Alianza is currently offering the three trainings described below. You can click on the titles for additional information:
Train-the Trainer Financial Independence for Survivors of Domestic Violence Workshops, On the Road to Social Transformation: Culture Proficiency Training; and Working with Men and Boys to Eradicate Domestic Violence.

There is no training fee for any of the trainings and there will be scholarships available for trainings 2 and 3. They are made possible through two OVW Training and Technical Assistance Grants. Grantees may use OVW funds to cover allowable travel and lodging expenses. Our training services are offered throughout the U.S. and extend to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. To request a training for your organization email:ivonneo@dvalianza.org.

 

1Cultural Competency Training: Utilizing Cultural and Community Strengths to End Domestic Violence, Phase II. In 2007, Alianza formed a Cultural Proficiency Task Force to determine how best to assist domestic violence service providers in developing culturally responsive services that would more adequately address the needs of Latina survivors of domestic violence and their families. The work of the Task Force led to the development of a document entitled On the Road to Social Transformation: Utilizing Cultural and Community Strengths to End Domestic Violence and a companion training curriculum entitled On the Road to Social Transformation: A Cultural Proficiency Training Curriculum for Domestic Violence Service Providers and Advocates, in 2008 and 2009, respectively.¹

Following the completion of the Phase I curriculum, Alianza conducted a series of pilot trainings in various parts of the country. Feedback from the trainee organizations helped us in developing Phase II of the Utilizing Cultural and Community Strengths to End Domestic Violence Curriculum and training materials.

Our underlying goal with both of these curricula and trainings is to assist service providers in strengthening their commitment and capacity to better serve Latino families and individuals, including immigrants, affected by domestic violence and to ensure that they are served in a culturally and linguistically sensitive and responsive manner.

The Phase II Curriculum and training is organized around four sessions that contain recommendations and tools that can be used to develop and/or enhance an organization's policies, programs and services. Included in the package are numerous handouts (training materials), a Power Point presentation, descriptions of various "promising practices," and a List of Resources. The sessions are:

• Conducting a Cultural Competency Self-Assessment: explains the need for organizations to assess their beliefs, behaviors, policies, structures and practices. What are your organization's strengths/assets? What gaps exist? How well do you know your target community? What ties do you have with the target community? What are your short- and long-term goals for organizational diversity, eliminating disparities and creating culturally competent services? What resources do you have, need and how can you obtain them?

• Getting to Know the Community: offers recommendations for identifying the demographic make-up of the community. Who are its residents, what are their needs? What services and resources exist for the target population(s)? Who are the key community leaders and stakeholders? What does the community know about family violence and what are their beliefs and attitudes? This section also describes several assessment tools for gathering this information.

• Engaging the Community: explores ways to introduce your organization to the community and gain its respect and trust; ways to enlist the support of key agencies, institutions, and leaders, how to develop avenues for them to offer feedback; and how to get the community to develop "ownership" of the issue.

• Program Design—Developing Programs That Work: looks at key elements that help an organization create organizational diversity, eliminate disparities that may exist, and create culturally competent programming that is responsive to the actual needs of the communities served. It also stresses the need for organization-wide commitment to making the needed changes, including Boards that are diverse and representative of the communities served; policies that state the organization's commitments; hiring and retaining bilingual and culturally sensitive staff; providing services that are responsive to the cultural and linguistic needs of its clients; building collaborations, partnerships and key alliances within the communities served, etc.

This session looks closely at two important elements of Program Design: Accessibility and Outreach and provides tools that can help programs implement measures to ensure that their programs and services are accessible to all the populations they serve.

• Accessibility: this session discusses the need for organizations to ensure that their services are accessible to all population(s) they serve; cites laws and guidelines that mandate accessibility; and gives examples of steps that can be taken to enhance accessibility, including providing interpretation services, establishing flexible hours of operation, providing a welcoming environment, offering childcare for program participants and providing services at non-traditional locations.

• Outreach: discusses steps to help plan and conduct successful outreach to Latino communities (survivors, family members, allies) and descriptions of specific implementation strategies and approaches. This section also describes how the use of the Promotoras model of outreach in Latino communities (peer health educators, community health workers, peer leaders, peer outreach workers) has proven successful in reaching out to underserved populations, including Latino communities, immigrant communities, and farmworker communities.

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[1] Both documents were authored by Elsa A. Rios, under the guidance of Alianza’s Cultural Proficiency Task Force,  http://www.dvalianza.org/informational-booklets.html

2Working with Men and Boys to Eradicate Domestic Violence, Phase II (Movimiento). This training will assist organizations that want to learn how to engage men and boys as advocates in the struggle to end violence against women. It will assist them in developing culturally-based outreach and programming for Latino males.

Alianza firmly believes that the eradication of domestic violence from Latino communities requires the on-going and committed participation of both Latinas and Latinos. Women and men need to work together to prevent and end domestic violence and to jointly promote healing in our families and communities. While Alianza recognizes that Latinos who batter are internal oppressors and victimizers who need to be held accountable (sometimes through the criminal justice system), it is important to develop and promote services and programs that help them heal, stabilize their lives and enhance their chances of remaining non-violent. We must go beyond viewing them only as "perpetrators." They are not the "other," but are part of our families and communities, and may need assistance, guidance, and healing in honouring and respecting all their relationships. Through support networks that focus on accountability, healing from internalized oppression, and by recovering positive aspects of our cultural traditions, men can find real balance in their lives, recapture a sense of belonging, and become productive members of our communities—nurturing fathers, good husbands/partners, role models for other men and youth, and advocates for nonviolence. It is with this intent that we offer this curriculum and training.

The curriculum for this training—Working with Men and Boys to Eradicate Domestic Violence, Phase II (Movimiento)—was developed by the National Compadres Network and modified in conjunction with Alianza.

3¡Si Podemos/Yes We Can!—Beyond Domestic Violence: Achieving Financial Independence/Mas Alla de la Violencia Doméstica: Logrando la Independencia Financiera. Is a 2-Day Train-the-Trainer Workshop for OVW Grantees & other DV Providers that Serve Latina Survivors (including Immigrants).

In addition to providing important information about financial literacy and entrepreneurship (how to start a business), the trainers will discuss effective methods for facilitating workshops for survivors using Alianza's training curriculum--¡Si Podemos/Yes We Can—Beyond Domestic Violence: Achieving Financial Independence. The training will also provide information about the specific needs and circumstances of Latina survivors and how financial knowledge can be a key step in the survival of victims and their children.

Day One: Participants will learn the basics of Financial Literacy including: household budgeting, how banks and other financial institutions work, opening and balancing a check book, credit basics, personal and business loans, renting or buying a place, and identify theft.

Day Two: Participants will actively engage in exploring the world of entrepreneurship (How to Start a Business). They will learn how to do marketing research to determine if there a market for a specific product or service; review business ownership essentials, including start-up requirements and operations—how to select a business structure, how much money is needed to open the business, what licenses or permits are required, how to balance family and business, how to keep good records, how to protect business assets.

Participants will also learn the basics of creating a marketing plan (selecting marketing strategies and venues) and a business plan, including developing a long-range vision, setting realistic goals, writing a mission statement, selecting a location, product/service description, hours of operation, management, general operations, and projecting costs.

After learning the theory—the how to's and the do's and don'ts, and examining selected case studies—participants, working in small groups, will develop sample budgets, calculate personal living expenses, and create sample businesses.