WHO WE ARE                 WHAT WE DO                WHAT YOU CAN DO

Mission Statement

The Mission of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) is to organize for collective power by advancing transformative work, thinking and leadership of communities and individuals working to end the violence in our lives.

NCADV believes violence against women and children results from the use of force or threat to achieve and maintain control over others in intimate relationships, and from societal abuse of power and domination in the forms of sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, anti-Semitism, able-bodyism, ageism and other oppressions. NCADV recognizes that the abuses of power in society foster battering by perpetuating conditions, which condone violence against women and children. Therefore, it is the mission of NCADV to work for major societal changes necessary to eliminate both personal and societal violence against all women and children.

NCADV's work includes coalition building at the local, state, regional and national levels; support for the provision of community-based, non-violent alternatives - such as safe home and shelter programs - for battered women and their children; public education and technical assistance; policy development and innovative legislation; focus on the leadership of NCADV's caucuses developed to represent the concerns of organizationally under represented groups; and efforts to eradicate social conditions which contribute to violence against women and children.

Principles of Unity

NCADV is comprised of people dealing with the concerns of battered women and their families. We represent both rural and urban areas. Our programs support and involve battered women of all racial, social, religious and economic groups, ages and lifestyles. We oppose the use of violence as a means of control over others and support equality in relationships and the concept of helping women assume power over their own lives. We strive toward becoming independent, community-based groups in which women make major policy and program decisions.

NCADV Works to:

Eliminate Domestic Violence: NCADV is devoted to the elimination of domestic violence in urban and rural areas, across all racial, religious and economic groups. NCADV identifies and works to eradicate the social conditions that perpetuate or condone domestic violence such as sexism, ageism, heterosexism, and able-bodyism and easy access to guns.

Empower Battered Women and Children: NCADV protects and empowers battered women and children through vigilance and sponsorship of national public policy initiatives and federal legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act.

Promote and Unify Direct Service Programs: NCADV serves as the membership organization, the coalition builder and the technical advisor for agencies and programs nationwide that provide domestic violence services. NCADV represents these grassroots organizations with a unified, loud voice.

Alert and Educate the Public: NCADV alerts the public to the facts of domestic violence and educates the public on how to recognize domestic violence and what to do about it; on teen dating violence; on the impact of family violence on children; and on domestic violence against the disabled and the elderly and other marginalized populations.

Promote Partnerships: NCADV partners with corporations and foundations to design and fund innovative programs to eliminate domestic violence and to foster development of safe alternatives within local communities.

Vision Statement

NCADV strives to make issues relating to battered women and children one of the top ten political and legislative issues in the U.S. We envision a time in the near future when political parties will include progressive domestic violence legislation as a major platform in their local, state, and national elections and use NCADV research and public policy expertise to inform them.

NCADV strives to unite all safe houses, shelters, battered women's and children's programs and local domestic violence services under NCADV's umbrella so that our unified voice is a powerful one and those underrepresented groups are heard.

NCADV strives to expand domestic and dating violence education and services to tribal, immigrant, lesbian, teens, disabled, older, Jewish, Muslim, women of color, and other populations that may yet be unidentified.

NCADV works to expand information on and respond to the impact of violence in the lives of children and youth.

NCADV strives to make the purple ribbon and the on-going domestic violence tragedy that the ribbon stands for an important and recognizable symbol in American life. We envision a time in the near future when domestic violence issues are aired on television, radio, in the press and in magazines with the same level of attention as the national struggles against Cancer and HIV/AIDS.

We envision a time in the near future when NCADV will play a leadership role in exporting to and importing from other countries around the world a model for how all nations can carry out their own efforts to end the global tragedy of domestic violence.