Blueprint for Safety
The Blueprint for Safety, originally developed and implemented in Saint Paul, MN, is a prototype that can be used by any community hoping to link its criminal justice agencies together in a coherent, philosophically sound domestic violence intervention model. The Blueprint is written as a single document with a chapter for each agency within the criminal justice system. It is not just a collection of good policies; it is a collective policy with each chapter linked inextricably to the whole. It uses interagency policies, protocols, case processing procedures, and information sharing to: (a) maximize the ability of the state to gain a measure of control over a domestic violence offender; (b) use that control to intervene quickly when there are new acts of violence, intimidation or coercion; and (c) shift the burden of holding the offender accountable for violence or abuse from the victim to the system.
If you would like to speak with someone about how to become a Blueprint community, or would like more information on
the Blueprint, email blueprint@praxisinternational.org or browse our Blueprint for Safety webpages.
The Duluth Model
Since the early 1980s, Duluth—a small community in northern Minnesota—has been an innovator of ways to hold batterers accountable and keep victims safe. The “Duluth Model” is an ever evolving way of thinking about how a community works together to end domestic violence.
Show MoreA community using the Duluth Model approach:
- Has taken the blame off the victim and placed the accountability for abuse on the offender.
- Has shared policies and procedures for holding offenders accountable and keeping victims safe across all agencies in the criminal and civil justice systems from 911 to the courts.
- Prioritizes the voices and experiences of women who experience battering in the creation of those policies and procedures.
- Believes that battering is a pattern of actions used to intentionally control or dominate an intimate partner and actively works to change societal conditions that support men’s use of tactics of power and control over women.
- Offers change opportunities for offenders through court-ordered educational groups for batterers.
- Has ongoing discussions between criminal and civil justice agencies, community members and victims to close gaps and improve the community’s response to battering.
Learn more about The Duluth Model
Collective Impact
Authors: John Kania & Mark Kramer, Standford Social Innovation Review
Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination, not the isolated intervention of individual organizations.
Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work
Authors: Fay Hanleybrown, John Kania, & Mark Kramer, Stanford Social Innovation Review
What does a global effort to reduce malnutrition have in common with a program to reduce teenage substance abuse in a small rural Massachusetts county? This article details the five key conditions that distinguish collective impact from other types of collaboration: a common agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and the presence of a backbone organization.