I’ll never forget the first time I attended a State and Local Partners meeting.
I had just started with the Action Alliance and was invited to attend this meeting a few weeks from my start date. This particular meeting was at UVA-Wise – a pretty far drive from Richmond, and the farthest I’ve ever driven in Virginia! As we drove through the mountains, I remember feeling excited to learn more about the field of sexual and domestic violence advocacy, getting a chance to meet new people throughout the state, and spend time with co-workers learning more about the work of the Action Alliance.
For most State and Local Partners meetings, agencies in a particular region of the state come together for a day to talk about topics related to our work that are important to that region, get updates about work being done across the state, and hear updates, news, and announcements from the convening partners including the Action Alliance, Virginia Department of Social Services, Department of Criminal Justice Services, Virginia Department of Health, and the Department of Housing and Community Development. The Action Alliance is one of partners that helps organize and facilitate these meetings. For each quarterly meeting, the convening partners rotate the roles of facilitator and time-keeper.
At this first meeting, I remember we focused on prevention services and how difficult it was for agencies to address mental/behavioral health and substance use concerns. Other meetings I’ve attended have focused on working with underserved populations, funding concerns, survivor data privacy as well as privacy in communal living situations, and more. There’s always something to be learned at the meetings.
What so many advocates and directors walk away with after these meetings is not only practical resources from partners and other agencies on how to do better work in Virginia, but they’ve also built better relationships by being in the same room, listening to each other, knowing that we are facing the same concerns, speaking the truths that are difficult about our work, and collaborating to solve problems in the moment. This networking power is phenomenal and keeps advocates and directors looking forward to State and Local Partners meetings every quarter. I personally created so many connections with folks from that first meeting. It was a great “welcome aboard” opportunity.
If you are interested in joining us for a meeting and building these great connections to help you in the work and the movement to end violence, you’ll want to save the following dates:
- February 11, hosted by Goochland Cares, will be for agencies in the Central Virginia region. You can RSVP at this link.
- May 19 will be hosted in Northwestern Virginia
- August 11 will be hosted in Southwestern Virginia
- November 10 will be hosted in the Eastern Virginia
This year, we’re working to make sure our State and Local Partners meetings are nurturing your needs. If you have any questions or ideas, please reach out to Tamara Mason at tmason[at]vsdvalliance.org!
Amanda Pohl is the Data Systems and Evaluation Director at the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance. She works with a team to ensure survivor data is kept private and in the control of survivors and provides valuable insight on data that is used to inform policy and tell the stories of survivors and the work of agencies in Virginia.
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