Violence Free Colorado’s CCRT project is based on the Praxis, International’s Blueprint for Safety and the work of Violence Free Colorado’s CCRTs were recently in Praxis’ Rural Digest. For the full article, click here.

To span the vast and dynamic geographic and political landscapes of their state, The Violence Free Colorado (Violence Free Colorado) sought and received funding from OVW’s Rural Program to improve victim safety and offender accountability by working with four rural communities to expand or develop an effective coordinated community response (CCR) to domestic violence (read more about their rural-funded activities). Two of the four communities, Aspen and Glenwood Springs, are mountain communities in the heart of the Rockies; another community is in located in the southern plains and one on the western slope of the Rockies. Working with local CCR coordinators in each of the communities, Violence Free Colorado provides funding, support, and training and fosters peer-to-peer learning and networking to enhance rural-specific strategies.

Through our Rural TA Project, Praxis has also provided support to Violence Free Colorado the four CCRs through onsite TA visits to meet with CCR teams and advocacy programs to create tailored strategies for enhancing their CCR efforts. Through “Key Players Implementation Roundtables”, customized CCR and advocacy overview training, as well as tailored law enforcement training, Praxis is helping to bridge the distance in Colorado to mobilize efforts across the state to improve outcomes in the criminal legal response to domestic violence as well as strengthen the advocacy program’s role and status in CCRs. The results of our work with Violence Free Colorado and the four communities has included the adoption of advocacy-initiated response protocols, new risk assessment tools for patrol response, development of patrol-report writing guidelines, and enhanced prosecution strategies to increase victim safety and offender accountability.”