their story again and again. The rapidly developing Family Justice Center movement seeks to bring all community services for family violence, elder abuse, stalking, and sexual assault under one roof.

In Dream Big, the visionaries behind the Family Justice Center movement use testimonies of survivors, staff in existing Centers, and domestic violence movement leaders to paint a future where families come first, and professionals come together to stop family violence. Everyone can play a role. Dream Big will show you how.

Praise for Dream Big

"Casey Gwinn's work with women and families that are survivors of domestic abuse is nothing short of extraordinary. I have been inspired by his vision and dedication to ending the cycle of violence against women in this country and I hope Dream Big will inspire others as well."
Reese Witherspoon, Actress, Avon Global Ambassador

"Every police chief and law enforcement policy maker in America should read Dream Big... [The book] challenges us all to be in the lifesaving business together."
Lt. Mark Wynn, Nashville Metro Police Department (Retired)

"Dream Big is an easy read for anyone who wants to join their community's effort to stop violence against women and children."
Sue Else, President, National Network to End Domestic Violence

"Casey Gwinn and Gael Strack are leading the way forward in the domestic violence movement. They are challenging us to think outside the box--to keep growing, changing, and evolving as we work to prevent family violence."
Sarah Buel, Survivor, Advocate, Law Professor

"Dream Big persuasively tells the story of a dream made real...This book teaches the principles that can help any community reduce violence and save lives."
Gavin de Becker, Bestselling Author, The Gift of Fear

FINDING THE MONEY

Our first funding application went to the United States Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) in 2001. We reasoned that this national idea should be endorsed at the federal level and San Diego should help lead the way. It made good sense, with so much federal money now focused on addressing family violence issues, that the Justice Department should support our exciting vision. But only months after applying for money, our application was rejected!

Though there were many reasons for our rejection, we received feedback from OVW that included two comments. First, we had asked for money to rent office space to create the Center, but at that time OVW provided funds only for program services. Second, our proposal had not fared well during the peer review process. OVW's peer review brought in domestic violence experts from across the country to evaluate all funding requests before staff made a final decision. Clearly, we failed in articulating our vision and/or the peer reviewers did not understand the concept of co-located services for victims of domestic violence and their children.

Though OVW rejected our first application, we had simultaneously submitted our application for rent and infrastructure costs to the California Endowment, a large private foundation focused on funding health-related initiatives in California. The Endowment carefully considered our proposal for many months. While our proposal was pending, we scheduled a public hearing in October 2001 before the City of San Diego's Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee. Made up of five members of the San Diego City Council, the committee was our first public presentation of the vision. We invited our Program Manager at the Endowment, Greg Hall, and other potential funders to the hearing.

We filled the committee hearing room with community supporters from a host of potential partner agencies. Momentum was building! Front and center was the Police Chief and the Fire Chief, in uniform, standing side by side with domestic violence advocates in support of a new public safety initiative in San Diego focused on helping victims of domestic violence. The committee heard the pitch, and they too saw the vision. They were moved as survivors shared their stories and the need for more accessible services. The hearing was not, however, about those women or those victims. We focused on the responsibility of our entire community to stop family violence. The committee voted to support the vision, though money still needed to be identified. Poignantly, two of the five members of the committee shared their own experiences with family violence, and both of them wrote a personal check to support the Center on the spot. The very first check was written by a City Council member, who in tears told me that he had seen his father hit his mother and he had not always acted "properly" with his wife.

Though new to the California Endowment, Greg Hall too saw the vision that day. Greg's insight and wisdom was the key turning point for the Center. Under the leadership of Dr. Robert Ross, the California Endowment became our gateway to success. Experienced in public health prevention and intervention models, Dr. Ross understood the concept of trying to bring all services together and developing a community of caring professionals who could focus on healing for victims. We also needed to identify potential City revenues to assist with the project. We did not want to take money away from existing programs. We wanted to make the pie bigger with new money from the General Fund of the City of San Diego. City Attorney analyst Mary Ann Stepnowsky became a secret weapon as she calculated the need and looked for potential funds to re-allocate from other city initiatives.

In March 2002, the California Endowment offered the City of San Diego a $500,000 challenge grant. If the City would match it, the Endowment would provide $500,000 over a three-year period to help make the Center a reality. Within 30 days, the Mayor and City Council pledged city community development block grant funds, and we had enough money to get started.

At every turn, we remembered the words of David Starr Jordan, the first President of Stanford University: "The world steps aside to let anyone pass who knows where they are going." We simply kept articulating where we were going until everyone around us came to believe it was true. We did not question that it would happen. We kept believing, stayed positive, and kept advocating to anyone that would listen. Once we had such diverse and strong support, we put the pressure on others to make sure they were not left off the list of supporters when the Center became a reality! And we kept circulating our support list to everyoneÂ--each time adding names of supporting agencies and supporting individuals. By the time we were done, we had over 70 agencies and individuals on the list. As we look back, we cannot remember an agency or individual that declined to be listed. Of course we were not asking for money yetÂ...just their endorsement and support!

On April 9, 2002, then-Mayor Dick Murphy and a unanimous San Diego City Council authorized a five-year lease on privately owned downtown office space for the new Center. A local businessman, Chris McKellar, who had been touched by family violence in his own life, offered us three floors in a downtown high-rise at a reduced rent. And the space planning and detail work began in earnest.

Hope for Hurting Families II: How to Create a Family Justice Center in Your Community, available separately from this book, addresses the detailed steps necessary to open a Center.6 A second edition of the manual, entitled "Start Small: The Path to Creating a Family Justice Center in Your Community," will be published later this year. The first manual is based on the learning process we engaged in as we moved from concept to reality between October 2001 and October 2002, and is then supplemented with the lessons learned in communities across the United States between 2002 and 2007. The new manual will include the many lessons learned since 2007. Each of the manuals goes through the many steps we had to go through and also includes the unique dynamics we have now seen in more and more communities that have gone down this road toward co-located services. But the overview in this chapter should give you a sense of the "COMPLICATED" part of figuring out a co-location model with 27 on-site and off-site partner agencies.