From 2011 - 2018, the MCDVC served as a Founding Organizer of the Michigan Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian, Gay and Queer Survivors of Abuse. The MI Network created community and organizational change to respond to abuse and promote healthy relationships in LGBTQ communities.  Affirmations, HAVEN, Equality Michigan and Turning Point are the other founding organizers of the MI Network. For more information about how we did our work, click here.  To see a 7-minute Ignite Talk on LGBTQ partner abuse and sexual violence, click here. 

We RESPONDED to abuse through providing training and technical assistance to domestic and sexual violence organizations on LGBTQ abuse.  Additionally, we engage LGBTQ communities in discussions around community accountability and responses to survivors.

We PREVENTED abuse by facilitating Relationship Skills Classes for LGBTQ communities.

We CONNECTED people who share these values and goals with each other through the MI Network Roundtable, a group of service providers dedicated to learning more about LGBTQ abuse.

Domestic violence strangulation is a unique intersection of significant harm to survivors and an opportunity for community engagement. The medical evidence of the seriousness of non-fatal strangulation compels us to find ways to utilize the existing felony domestic violence strangulation law to hold offenders accountable while connecting survivors to services. To meet this need, the Macomb County Strangulation Response Team (MCSRT) began in 2017.  Our team includes the Macomb County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Centerline Police Department, Clinton Township Police Department, the Macomb County Sheriff's Office, Turning Point forensic nurses, advocates, & survivors and the Macomb Community Domestic Violence Council. We meet monthly to provide a coordinated community response to survivors of IPV non-fatal strangulation in Macomb County including forensic strangulation assessments, medical referrals, advocacy, investigation and prosecution.  During FY18, this team supported 64 survivors of non-fatal strangulation. 

The Macomb Community Domestic Violence Council recommends Batterer Intervention Programs as the only appropriate intervention for batterers. These programs should have a minimum of 26 sessions and comply with the Michigan State Standards for Batterer's Intervention.  Since 2008 we have released an annual list of Batterer Intervention Programs working in Macomb County. 

Download the List

The Domestic Violence Fatality Review was generated by a sub-committee of the Macomb Community Domestic Violence Council in 2006. The team was composed of a diverse coalition of representatives from the medical, criminal justice and victim services communities. Over the course of eighteen months, the multidisciplinary group examined five lethal and near-lethal domestic violence cases in our community. An independent facilitator guided the monthly discussions in order to generate consensus around the prevention techniques and system changes necessary to improve our coordinated community response to domestic violence.

The final report includes important insights regarding risk, intervention and prevention efforts that can be made by all of us in domestic violence cases. The Macomb Community Domestic Violence Council continues to facilitate the community dialogue and actions to implement and evaluate the recommendations developed by the Fatality Review Team.

In 2009, a small group of MCDVC members began with a vision based on the belief that we can end domestic violence, not just respond to it, if we have a plan created by the whole community. After six months of careful planning, over 125 Macomb County residents and professionals from criminal justice, education, healthcare, social services, government and the general community gathered to learn about domestic violence prevention science and build a prevention plan to end domestic violence in Macomb County.

The Model Domestic Violence Protocol for Law Enforcement was compiled in 2008 - 2009 by a taskforce of the MCDVC that included participation and partnership of most law enforcement agencies in the county. The Law Enforcement Taskforce of the MCDVC reviewed and revised the existing domestic violence protocols that were created nearly fifteen years prior. This new document pulls on the best practices from across the nation, the State of Michigan’s model policy, and conversations with law enforcement here in Macomb County.

This document has been endorsed by the Macomb Chiefs of Police Association, implemented in several departments and a there has been a multidisciplinary train-the-trainer training to facilitate further implementation of this policy.