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Domestic
Violence Prevention Enhancement and Leadership
Through Alliances Project
(DELTA)
This project is funded
under a grant awarded to Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WCADV)
by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for
Injury Prevention and Control, as part of the Domestic Violence Prevention
Enhancement Leadership Through Alliance (DELTA) Project.
DELTA Project will focus
on engaging with Hmong Leaders in order to address their thoughts, experiences,
and behaviors surrounding this issue. The project intends to focus on
identifying and eliminating the root causes that contribute to abusive behavior
in Hmong men by not only working with Hmong men, but also working with Hmong
leaders who interact with and have significant relationships with the Hmong men
to create healthy modeling around power and control in the Hmong community.
Our goals are to:
- Support Hmong men
in their struggle to form healthy male identities in a culture which impacts
them with mixed messages.
- Provide education,
strategies, and support for those interacting with other Hmong males to
assist them in reinforcing positive messages about respect and honor.
- Transform the Hmong
community’s attitudes that continue to encourage domestic violence.
There
are three stages to this project. 2004 was year one, which was the planning
stage. During this planning stage, the project coordinator worked closely with
the City Health Department Coordinator, the Asian American Task Force, other
agencies, and the Hmong community. The coordinator also formed a DELTA Advisory
Team to assist with planning.
Goals
accomplished in 2004 included conducting three focus groups with Hmong men,
women, and teens to find roots causes of domestic violence and administering a
survey to Hmong professionals regarding domestic violence. Professional
volunteers analyzed both the focus group and survey results, which confirmed the
presence and seriousness of domestic violence in the Hmong community.
The
findings showed that in order to prevent domestic violence there is a need to
work from the top down, which means working with Hmong clan leaders and other
leaders in the Hmong community. These leaders have tremendous influence in the
lives of Hmong people, and it is important that they lead the way in efforts to
change attitudes and behaviors regarding domestic violence.
The DELTA Project is a
community collaboration which requires awareness and comprehension among the
Hmong community and the community-at-large that domestic violence and sexual
assault are not personal issues but community issues. For more information
contact Ka Lovang at
kalovang@hmongamer.org or (414) 344-6575 ext. 249.
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