Director’s Virtual Meet-up
2024-12-04 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual- Zoom
The Statewide Hotline/Crisis Response Team would like to offer this space as an ongoing opportunity to increase partnership, learn more about the needs at agencies, have a place to share and learn more about Statewide Hotline operations, and to provide the space for folx to discuss challenges, highlights, regional updates, trends, etc. We look forward to seeing you all every other month in 2024 (February, April, June, August, October and December) on the 1st Monday from 2-3p!
Note: We will try to accommodate last minute language translation requests but we typically need two weeks to secure interpretation services.

VaData Training
2024-12-06 10:00 - 14:00 | Training Center, 1413 W. Main St., Richmond, VA, 23220
Sexual and domestic violence agencies across the state are using VAdata to track services and manage their grant reporting. For new staff, this means learning about VAdata, how data is captured, and how to use data to tell the story of survivors in your area. For advanced users, the training aims to provide participants with information about the many reports available in VAdata and hands on experience inputting data. After these trainings, participants will understand more about the history and scope of the VAdata system, how to use and audit queries to retrieve information, how to use reports in grant writing, raising community awareness and more, and how data entry practices impact data and reporting statewide.
Note: We will try to accommodate last minute language translation requests but we typically need two weeks to secure interpretation services.

New Directors' Series 2024: Heading Out to Sea
2024-12-09 10:00 - 15:00 | Training Center, 1413 W. Main St., Richmond, VA, 23220
A successful voyage requires not only balance, provisions, and an effective crew, but also successful navigation. Directors play key roles in communicating a vision and setting the course from day to day. Explore options for approaching strategic planning as well as course corrections in agency mission and goals. Leave with resources that will help you in your role as a navigator.
Note: We will try to accommodate last minute language translation requests but we typically need two weeks to secure interpretation services.

Basic Advocacy Trainings- DV & SV
2024-12-10 09:00 - 2024-12-11 17:00 | The Loft, 76 W Gay Street, Harrisonburg, VA, 22802
DV BAT: This training is designed for advocates in their first year of work in the field of Domestic Violence Advocacy. Participants will be able to identify and define domestic and intimate partner violence; learn the building blocks for a trauma informed response and broaden their understanding of risk assessment and safety planning. Participants will also learn about resources in VA for supporting survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence.
SV BAT: This training is designed for advocates in their first year of work in the field of Sexual Violence Advocacy. Participants will learn how to recognize sexual violence, it’s root causes and its impact on individuals and communities; they will learn about the Cultural Context that supports sexual violence and an advocate’s role in changing that culture. Participants will also learn about the building blocks for a healing centered approach to sexual violence and be able to identify resources in Virginia for an effective response.
*It is highly recommended that new advocates receive both DV and SV Basic Advocacy Training.

Statewide Advocates' Meeting
2024-12-18 14:00 - 15:00
The Statewide Hotline/Crisis Response Team would like to offer this space as an ongoing opportunity for folx working on the front lines and on the hotlines providing direct services and support! This is a space with opportunities to meet other advocates across VA, learn more about the Statewide Hotline and Project for Empowerment of Survivors (PES) and to share trends, highlights, events, regional updates, etc. We look forward to seeing you all every other month in 2024 on the 3rd Wednesday from 2-3p.
If you know of other Advocates, Hotline and/or Direct Services staff that could benefit from joining the space, please send their contact information to lwhite@vsdvalliance.org.
Note: We will try to accommodate last minute language translation requests but we typically need two weeks to secure interpretation services.

Violence Prevention in Action ECHO
2025-01-15 10:30 - 12:00, 2025-04-16 10:30 - 12:00, 2025-07-16 10:30 - 12:00 | Virtual- Zoom
Join our Violence Prevention in Action ECHO program to build your prevention network, connect over challenging cases, and stay on top of best practices in sexual and intimate partner violence primary prevention!
Project ECHO is an international, evidence-based model for training and peer-to-peer learning, originally developed at the University of New Mexico for use by doctors and other medical providers. We’ve used the model since 2019 to cultivate a thriving community of preventionists from Sexual and Domestic Violence Agencies across the Commonwealth.
For more information about our use of the ECHO model or the structure of the session, please visit: https://bit.ly/VPAecho.

VaData Training
2025-01-31 10:00 - 14:00 | Charlottesville, VA
Sexual and domestic violence agencies across the state use VAdata to track services and manage their grant reporting. For new staff, this means there’s a lot to learn about VAdata, how data is captured, and how to use data to tell the story of survivors in your area. For advanced users, there may be more questions about the many reports available or specific questions about how data shows up in those reports.
After this training, participants will understand more about the history and scope of the VAdata system, how to use and audit queries to retrieve information, how to use reports in grant writing, raising community awareness and more, and how data entry practices impact data and reporting statewide. Participants are encouraged to bring any and all questions to the training along with their laptops to apply practical tips learned to their own agency’s VAdata account.
Note: We will try to accommodate last minute language translation requests but we typically need two weeks to secure interpretation services.

Advocate Wellness Experiences: Practicing the Pause
2025-02-07 10:00 - 15:30 | Hampton, VA
Guided by the perspective that there is more power in pausing than relentlessly pushing through – join us to explore and co-create new ways of being in our work. A “third” way that calls for an intentional and critical paradigm shift in the anti-violence movement, from reacting to the crisis of burnout towards building healing-centered capacity to respond to and even prevent it; to not just survive, but to thrive.
Together, we will unpack the impacts of this work and try on practices that support recentering ourselves amidst it. Our time will be reflective, interactive, experiential, joy-filled, and will embrace spaciousness and pauses. This session is also intended to nurture connections among fellow wellness allies, and ready us with insight and practices to continue our work whole and well.
Each session will be organically tailored to hold space and provide practices for the current needs of the field and the experiences and intentions of those who register. After registering, participants will be asked to complete a survey to fold in your perspective on how to meaningfully craft the session. In addition, the weather and unique location and space of each session will inform our time together.

VAdata Office Hours
2025-02-25 15:00 - 16:30, 2025-03-25 15:00 - 16:30, 2025-04-29 15:00 - 16:30, 2025-05-27 15:00 - 16:30, 2025-06-24 08:00 - 17:00
Drop in (virtually) any time between 3:00 and 4:30 to ask us your VAdata related questions.

State and Local Partners Meeting
2025-02-27 10:00 - 12:00
These interactive quarterly gatherings of advocates, preventionists, sexual and domestic violence agency administrators, state funders and other partners serving survivors of violence are opportunities for connection and collaboration on the local, regional, and state level. The State and Local Partners Meetings are a unique forum for agencies to share their expertise and experiences from the front lines with funding partners who would like to learn more about emerging trends, needs, and celebrations among our communities.
This invitation is open to advocates, preventionists, funders, and other partners serving survivors and/or supporting community education on healthy relationships. Our time together will be spent learning from each other, engaging in discussion on statewide issues, sharing valuable resources, etc.
All four meetings in 2025 will be virtual, meeting via zoom from 10am – noon. We anticipate that participants are coming prepared to engage in conversations that will continue to move forward the work of ending sexual and domestic violence here in the Commonwealth.
At this meeting, we will be joined by staff from The Tahirih Justice Center, a national nonprofit organization serving immigrant survivors of violence, to do a brief workshop on supporting and safety planning with survivors who are immigrants.

VaData Training
2025-03-07 10:00 - 14:00 | Samuels Public Library, White Meeting Room B, 330 E Criser Rd, Front Royal, VA, 22630, United States

Emergence In-Person Retreat
2025-03-25 - 2025-03-27 | Roslyn Retreat Center, 8727 River Rd, Richmond, VA 23229, Richmond, VA, 23229, United States
We invite you the first of two experiential gatherings that will combine strategies for enhancing individual and organizational wellness. These sessions will focus on strengthening relationships, expertise, and collective power for healing-centered transformation. We will learn about moving from reacting to the crisis of burnout towards the healing-centered capacity to prevent it, and build muscle to create robust practices for sustained wholeness, connection, and power.

Principles of Primary Prevention
2025-04-23 09:30 - 16:00 | Training Center, 1413 W. Main St., Richmond, VA, 23220
Primary prevention programs are focused on reducing or eliminating the first-time perpetration of sexual violence and intimate partner violence (SV/IPV). This means figuring out what factors make some people more at-risk to perpetrate SV/IPV, and changing or interrupting those factors. This training delves into the key concepts underlying this innovative work, highlights promising practices from the field, and includes an overview of Virginia’s Guidelines for the Primary Prevention of Sexual Violence & Intimate Partner Violence used by sexual and domestic violence agencies throughout Virginia and across the country.
Registration closes on April 16th.

VAdata Training
2025-05-02 10:00 - 15:00 | NOVA
Sexual and domestic violence agencies across the state use VAdata to track services and manage their grant reporting. For new staff, this means there’s a lot to learn about VAdata, how data is captured, and how to use data to tell the story of survivors in your area. For advanced users, there may be more questions about the many reports available or specific questions about how data shows up in those reports.
After this training, participants will understand more about the history and scope of the VAdata system, how to use and audit queries to retrieve information, how to use reports in grant writing, raising community awareness and more, and how data entry practices impact data and reporting statewide. Participants are encouraged to bring any and all questions to the training along with their laptops to apply practical tips learned to their own agency’s VAdata account.
The deadline to register for this training is April 25th.
Note: We will try to accommodate last minute language translation requests but we typically need two weeks to secure interpretation services.

State and Local Partners Meeting
2025-05-15 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-08-21 10:00 - 12:00
These interactive quarterly gatherings of advocates, preventionists, sexual and domestic violence agency administrators, state funders and other partners serving survivors of violence are opportunities for connection and collaboration on the local, regional, and state level. The State and Local Partners Meetings are a unique forum for agencies to share their expertise and experiences from the front lines with funding partners who would like to learn more about emerging trends, needs, and celebrations among our communities.
This invitation is open to advocates, preventionists, funders, and other partners serving survivors and/or supporting community education on healthy relationships. Our time together will be spent learning from each other, engaging in discussion on statewide issues, sharing valuable resources, etc.
All four meetings in 2025 will be virtual, meeting via zoom from 10am – noon. We anticipate that participants are coming prepared to engage in conversations that will continue to move forward the work of ending sexual and domestic violence here in the Commonwealth.

Supporting Immigrant Survivors Webinar
2025-06-09 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-06-11 12:00 - 14:00 | Virtual- Zoom
The Action Alliance is hosting staff from The Tahirih Justice Center, a national nonprofit organization serving immigrant survivors of violence, to present information on supporting and safety planning with survivors who are immigrants in our current environment.

Joyful Sexuality and the Movement to End Sexual and Domestic Violence
2025-07-22 09:00 - 16:00 | Training Center, 1413 W. Main St., Richmond, VA, 23220
In this interactive and engaging training, advocates and prevention staff will gain a more holistic understanding of joyful sexuality and its relevance to our work in the movement to end sexual and domestic violence. Participants will be introduced to the six components of sexuality: sensuality, intimacy, sexual orientation and gender identity, sexual and reproductive health, sexual behaviors and practices, and power and agency. Participants will identify and explore the many ways that a joyful sexuality lens can be applied to prevention and advocacy work in sexual and domestic violence agencies. Participants will leave this training with an action plan to integrate joyful sexuality and reproductive justice into their work. Lunch is provided! Please note that registration is from 9:30 – 10:00 with the training starting promptly at 10. Please leave yourself time to arrive and park so we can start on time. This is a long training so please feel free to dress comfortably. Note: We will try to accommodate last minute language translation requests but we typically need two weeks to secure interpretation services.
Registration for this training closes on July 16th.

DO YOU Facilitator Training
2025-07-23 10:00 - 2025-07-24 16:00 | Training Center, 1413 W. Main St., Richmond, VA, 23220
DO YOU: Building Youth Resilience Through Creative Expression (www.doyoutools.org) is a primary prevention strategy to address teen dating violence, sexual harassment, and bullying. DO YOU addresses youth violence by confronting root causes and enhancing protective factors (building resilience) to promote positive development and healthy relationships for young people ages 13-16 years old. This training is designed for adult facilitators and teen mentors/peer facilitators who are interested in implementing DO YOU in their communities. Participants will learn about the history and development of the program, engage in experiential and art-based activities, and receive facilitation tools for implementing the DO YOU program. Participants will receive the DO YOU UnCurriculum (program facilitation guide), 21 zines, tools for evaluation, and ongoing technical assistance to support program implementation. Participants are encouraged to participate in our Principles of Primary Prevention training (or equivalent introduction to primary prevention training) as a pre-requisite. We also recommend attending our Joyful Sexuality and the Movement to and Sexual and Domestic Violence for a solid understanding of healthy sexuality as a strategy for violence prevention. Lunch is provided each day! Please note that registration is from 9:30 – 10:00 AM with the training starting promptly at 10:00 AM. Please leave yourself time to arrive and park so that we can start on time. This is a long training so please feel free to dress comfortably. Note: We will try to accommodate last minute language translation requests but we typically need two weeks to secure interpretation services.
Registration for this training closes on July 16th.

VAdata Training
2025-08-08 10:00 - 15:00 | Training Center, 1413 W. Main St., Richmond, VA, 23220
Sexual and domestic violence agencies across the state use VAdata to track services and manage their grant reporting. For new staff, this means there’s a lot to learn about VAdata, how data is captured, and how to use data to tell the story of survivors in your area. For advanced users, there may be more questions about the many reports available or specific questions about how data shows up in those reports.
After this training, participants will understand more about the history and scope of the VAdata system, how to use and audit queries to retrieve information, how to use reports in grant writing, raising community awareness and more, and how data entry practices impact data and reporting statewide. Participants are encouraged to bring any and all questions to the training along with their laptops to apply practical tips learned to their own agency’s VAdata account.
The deadline to register for this training is Aug 1st.
Note: We will try to accommodate last minute language translation requests but we typically need two weeks to secure interpretation services.

Advocate Wellness Experiences: Practicing the Pause
2025-08-22 10:00 - 15:00 | Abingdon, VA, VA, United States

Emergence Virtual Organizational Session
2025-09-03 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
Wellness and impact – at the individual, organizational, and community levels – are essential, aspirational, and challenging. It’s easy to dismiss them as impossible, luxuries that we don’t have time for in the chaos of our crisis-oriented work. BUT… WHAT IF?
What if we valued our own health and potential in the same way we pursue freedom and thriving for those harmed by violence? What if articulate a human right to connection and sustainability? What if we break down big concepts like wellness and impact) into manageable components – stance, breath, pace, moral compass, strategy, relationship – and practice as if our lives depend on it? What if we take time to dream big, rest, laugh, and love?
People in our communities need us to be well and to conjure impact. 2025 is a year for us to GO bold and GO together. Emergence offers opportunities for SA/DV leaders and teams to join in virtual and in-person gatherings that will normalize wellness and exponentially increase our impact in VA with the people who need us most.

Emergence In-Person Retreat
2025-09-08 - 2025-09-10 | Roanoke, VA, VA, United States
This final Emergence gathering will focus on strengthening relationships, expertise, and collective power for healing-centered transformation. We will learn about moving from reacting to the crisis of burnout towards the healing-centered capacity to prevent it and build muscle to create robust practices for sustained wholeness, connection, and power.
