The important role of community partners

It takes a village to end intimate partner violence (IPV).

Just by living in and moving through your community, you have power to strike change. Whether it’s through informal discussions with friends and neighbors, modeling healthy and respectful interactions with family, or working through various community institutions such as schools, local government, or businesses, you possess multiple points and varying degrees of influence over those around you.

This is what IPV prevention work is all about: finding ways to incorporate and actively model respect and equality in our daily lives and furthermore, seeking opportunities to reinforce and saturate these messages in various community settings.

For this reason, many strong prevention initiatives include schools, churches, businesses, and a number of influencers and key stakeholders who serve our communities and neighborhoods. Successful prevention requires an approach of community connectedness – a model where everyone has a stake in creating change. See examples of how this can look.