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Chapter
15. The Role of the U.S. Military in Preventing and Responding to Violence
Against Women: Resources
Center for Women Veterans The Center for Women Veterans works to ensure that women veterans receive benefits and services equal to those received by male veterans, encounter no discrimination in their attempts to access these services, and are treated with respect and dignity by Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) service providers. Services include outreach to women veterans, health care, sexual trauma counseling, readjustment counseling, and information about and assistance with VA services and benefits. Women Veterans Coordinators at each VA medical center and regional office are available to help women veterans access their benefit entitlements and counsel women veterans seeking treatment and benefits. Criminal Justice Center The Criminal Justice Center of the Battered Women's Justice Project promotes interagency coordination and policy development to enhance justice for battered women and their children. In addition to guidance on arrest, prosecution, sentencing, victim safeguards, and batterer's intervention programs, the center also handles information on advocacy for victims of military personnel. Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence
The Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence was established in 2000 and is congressionally mandated to evaluate domestic violence programs and policies in DOD and the military. Its overall goal is to link the military and civilian communities to improve, strengthen, or coordinate prevention and response efforts for domestic violence involving service members. Membership includes military and civilian personnel. The Miles Foundation The Miles Foundation is a nonprofit organization serving military personnel, civilian and former spouses, intimate partners, and children, providing support services to victims of violence perpetrated by or upon military personnel. Services include advocacy, referrals, financial support, protective order documentation and service, development of victim safety plans and impact statements, engagement of witness protection programs, and professional education, including a training that describes the best way to support victims of violent acts. Its recent publication, Intimate Partner Violence and the Military: A Victim's Handbook, can be obtained by contacting the foundation. Military Family Resource Center The Military Family Resource Center (MFRC) provides information to policymakers and program staff on DOD military family policies and programs. MFRC includes the National Clearinghouse for the Military Child Development Program. The MFRC Web site lists new publications, policies, and events; provides up-to-date information on military family issues; and includes online publications and resources. The Minerva Center The Minerva Center is a research and education facility that teaches people about women in war and women in the military. The center publishes two periodicals a year—the only ones in the world that specifically deal with women who serve in the military. The Minerva Center also provides Internet support groups and a listserv that supports women's military studies and prepares seminars and support materials on such topics as the history of women in combat, women in international terrorism and low-intensity conflict, and archival preservation and collection of oral histories and autobiographies. National Military Family Association The National Military Family Association (NMFA) was created by wives and widows of military personnel who were seeking financial security; their efforts led to creation of the Survivor Benefit Plan. In recent years, NMFA membership has expanded to include families of military personnel. NMFA efforts focus on improvements in the quality of military family life. NMFA programs educate military families, the public, and Congress on the rights and benefits of military families. National Organization for Victim Assistance
The National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) provides victim and witness assistance for criminal justice and mental health professionals, advocates, researchers, victims and survivors, and related professionals. NOVA works to promote rights and services for victims of crime worldwide through national advocacy and influence on public policy, direct services to victims, assistance to professional colleagues, and membership benefits including an annual conference, a monthly newsletter, informational bulletins, and opportunities for networking and collaboration. National Training Center on Domestic and
Sexual Violence The National Training Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence provides consultation and training (including national and regional conferences), helps government decisionmakers develop and evaluate policies and programs, and promotes collaboration among government agency staff, victim advocates and service providers, university researchers, and related professionals in working to end domestic and sexual violence. The Web site includes a calendar of training sessions throughout the United States. Back to Chapter 15
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