AVDA

Causes: Human Services, Victims Services

Mission: Avda's mission is to end family violence by advocating for the safety and self-determination of victims, promoting acccountability for abusers, and fostering a coordinated community response to abuse.

Programs: Legal advocacy program (lap)avda's legal advocacy program, for years, has been the primary source of free legal representation for low and moderate income victims of family violence pending in harris county family courts. In 2017, avda expanded its highly successful, trauma-informed supportive legal services for victims of domestic abuse into fort bend county, providing the same stellar representation and support for victims for protective orders, divorce, child custody, child support and adoption. Avda now has eight teams of attorneys/paralegals to serve victims of family violence, and served approximately 3,400 victims of abuse and their children in 2017. [continued on schedule o]in response to hurricane harvey's damage to the harris county district attorney's office, avda's protective order team increased its protective order representation by one third.

family violence program (fvp)avda's family violence program consists of five highly trained and empathic client advocates who provide a litany of supportive services for victims of family violence. As first responders to those seeking assistance, they fielded calls from over 3,000 individuals seeking services and provided safety planning, referral, assistance with crime victims compensation and more. They offered emergency financial assistance and aid with navigating the criminal justice. Avda created a relief fund for clients impacted by hurricane harvey, and in 2017, expanded locations for off-site intake, including intake at the houston area women's center and district attorney's office.

battering intervention and prevention program (bipp)in 2017, avda provided its nationally acclaimed psychoeducational group counseling program to over 1,100 men and women who were primarily court mandated for having committed family violence. They provided training to harris county's probation department and others, and provided prevention training to the houston texans' rookie team for a second year in a row. Group services were provided in harris, galveston and montgomery counties, by avda's licensed professional group facilitators. Avda's bipp is the largest in the state of texas, and its leadership provides training on both a local and state level.

counseling and outreach program (cop)in 2017, our licensed trauma counselor provided over 2,000 counseling sessions to victims of domestic abuse and their children. She provided individual and group counseling, both at avda offices and off-site. Our youth and outreach program provided bilingual education and prevention programs to over 4,000 youth through teen abuse prevention programs, coaching boys into men and safe dates, as well as reaching youth and adults through numerous health fairs and community presentations.