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OPDV director Kelly Owens outlines reports, flexible funding and tech-abuse campaign to committee
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Summary
Kelly Owens, executive director of the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, briefed the Senate Women's Issues Committee on May 20 about three reports, a flexible survivor fund, a lethality assessment initiative, a technology-facilitated-abuse public-awareness campaign and ongoing SANE-related work.
Kelly Owens, executive director of the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV), briefed the Senate Women's Issues Committee on May 20 about recent OPDV work including three reports, flexible survivor funding, coordinated community-response pilots and a campaign addressing technology-facilitated abuse.
Owens told the committee that OPDV provided three reports — a survivor listening-session report, a domestic-violence regional councils report and an annual fatality review team report — that identify cross-system gaps and common themes. "The court system, the law enforcement, the providers, education, health all really need to come to come together and do more coordinated work together," Owens said.
She described OPDV's flex-funding initiative, which the office has run for roughly "2 and a half years," saying the program provides small amounts of flexible money directly to survivors for needs such as utility bills, car payments or mortgage payments when other federal or state funds were not adaptable. Owens said the state is "the only state in the nation doing" that particular flex-funding approach.
Owens also discussed pilot efforts to build coordinated community responses, including an initiative (described in the transcript as a "scribe initiative") that the committee recently funded to pilot coordinated community responses in eight communities.
On technology-facilitated abuse, Owens said OPDV has launched a public-awareness campaign called "Power Down Speak Up" and is working with Brown University on stakeholder engagement focused on students, educators, law enforcement and parents to identify and develop resources. She said technology-facilitated abuse is being seen among youth "as young as third and fourth grade" and is affecting students through tracking, cyberbullying and identity theft online.
Owens noted other statewide efforts, including an LGBTQ endorsement program to improve inclusivity in domestic-violence services and the creation of the Gender Based Violence Training Institute. Committee Chair Senator Leah Webb encouraged members to attend OPDV's coalition meetings and said they are "very eye opening" and a good way to connect with service providers on the ground.
Owens thanked the committee for prior funding decisions and said the office will continue to report back. The committee concluded with expressions of thanks to Owens and to staff.
