The 2006 Regional Training Academy

Saturday, May 13 – Monday, May 15, 2006 | Minneapolis, Minnesota

To register for the 2006 Regional Training Academy, download the registration form by clicking here 

Academy Schedule In-Brief:

Day One
Saturday, May 13
 

Meet, Greet and Network with NCAVP Members

  
 

2006 NCAVP-Community Reception

  
 
 
Day Two
Sunday, May 14
  
 

Introduction to Violence Response Work

  
 
Hate Violence
  
 
Domestic Violence
  
 
Rape/Sexual Assault
  
 
Pick-Up Crimes
  
 
Police Misconduct
  
 
Discrimination
  
 

Planning Successful Program Integration & Delivery

  
  Assessing Current Program Capacity  
  Determining Service Constituencies and Goals  
  Deciding on Program Methods and Goals  
  Integrating New and Existing Programs  
 

 
Day Three
Monday, May 15
 
 

Integrating Violence Response Work

  
  Highlighting Existing LGBT Community Models  
  What’s Worked; What Hasn’t; and Why?  
  What Compels Diverse Communities to Do Violence Response Work  
  Highlighting Existing Support Networks  
 

Funding Violence Response Work

  
  Organizational Fundraising Planning  
  Building Diverse and Stable Funding Bases  
  Who Funds Violence Response Work  
  Current and Imminent Resource Challenges  
  Allies in the Work/Connecting the Dots  
  Challenges and Strategies for Funding in A ‘No-Promo-Homo’ Context  
 

Affinity Area Breakout Sessions

  
  Community Centers  
 

Advoacy Organizations

  
  Other Community-Based Organizations  

Suggested Arrival | Departure: Early in the day 5/13 | Late in the day 5/15, or 5/16
Venue: Marriott Minneapolis City Center, 30 South 7th Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55402, (612) 349-4000
Room Rate: $139 per night (single through quad) (morning meals provided 5/21-23)
Please reserve by April 28th 2006 by calling either (800) 228-9290 or (612) 349-4900 and asking for the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs group rate http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/MSPCC (group rate not available via online reservations)

Background: Why This Program Is So Urgent

Since 2000, though reports of anti-LGBT incidents involved heightened levels of violence, the actual                                                                                 number of incidents declined slightly or remained the same. But this has changed quite a bit over the                                                                               last three years:

  • First in June 2003, in what is perhaps the greatest victory yet for lesbian and gay people, the Supreme Court rendered its decision in Lawrence v. Texas, striking down the remaining sodomy laws across the country.
  • Second, the visibility of our community in pop culture has quite simply exploded in the last eighteen months. With Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; Boy Meets Boy, The L Word, Queer as Folk, Six Feet Under, Will & Grace, and even the return of Ellen DeGeneres, this community has never before had a higher mass media profile – and a higher profile for our community means a greater risk of our being targeted for violence.
  • As for non-entertainment media, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s decision allowing same-sex marriage caused lesbians and gay men in particular to become public enemy number one for leaders on the far right both at the national and local level.

In part, as a result of all of these developments and the corresponding backlash towards and scapegoating of                                                                                      our nation’s LGBT communities, we have been under physical attack at levels never before seen:

  • Nationally, between January and June of 2003, anti-LGBT violence rose 3%. But, between July and December of 2003, after the Lawrence decision and the other events noted above, it rose an additional 26%.
  • The story unfortunately, did not end in 2003. In 2004, most of NCAVP’s member programs reported ongoing increases in anti-LGBT violence.

Clearly, the fact that our community was grist for the right-wing political mill during national and state elections in November 2004 had a tremendous amount to do with that. And now that in the view of many, using LGBT people as pawns to gain or retain power has once again proven to be a viable strategy, we can expect more of the same in the upcoming election season – some of the more vitriolic and outspoken leaders on the right have even been so emboldened as to say so.  The negative impact of all of this on our community and our families is incalculable, but it nonetheless very real and the cycle as a whole can link violence with some of the LGBT community’s leading health problems.

  • For instance, from a public health standpoint, the legacies of the violence we face extends well past isolated physical injury or disability to include increased risk for mental illness, alcohol and substance use and complementary risk-taking behaviors.
  • Fear of violence also can keep many LGBT individuals from living their lives openly. Each of these consequences in turn can feed the epidemics of Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS and other STDs affecting large numbers of individuals.
  • Increased attack on our identities and relationships adds pressure for each of us to portray our relationships as perfect and without problems. This is of grave concern as we know domestic violence continues in our community but fewer victims are willing to speak out, to get help and find safety. Additionally, the more pressure we experience from the outside, the more intense the abuse is likely to become. Intensified violence mixed with increased pressure for silence is a dangerous formula.

Issues of violence have an acute impact on LGBT individuals, our families, partners, children, and communities in ways most of us don’t even recognize unless we or someone we care about has had first-hand experience with violence. At the very least, almost all of us modify public behavior to avoid being victimized by hate violence. Furthermore, the impact of domestic violence in LGBT relationships is often something that as our families continue to be attacked from the outside, our community remains reluctant to acknowledge, let alone address. Additionally, political, policy, cultural, and physical attacks on the LGBT community often create additional stresses for LGBT families, and may exacerbate the violence in abusive relationships and the barriers to finding safety.

The impact of these issues tends to be even more detrimental for LGBT people who have multiple marginalized identities (i.e., people of color, women, poor and/or rural people, the young, seniors and those of transgender experience).

Every community shares accountability for violence response. Developing comprehensive, innovative and effective strategies to address violence, the fear of violence and its impacts on us, our communities and our families is essential, and sharing those responses is critical – this Academy is about sharing those strategies.

This two and a half day Academy is designed to provide LGBT and LGBT friendly organizations, service providers and leaders with training, technical assistance and information that will serve the dual purposes of increasing participant organization’s Capacity-Building proficiency and Anti-Violence Programming knowledge and skill.

Because the Academy is being held partly in conjunction with NCAVP’s annual membership meeting – The Roundtable – participants will be able to meet others from our community already doing anti-violence work. Some representatives from NCAVP’s membership will also be forming part of the faculty for the Academy, so those who attend will have the opportunity to learn from them and about their experiences in a more in-depth manner as well.

To register for the 2006 Regional Training Academy, download the registration form by clicking here