City-county Domestic Violence Commission outlines 2024 progress, sets three-priority roadmap through 2028

The joint city-county Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence (CCDV) presented its 2024 progress report to the Bexar County Commissioners Court on April 29, summarizing work completed and proposing a strategic roadmap for the next four years.

"Our mission is to work collaboratively to empower our community, to increase safety and justice for all by preventing and effectively intervening in domestic violence and its intergenerational impact," CCDV presenter said during the presentation. The report highlights three priority strategies the commission voted to pursue through 2028: (1) improve data acquisition and utilization to inform policy and track outcomes; (2) implement a long-term public communications campaign to raise awareness and reduce stigma; and (3) incorporate education on healthy relationships early in life, focusing on teens and youth.

Under the data strategy, the commission redesigned its annual statistical report to include additional data points and three-year comparisons, pilot-tested a complex case review team (CCRT) to analyze cross-agency responses, and began forming an advisory board of people with lived experience (survivors and people who have used harm) to inform decision-making. For communications, the CCDV reported continued outreach including a hybrid domestic violence awareness symposium at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center and free billboard space provided by Clear Channel. For youth prevention, the commission said it is mapping and evaluating available curricula for healthy-relationship education, developing a teen-oriented domestic-violence resource hub, and coordinating with school districts, PTAs and youth programs.

Commissioners asked questions about how the county would support specific programs and about interagency coordination. Commissioner Tommy Calvick noted an item on the consent agenda (Item 61) that would authorize a domestic-violence navigation line and safety team; the CCDV presenters said the county was prepared to step in for unincorporated areas after a city grant ended. "The grant that the city had ended, so there was no funding to support the unincorporated areas," a CCDV representative confirmed when asked by the court.

The presentation emphasized research-based planning: CCDV staff said the communications campaign and prevention curricula will be informed by focus groups and surveys run in partnership with UTSA. The commission asked county staff to continue coordination and to report back as the communications research and youth-education mapping progress. No formal vote was required; the court received the report and acknowledged upcoming consent items tied to CCDV work.