The YWCA Women's Advocacy Program: A Case Study of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services

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The YWCA Women's AdvocacyProgram: A Case Study ofDomestic Violence and SexualAssault ServicesStephen French Gilson PhD aa The School of Social Work , VirginiaCommonwealth University , USAPublished online: 15 Oct 2008.

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The YWCA Women’s Advocacy Program:A Case Study of Domestic Violence

and Sexual Assault ServicesStephen French Gilson, PhD

ABSTRACT. The article reports the results of a case study of theWomen’s Advocacy Program, an alternative service program with afeminist focus that is structured within a host organization, theYWCA of Richmond, Virginia. This qualitative program evaluationfound that women who seek domestic violence and/or sexual assaultservices believe that their safety and security is essential. Further,women frequently found personal strength and support through theirassociations with others who shared their experiences, feelings, andstruggles. Alternative service programs, such as the Women’s Advo-cacy Program, sometimes find it challenging to maintain an ideolog-ical commitment to consensual decision-making, political focus, andstructural change efforts, and focus on empowerment, and self-deter-mination while maintaining a link to the host organization. [Articlecopies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service:1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: [email protected]]

Stephen French Gilson is Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work,Virginia Commonwealth University.

Address correspondence to: Stephen French Gilson, Assistant Professor,School of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1001 West FranklinStreet, Richmond, VA 23284-2027.

The program evaluation was conducted under the auspices of the CommunityServices Associates program of Virginia Commonwealth University. The opin-ions expressed herein are solely those of the author, and no official endorsementof Virginia Commonwealth University should be inferred. The author wishes tothank Beth Bader Gilson, Elizabeth D. Huthchison, F. Ellen Netting, Cathy Pond,and Mary K. Rodwell for their helpful comments on this article, the reviewers fortheir insights and suggestions, the Board of Directors, Administration, and staff ofthe YWCA for their kind help, and the women participants for their contributions.

Journal of Community Practice, Vol. 4(4) 1997E 1997 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 1

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JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PRACTICE2

KEYWORDS. Alternative service organization, domestic violence,feminist practice, feminist organizations, sexual assault, batteredwomen’s shelters

INTRODUCTION

Anti-violence organizations have been founded through a broadarray of circumstances and strategies, ranging from local grassrootscollectives through ‘‘within-system’’ service organizations (Ferreeand Martin, 1995a; Matthews, 1994). Feminist organizations, manywith an anti-violence focus, cannot be categorized as either bureau-cratic or collectivist; rather, the organizational qualities involvemultiple dimensions, such as ‘‘feminist ideology, feminist values,feminist goals, feminist outcomes (for members and society),founding circumstances, structures, practice, members and mem-bership, scope and scale, and external relations’’ (Martin, 1990,p. 182; see also Arnold, 1995; Ferree and Martin, 1995b; Fried,1994). Domestic violence and anti-rape services are also influencedby issues of race, class, disability, and the ideological views of thewomen establishing the anti-violence organizations and activities,the coalitions that develop in response to addressing the multipleneeds of battered and sexually assaulted women, the women seek-ing services, and the communities in which the services are located(Arnold, 1995; Matthews, 1994; Murray, 1988). Women developanti-violence responses through the lens of such complexity andorganizational diversity.Within this broad orientation, alternative service organizations,

many with a feminist focus, emerged (Perlmutter, 1988; Schwartz,Gottesman and Perlmutter, 1988). Alternative service organizationsare created to fill a perceived void left by traditional human serviceorganizations. Their founders seek to address needs not met, to beinnovative in structure and practice, and to work for social change.The founders’ commitment to the principles of social change isreflected in their desire to provide services to individuals and com-munities with specific needs and/or challenges to which traditionalhuman service organizations fail to respond. Commonly, alternativeservice organizations have determined that the service mandates oftraditional agencies are slow to develop, slow to change, and do notreadily respond to emerging service participant groups. Generally,

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Stephen French Gilson 3

these alternative service organizations ‘‘tend to be small, be re-source poor, be staffed by the nonprofessional but ideologicallycommitted, use staff who are members of the group being served,and engage in participatory government’’ (Inglehart and Becerra,1995, p. 167). In addition to battered women’s shelters and sexualassault services, other examples of alternative service organizationsare shelters for runaway youth, crisis centers, and self-help or peersupport centers (Inglehart and Becerra, 1995).The first shelters for assaulted and battered women were estab-

lished during the 1970s (Murray, 1988; Srinivasan and Davis,1991; see also Martin, 1981). Concurrently, the anti-rape move-ment emerged, with increasing recognition that the traditional hu-man service systems had at best been unresponsive, and moreoften were supporting and perpetuating abusive behaviors (Perl-mutter, 1988; Schwartz, Gottesman and Perlmutter, 1988; Wilker-son, 1988). For some, the initial phase of the shelter movement andthe anti-rape movement was characterized by mobilization activi-ties (Tice, 1990) and tactics that are required during the earlyphase of social movements (Morris and Mueller, 1992). Earlyefforts commonly focused on organizing, building, and establish-ing support for the opening of shelters. Shelters, developedthrough grassroots efforts, were generally organized around theprinciples of consensual decision-making, with a focus on thepolitical aspects of the personal experience. Through this ap-proach, organizations emphasizing empowerment and self-deter-mination sought to decrease the power relationships between thewomen living in the shelter and the staff. Structural change, notjust provision of counseling and other direct services, is critical inpolitical change and struggle (Arnold, 1995; Gottlieb, 1992; Hyde,1992; Wood and Middleman, 1992). The establishment of sheltersand services across different settings was followed by shifts towardmaintenance efforts and organizational survival, efforts to maintain asocial critique perspective, and efforts ‘‘to ensure longevity and pro-duce specific policy outcomes’’ (Tice, 1990, p. 88).The shift away from social change and toward maintenance

was coincident with the bureaucratization of the women’s sheltermovement. For some of the shelters, which began as grassrootsand alternative services oriented toward providing protection,empowerment, and advocacy, there has been an unanticipated

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shift from an essential collectivist structure toward an environ-ment inculcated with bureaucratic practices (Srinivasan and Da-vis, 1991; Tice, 1990). Some domestic violence organizationsand shelters are changing from interpreting and responding toviolence against women through social advocacy and self-help to‘‘a more narrow individualized analysis of the causes of violenceand a ‘professional’ practice’’ (Murray, 1988, p. 77; see alsoArnold, 1995).The anti-rape movement, nationally, grew out of ‘‘collectivist

feminist organizing’’ that often was ‘‘critical and suspicious of thestate’’ (Matthews, 1995, p. 293). Rape crisis centers adopted vary-ing tactics in conflicts with public funding agencies. These tacticsincluded ‘‘overt opposition, apparent accommodation, and activeengagement,’’ depending upon ‘‘general ideological histories’’(p. 296) and ‘‘depend[ing] on the environment, local and extra-lo-cal, immediate, and historical’’ circumstance of each center andconflict (Matthews, 1995, p. 304).The transformation from a principally collectivist structure to-

ward a bureaucratic practice does not automatically indicate a moveaway from an alternative service organization administrative ar-rangement and accompanying organizational principles (Inglehartand Becerra, 1995; Schwartz, Gottesman, and Perlmutter, 1988;Srinivasan and Davis, 1991). Rather, a complement of collectivistand bureaucratic approaches effectively responds to changing inter-nal and external dynamics (Martin, 1990).Within many of the early shelters, staff and service partici-

pants have informal and egalitarian relationships that are ori-ented toward empowerment of staff as well as service partici-pants. In these shelters, staff members and service participantsjointly developed policies and program-operating procedures.Using a self-help model, staff encouraged service participants toreturn as volunteers and workers (Murray, 1988; Matthews,1994; Srinivasan and Davis, 1991; Wilkerson 1988). As socialservice workers increasingly recognized that the needs of womenand children are complex and multifaceted, we have identified arole for professionals within battered women’s services (Woodand Middleman, 1992). This introduction of professionalism,however, risks re-victimizing women based on a therapeutic

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ideology wherein women who have been battered and/or as-saulted are given diagnoses. Giving women who have been as-saulted psychiatric diagnoses risks identifying domestic violence asa mental health issue rather than interpreting it as a social andpolitical problem. Once women are given diagnoses, they becomeclients who may be identified as good, bad, or difficult dependentupon their willingness to engage in and follow treatment plans(Ferraro as cited in Srinivasan and Davis, 1991; see also Murray,1988). The best defense against creating a structure that re-victim-izes service participants is to maintain an alternative social orga-nization and a feminist administrative focus (Ferree and Martin,1995a; Fried, 1994; Hyde, 1992; Inglehart and Becerra, 1995; Mar-tin, 1990; Matthews, 1994; Murray, 1988; Schwartz, Gottesman,and Perlmutter, 1988; Srinivasan and Davis, 1991).1 To prevent areturn to patriarchal structures and practices, feminist practitioners2

(Nes and Iadicola, 1989; Wood and Middleman, 1992) must con-duct an evaluation of the current organizational environment (Srini-vasan and Davis, 1991).The current study opens discussion of the relationship of special-

ized feminist services or programs within a feminist host organiza-tion that has a multifaceted service commitment. Central to thediscussion are two principal issues. First, this principally grassrootscollectivism of anti-violence services has transformed itself into anorganization that has developed ties to an institutional environmentwithout forfeiting its commitment to feminist practice and the socialmovement organization. The suggestion that feminist organization-al qualities include much more than simply the issue of collectivismversus bureaucracy will serve as a background for the current analy-sis. The second issue is organizational transformation. This casestudy provides an avenue to discuss some of the emerging dynamicsof a host organization and program relationship.The intent of the program evaluation was not to examine either

the issue of host transformation or of host program relationships.Rather, those issues emerged following completion of the evalua-tion, and as a consequence of continuing discussions regardingfeminist organizations and social movement (for a more completeelaboration of these issues, please see: Ferree and Martin, 1995b;Hyde, 1992; Martin, 1990; Matthews, 1994).

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CASE STUDY OF A WOMEN’S SERVICEFOR SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

AND SEXUAL ASSAULT AND RAPE

Purpose of the Evaluation

The Executive Director of the YWCA of Richmond, Board ofDirectors, Women’s Advocacy Program (WAP) administrators andstaff undertook an evaluation of the WAP to provide feedback andprogram review. When used in combination with quality assuranceand funding agent program review reports, the qualitative evalua-tion was intended to provide a more complete statement of theneeds of the women and their families in the greater metropolitanRichmond, Virginia area, as well as to examine the response styleand capabilities of the WAP. As such, the evaluator designed thereview to identify the strengths and challenges of the current pro-gram and guide future program planning. The agency director initi-ated this program evaluation and assured that the service systemwould take responsibility for the environment where staff and serviceparticipants work together. At a minimum, this evaluation enacted theWAP’s commitment to examine the services provided and their delivery.The Executive Director of the YWCA of Richmond requested

the study as a planned, normative program evaluation and critique.The program evaluation was conducted by the author under theauspices of the Community Services Associates Program of Virgin-ia Commonwealth University. The format and process of the evalu-ation developed as a result of discussions held between the Execu-tive Director of the YWCA and the Program Evaluator. TheProgram Evaluator was aware of but had not had prior direct con-tact with the YWCA nor the WAP.The Program Evaluator was male, creating a potential confound

that was raised for discussion by the Evaluator at all meetings andinterviews. Given the nature of the services provided through theWAP, the history of oppression of women by men, and the personalexperiences of some of the participants, the Evaluator felt that thisissue should be raised and discussed. In an effort to compensate forsex biases, the Program Evaluator asked a female consultant toreview the overall approach, the interview processes, data units andcategories for data reduction, and data analysis for content validity.

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Despite assurances to the contrary from all stakeholders and partici-pants involved in this process, the evaluator believes that it is im-possible to underestimate the impact of having women-focusedservices evaluated by a male.

Overview of the Program Evaluated

In addition to WAP services, the YWCA of Richmond also pro-vides child care and health and fitness services. The WAP operatesunder the auspices of the Board of Directors of the YWCA and isadministratively directed by the Executive Director. The currentprogram evaluation was limited to a review of the WAP, which hasbeen in operation since 1979. The evaluator reviewed the followingprogram elements: the two shelters for women and their childrenwho are survivors of domestic violence; the non-shelter domesticviolence program; and the women’s sexual assault program. Ser-vices provided by the WAP include domestic violence and sexualassault outreach services, 24-hour hotlines, counseling for walk-ins,and ongoing community-based services.The WAP, established initially as the Women’s Victim Advocacy

Program, grew out of a Task Force on Battered Women that wasformed in 1977 by the Richmond Chapter of the National Organiza-tion for Women. The Task Force, which is described as a ‘‘grass-roots’’ community organization, began with two primary goals:(a) to determine what type of emergency housing services existedand what agency(ies) would be willing to establish such services;and (b) to survey public and private agencies to identify ‘‘the typesof services available to abused wives in Richmond and . . . todocument the incidence of battered wives in the Richmond Com-munity’’ (YWCA of Richmond, n.d.a, p. 3). In response to a recog-nition that ‘‘battered women were seen as part of a greater problemknown as family/domestic violence’’ (p. 3), the Task Force changedits name in 1977 to the Richmond Domestic Violence Project(YWCA of Richmond, n.d.a). Since 1979, the WAP has provided avariety of services including ‘‘a 24-hour hot line, information andreferral, individual and group counseling, emergency shelter, andpublic education’’ (YWCA of Richmond, n.d.a, p. 4). Until the firstshelter building was purchased in 1981 by the YWCA, the programprovided shelter at ‘‘safe homes’’ owned by volunteers but operated

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by the YWCA (YWCA of Richmond, n.d.a). The Rape Crisis Out-reach Program was established in 1979 as a component of the WAP.A committee of the YWCA, the Young Women Committed to Ac-tion, began to focus increasingly on the issue of rape. It adopted thename ROAR (Richmond Organized Against Rape) in 1974. Thework of ROAR was initially focused on public education and refer-ring survivors of rape to other agencies and organizations for coun-seling. In 1977, the group established the Richmond Hotline as avolunteer hotline that provided ‘‘crisis counseling for rape survivors. . . and train[ed] volunteers to do crisis counseling in hospitals andhomes’’ (YWCA of Richmond, n.d.c, p. vi). In 1979, the RichmondHotline was integrated into the Rape Crisis Outreach Program. TheRape Crisis Outreach Program provides a range of services includ-ing two 24-hour hotlines, individual crisis counseling for rape sur-vivors, companion support/accompaniment, advocacy, technical as-sistance, information and referral, and training for professionals andvolunteers (YWCA of Richmond, n.d.c).The Richmond YWCA is a 501(c)3 private nonprofit agency

affiliated with the YWCA of the U.S.A. It defines itself as a‘‘women’s membership movement’’ as reflected in the agency mis-sion statement (YWCA of Richmond, 1994b, Section IV, p. 1).Funding sources include the United Way, state and local govern-ment grants, membership/program fees, contributions, investments,rental income, and special events. The YWCA gives nearly 50percent of its income to the WAP (YWCA of Richmond, 1994a).The YWCA strives to have its staff and Board of Directors reflect

the racial and ethnic composition of the local community (see Table 1).It employs both females and males; however, the Board of DirectorsBy-Laws limit its membership to women. Within the WAP, alldirect employees and volunteers are women, except for one contractemployee hired to co-lead a support group for male survivors ofchildhood sexual assault.The purpose of the WAP, as reflected in the following statement

of purpose, is to combine direct services and community advocacy.

The Women’s Advocacy Program is committed to the empow-erment of women to exercise the right to self-determinationand responsibility for choices. As a program we abhor the use

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of violence as an instrument of power and control with thefamily as well as in society. We are committed to the elimina-tion of societal attitudes, practices, and policies--including sex-ism, racism, and classism--that allow and perpetuate violence.(YWCA of Richmond, n.d.b, p. 1)

METHODS

The program evaluation process consisted of three elements de-termined during a series of three meetings with the Executive Di-rector, the Associate Director of Operations, and the Associate Di-rector of Programs. We determined that the program evaluationwould include: (a) review of written materials, including, but notlimited to brochures, annual plans and reports, program policystatements, personnel policies, client intake forms, sample dailylogs, and program files; (b) site reviews, which included informalconsultation with Association staff and visits to both Domestic

TABLE 1. Race/Ethnicity of Staff, Board of Directors, and Service Participants

(Service Participants)

Staff Board of Shelter Non-Shelter SexualDirectors DV Svcs*† DV Svcs* Assault

Services

Black 64 50 50.0 24.9 46.6

White 34 50 41.3 42.6 50.2

Hispanic 0 0 2.8 .1 0

Asian 2 0 1.0 .9 .35

Native 0 0 .2 .1 .35American

Other/ 0 0 4.7 31.4 2.5Unknown

Note. Numbers of percentage of total*For Fiscal Year 1993/1994†Includes adults and childrenDV = domestic violence

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Violence Shelters (Richmond City and Chesterfield County), theNon-Shelter Domestic Violence Services sites, and the Women’sSexual Assault Services site; and (c) formal guided interviews, eachlasting between 45 and 90 minutes with representatives of stake-holder groups.This was a modified participant-driven process, wherein we

identified stakeholders and encouraged them to participate in de-signing the protocol (Greene, 1994; Rodwell and Woody, 1994). Weidentified the following primary stakeholder groups: the Board ofDirectors; funding sources; referral sources; YWCA staff; currentservice participants; and former service participants. In the YWCAstaff category, participants included administrative staff and ser-vices staff. The Service Participant stakeholder group included ser-vice participants who had received services through at least one ofthe three WAP service components. I interviewed representativesfrom each stakeholder group. Three members of the Board of Di-rectors; two representatives of funding sources; two representativesof referral sources; three members of the YWCA staff; three currentservice participants; and two former service participants completedthe formal interviewing.3

The site review, led by agency staff, consisted of a guided ‘‘walkthrough’’ and an orientation to the physical setting, documentationused, and operation procedures. To maintain confidentiality of sitelocation, the Executive Director transported the author to the Do-mestic Violence Shelter sites. During each site visit, I conductedinformal interviews with service staff. Out of respect for confiden-tiality and privacy, I did not interview service participants.As a result of the data gathered during the meetings with the

Executive and Associate Directors, review of written documents,and site visits (including informal interviews), I developed sevenguided interview questions, including one that sought commentsand responses not addressed by the other questions (see Appendix).These questions served as the basis for the formal interviews withall of the stakeholders. The questions focused on the strengths andchallenges of the programs, the definition of goals, interaction ofthe programs internally and externally, definition of the primaryservice needs of the women who seek services, and recommenda-tions to address the needs of the women served. I selected interview

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participants based upon willingness and availability, and conductedall interviews one-on-one at the central program location. I pro-vided participants with an oral description of the rationale, nature,and intent of the interview, and assured them that their individualresponses would remain confidential. I explained that I would pre-sent their collective responses to the Executive Director, the WAPstaff, and the Board of Directors. The participants did not receiveany compensation for their participation. All interview participantswere women. I conducted one interview by telephone due to sched-uling conflicts. I recorded all responses and the participants verifiedmy notations.I categorized all data into Strengths, Challenges, and Recommen-

dations, and later into more specific subdivisions. The analysis ofthis case study provides the basis for a theoretical assessment of theprovision of alternative feminist-focused services within a larger,more conventional administrative structure.

RESULTS

It is important to consider the impact internally and externally ofthe development of complementary collectivist and bureaucraticstructures within the same organization. This study highlights thestruggle to address the complex and multiple needs of the womenwho have been assaulted. It is particularly critical to use the knowl-edge and skills acquired through professional education and prac-tice without re-victimizing women as traditional social service sys-tems commonly do.

Strengths

WAP stakeholders viewed basic safety and security from victim-ization and assault as the essential foundation for virtually all ser-vices or programs, as they explain:

The WAP is a place where you can get away to be safe fromthe abuser. (Service Participant)

The WAP provides the opportunity for women to get out ofdangerous or harmful situations, it provides support, housing,and counseling. (Community Representative)

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Survey participants across stakeholder groups asserted a definedneed for programs that provided physical and emotional sanctuary.Service participants noted the staff’s commitment to assistingwomen in crisis and they appreciated the staff’s compassion. Partic-ipants felt that staff provided services in a considerate, humane, andthoughtful manner. Women who sought services often perceivedthemselves to be vulnerable, physically, socially, and emotionally;therefore, staff accessibility is crucial to the provision of a safe andpredictable environment. Consistent with the observations made byWood and Middleman (1992) regarding the role, value, and func-tion of self-help groups, women identify that the services provide asense of personal strength by enabling them to associate with otherswho share their experiences, feelings, and struggles:

A strength of the program is the women themselves; [there is]a sense of someone knowing what is happening in your life,‘instant acceptance,’ being a part of the experience [as] bothfacilitators and members. (Service Participant)

The main strength is that they help you to get well, not like aladies quilting party; here we are dealing with very real prob-lems. (Service Participant)

The individual treatment because sometimes you do not wantto say some things in a group; the group because it helps youknow that you are not alone, that others have and have hadsimilar experiences and feelings. (Service Participant)

WAP’s services are designed to address the individual needs ofservice participants. WAP’s service components encompass a vari-ety of supports:

They provide food if you do not have the resources right away;you can get donated clothes for you and your children. (Ser-vice Participant)

There are unique activities for women who are drug addicted,support groups for men who are survivors of childhood sexualabuse, and groups for teens, such as the date rape group.(Community Representative)

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Recognizing that battering and rape occur across social, econom-ic, racial, and ethnic lines, and across political affiliation, residence,and employment location, the WAP offers services in a variety oflocations, both within the city of Richmond and surrounding coun-ties. Although the WAP does not collect data on the economic statusof the women who seek domestic violence services, some stake-holders suggested that poor women, including a disproportionatenumber of racial and/or ethnic minorities, seek services thoughshelters while middle- and upper-class women have access to alter-native housing. This experience is consistent with observationsmade by Matthews (1994) in her work on the anti-rape movementand in Murray’s (1988) study of a battered women’s shelter. In thecurrent study, one Service Participant noted that in the WAP’s do-mestic violence services:

There is a lack of women from different walks of life anddifferent experiences in many of the programs.

Another Service Participant noted that:

A lot of people think that it [domestic violence and sexualassault] occurs in lower socio-economic status black commu-nities. When it happens in middle- and upper-class white com-munities, it is hidden; it is embarrassing. People do not wantanyone to find out, so they cover it up.

While there is a stated connection in the mission statements ofthe YWCA and the WAP among the issues of violence, sexism,classism, and racism, the YWCA needs to more vigorously addressthese connections. Establishing connections between anti-racismand anti-violence provides the YWCA and the WAP with rare op-portunities and challenges. The inequalities of segregation, and dis-crimination of race (Hagan, 1994) are often parallel to the experi-ences of women. The experience of unequal access to economicbenefits and the disproportionate exposure to violence that racialand ethnic minorities (Hagan, 1994) and women experience, arealso similar. Given the anti-violence advocacy and service orienta-tion of the YWCA and the WAP, they are reasonable candidates toencourage discussion of the connection between the violent crimeand low-income women and minority communities experience.

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The difficulties of providing services in non-urban as well asurban/suburban areas (Tice, 1990), and the multiple kinds of assis-tance that battered women often need (Arnold, 1995) affect theservice delivery of the WAP as a whole. The variety of referraloptions, lack of transportation access, potential lack of anonymity,and organizational politics related to feminist activism all compli-cate the provision of domestic violence and rape crisis services(Arnold, 1995; Tice, 1990). The existence of these complicatingfactors has forced the WAP to develop creative solutions and re-sponses, which in turn has led to the YWCA being recognized asexperienced in tackling challenging issues. Although the WAP haswon public acceptance of its mission and is recognized as a vitalpart of the Richmond area community, the capacity of any alterna-tive service organization to remain viable is, in part, dependentupon its connections to similar organizations. Agencies must maxi-mize use of community resources to meet the wide range of needsof the women and children served. To this end, collaboration is key.For example, rather than expend the resources needed to acquireexpertise to serve children with emotional problems in the shelterprograms, the WAP could establish collaborative agreements withpublic and private service providers. The WAP would do well toestablish a network of support services with other alternative ser-vice organizations within the greater Richmond area. Examples ofthese alternative service organizations are the Fan Free Clinic, theFriends Association For Childcare, and health services that areidentified as women’s services. Use of community resources toaddress ancillary service needs, which would subsequently permit amore directed focus on domestic violence and rape crisis services,would lessen the potential for internal conflict over goals, ideolo-gies, and tactics. It is critical that the WAP attend to the ideolo-gy(ies) of the organizations with which it develops even loose al-liances. The key to WAP’s success in maintaining its autonomy andprogram direction will be its recognition of the consequences ofcollaboration as well as any perceived benefits (e.g., funding andancillary services).The strengths of the WAP indicate that it is possible to respond to

a changing internal and external social, political, and economicclimate without forsaking the essential ideology, practice, and ad-

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ministrative perspective of a feminist-oriented, alternative women’sservices program. This is not to suggest that fundamental dilemmasand risks are not present in any collaboration with the public orother non-feminist community agencies. In order to successfullyform such collaborations, the WAP must maintain its autonomy(Matthews, 1995), and vision of the work to be done and methodsfor doing it. As Matthews (1995) has noted, among these tacticalchoices are ‘‘overt opposition, apparent accommodation, and activeengagement’’ (p. 296). WAP’s choices should be influenced by itsorigination as a grass roots liberal/cultural feminist organizationand the support that emerges from its relationship to its host agency,the YWCA of Richmond (Hyde, 1992; 1995).

The program as a whole has gone through overturns, strife,and inner conflict, but still as a whole the Women’s AdvocacyProgram has been able to survive and get things accomplished.(Program Representative)

Given the social, political, and economic changes that are fore-cast nationally as well as within the state, vigilance is essential forthe WAP’s survival. The greatest threat to the WAP may well be theemergence of the conservative New Right (Hyde, 1995), not theinternal struggles that accompany organizational transformationand adaptation (Arnold, 1995; Mueller, 1995).

Challenges and Recommendations

Defining Services

The fact that the mission of the YWCA is broader than provisionof shelter services diverts the attention of the conventional hostorganization away from domestic violence and sexual assault ser-vices. The mission of the YWCA includes a focus on ‘‘the elimina-tion of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary’’(YWCA of Richmond, 1994b, Section IV, p. 1). However, it wassuggested by one Program Representative that:

Being a part of an established national organization puts limitson what we do.

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In the current case study, while efforts of working toward theelimination of racism and the provision of domestic violence andrape crisis services may be quite compatible, they are not synony-mous; and while the theories that support such activities may becomplementary, the agenda and strategies may be quite different(Please see: Adam, 1989; Davis, 1994; Nes and Iadicola, 1989; Omiand Winant, 1994; Takaki, 1993; West, 1993).

Availability of Resources

Many programs have limited financial, staff, and space resourcesto support domestic violence and rape crisis services (Davis andHagen, 1988; Rodriguez, 1988; Tice, 1990). One WAP ProgramRepresentative noted that:

There is a problem of a lack of match between resources andexpectations.

Domestic violence and rape crisis programs must carefully iden-tity what services they can provide with available resources so as tonot overextend or dilute service quality. The needs of the womenand children who seek services may include economic support,alcohol and other drug use services, medical care, mental healthservices, day care, and immediate maternal needs.

Staff Turnover

WAP experiences a high level of staff turnover, even for a socialservice agency. On the YWCA’s Management Team, between Au-gust 1992 and August 1993, one employee out of the seven left theprogram. Within the WAP staff, ten out of 15, or 67.0%, of theemployees left. There was a slight reduction in turnover rate(40.0%) with the WAP staff between August 1993 and August1994, but the rate is still of concern (C. Pond, personal communica-tion, August, 1995). There are a number of reasons for this: low paydue to budget constraints (Rodriguez, 1988), staff experience ofsecondary trauma and fear (Stout and Thomas, 1991), tensionsassociated with balancing collectivism and bureaucratization (In-glehart and Becerra, 1995; Srinivasan and Davis, 1991), and the

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shift toward professionalization of service delivery (Tice, 1990). AsProgram Representatives explain:

Women’s Advocacy Program staff are expected to do bigthings, serve a high volume of clients. Despite having thelargest number of staff [within the YWCA], the Women’sAdvocacy Program staff are not being given adequate re-sources; for example, staff training, cost reimbursement forexpenses, availability of time off.

Quick turnover has put limitations on what we have been ableto accomplish.

The nature of what we do and the type of populations that weserve create stresses.

A high rate of staff turnover at the direct care level interrupts thecontinuity of service delivery. In addition, it means the WAP mustdevote much of its time, energy, and attention toward hiring andre-training rather than enhancing services and service delivery.

Training

Some women served through the WAP have other needs such asalcohol and or other drug abuse, mental health conditions, anduntreated medical problems. Others may need educational andvocational services. While their children may not have been physi-cally abused or battered, they have likely experienced other chal-lenges such as withdrawal from school due to frequent moves,periods of dramatic insecurity, or a lack of consistent empathicattention. All of these factors contribute to problems in social rela-tionships. To provide responsive services to this wide range ofneeds, the WAP must make a commitment to ‘‘ongoing in-servicetraining and support’’ for staff (Weil, 1988, p. 80). For professionalswho are trained in educational settings that often reflect conserva-tive approaches to administration and practice, this may mean un-learning as well as learning (Perlmutter, 1988):

We need to have sufficient staff that are qualified to assumetheir position. I am not talking about degrees or certificates,

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but rather a person that can relate to or has gone through someof the things that I have gone through. (Service Participant)

The direct practitioner, whether professional or volunteer, re-quires information regarding approaches to assessment and/or inter-vention techniques, as well as in-service training to examine theassumptions implicit in their practice (Nes and Iadicola, 1989) andevaluate the social arrangements of the community (Wood andMiddleman, 1992). This information may help administrators anddirect service providers determine how best to maintain a commit-ment to social change and provide women-centered services withinan alternative service program (Hyde, 1992).

Communication

In the effort to define the ‘‘potential complementarity’’ of bu-reaucratic and collectivist structures (Tice, 1990, p. 88), the linesand patterns of horizontal communication are at risk of becomingunclear. This is apparent at the WAP, where information is notconsistently communicated among administration, supervisors, anddirect staff.

In an emergency situation when I needed to see my therapist,[and she was not in her office] there was a lack of informationin the reception area about availability of the therapist or howto access the therapist during an emergency. (Service Partici-pant)

We need openness and sharing of information so that everyonein the WAP, administration-level individuals from the YWCA,other advocacy groups, and other social service groups com-municate. (Program Representative)

Programs within the WAP organization do not always share in-formation with each other. For example, shelter residents are notaware of the full range of group and individual counseling servicesavailable. Additionally, when critical incidents occur within shel-ters, they are not consistently or regularly reported to either theExecutive or Associate Directors.

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Service Issues

Domestic violence and rape crisis services are highly specialized.A practice perspective supports complete evaluation of the fullrange of individual needs of women and children, including medi-cal and psychological issues. It appreciates that women may reactidiosyncratically to their individual problems (Gottlieb, 1992). Ser-vice providers should always anticipate that some service partici-pants’ needs will exceed the capabilities of the organization.

Being a part of an established national organization puts limitson what we do . . . There needs to be more effort to interfacewith other agencies to better access what women need . . . Weneed to ask how the public views programming; are we maxi-mizing use of facilities; are we cross-utilizing facilities andinformation resources; are we putting staff in ‘their’ best posi-tions; are we providing adequate services? (Program Repre-sentative)

Consider the provision of educational and mental health servicesto children. In this study, the downtown site children’s services arestrong, but are less available at the two shelter sites. A practical andcost-effective response to this situation would be to contract, ordevelop cooperative agreements with other community services, toaddress these needs. Lack of adequate transportation, common tomany non-urban and rural settings, is another challenge the WAPfaces (Tice, 1990). Solutions to such circumstances may requiredevelopment of formal agreements with transportation or socialservice agencies; these agreements must appreciate the ideologicaland philosophical perspective of feminist practices and alternativeservice administrative structures.Once a woman and her children have received shelter services

for an established period of time (for example 30 days at the WAP),there may be no transitional housing services to move to, due tolimited funding. Shelter service programs can help ease this transi-tion by formally linking these women with non-shelter service pro-grams. Agencies must establish a formal procedure to follow upwith women who have received domestic violence and rape crisisservices in order to: (a) help better assure the safety of former

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service participants; (b) maintain outreach to women as their needschange; and (c) monitor the effectiveness of the services received.Shelter agencies should also seek working agreements among spe-cific community programs to provide ‘‘case management’’ and do-mestic violence or rape crisis services. Such agreements can helpwomen as their needs evolve over time.

IMPLICATIONS

Creating an alternative program specifically for women withinthe structure of a larger, more conventional organization allows thatprogram to extend the dialogue of the ‘‘political analysis of person-al problems and empowerment of women’’ (Gottlieb, 1992, p. 302)to the larger organization (Weil, 1988). However, it is critical for theintegrity of both the alternative program and the larger organizationto identify areas of ideological and service overlap as well asboundaries. This allows focus on a feminist perspective of empow-erment and advocacy, and supports the efficacy and effectiveness ofdomestic violence and rape crisis services (Wood and Middleman,1992; Srinivasan and Davis, 1991).Taking a democratic-collectivist (Rothschild-Whitt, 1979) ap-

proach to determining which services fall within the purview of thedomestic violence and rape crisis program requires ongoing internaldialogue and consensual decision-making. Staff, administration,Board of Directors, and service participants should together ex-amine the relevancy of the mission statement(s) of the program(s)to create a statement, whether extant or new, that accurately reflectsthe program’s intent and focus. Careful definition of what servicescan and should be provided allows focused hiring, training, andsupport of staff while also increasing the quality of the servicesprovided. This dialogue will help maintain the ‘‘commitment to asocial change-critique model’’ (Tice, 1990, p. 86) that supportsfeminist practice and alternative service organizational structures.While attending to supportive features of collectivist structure

(e.g., ad hoc decision-making, consensus building, a decreased re-liance on strict rules) (Rothschild-Whitt, 1979; Srinivasan and Da-vis, 1991), it is critical to attend to the potential for miscommunica-tion, excessive individual discretion, and lack of service consistency.

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While agencies must avoid development of negative bureaucratic andhierarchical structures that interfere with responsivity and creativity(Gottlieb, 1992), they may benefit from formal procedures that create aconsistent and accurate communication network between administra-tion and staff, and among all of its programs. This would address theproblems that occur when staff in one department do not have thesame information as staff in another department. A formal commu-nication network, when consistently used in alternative service orga-nizations, would help staff feel as if they are a part of the decisionsbeing made and in turn enhance collectivity (Rothschild-Whitt, 1979).As the service needs of women and children change, and as

service providers develop increasingly sophisticated service deliv-ery to survivors of violence, trauma, and aggression, a programmust examine its service practices. It is critical that

the problem of women battering is seen to be rooted in thepower differential between men and women in this society. Itfollows that the battered woman’s plight is not viewed as afunction of her pathology. Rather, it is seen to be largely theresult of this gender-based inequality, and all women are at risk.. . . [Further, we must avoid] victim blaming and psychologicaldiagnoses, such as dependence, codependence, low self-esteem,and learned helplessness--a view that leads social workers to tryto change the women instead of the situations in which thewomen are trapped. (Wood and Middleman, 1992, p. 86)

CONCLUSIONS

The examination of what services are to be provided, by whom,and where requires consideration of the ideology, philosophy, andtheory of feminist practice. A fundamental struggle for the alterna-tive programs is to avoid the practices, ‘‘patriarchal structures’’(Srinivasan and Davis, 1991, p. 38), and ‘‘coercive tactics’’ (Woodand Middleman, 1992, p. 82) that oppress women. If alternativeservice organizations are to avoid such regressive practices, theymust incorporate inclusion, reflective self-examination, critique,and program evaluation into their ongoing operation. During theearly period of the establishment of domestic violence and sexual

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assault services, organizations structured from a bureaucraticframework were considered counter-democratic and repressive. Asevidenced by the current case study, bureaucracy practiced from analternative service organizational framework may encourage andensure creativity, program critique, and evolution, and support areaffirmation of the founding program ideology. The transformationfrom mobilization to program maintenance can be formulatedaround feminist practices that are supportive of women who are, orhave been, survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.The emergence of complementary collectivist and bureaucratic

structures also appears to be essential as alternative service organiza-tions are required to compete with mainstream organizations for publicfinancial support and private foundation grants. As such, the viabilityof women’s services such as shelters may need to be able to provideservices and care in environments that are evaluated by mainstreamsocial service and health departments. For such services to respond tothe demands of external funding sources and regulatory agents, theiradministration and staff must engage in collective problemsolving.It is also quite clear that it is possible to create and maintain an

alternative service organization with a feminist focus within a larg-er, more conventional organization. Essential to this process isretention of a clear alternative service vision. This ability demandsskill and strength among administrators and staff alike. Administra-tors must hold a clear appreciation and commitment to alternativeservices within a work environment where collective political ac-tion, empowerment, and self-determination are considered essen-tial. Staff must be willing to engage in self-critique and evaluate thebeliefs, values, and assumptions that guide their work. Onlythrough a shared vision can agencies develop and maintain emanci-patory and self-determined services that address the needs ofwomen and support social change.

NOTES

1. Feminist administration and feminist organizations do not exist as singulardimensions. Martin (1990) has identified 10 dimensions that provide a frameworkfor ‘‘comparing feminist and nonfeminist organizations or for deriving types offeminist organizations and analyzing them’’ (p. 182). Ferree and Martin (1995a)both discuss and provide discussions of the need to examine contemporary femi-

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nist organizations along dimensions that include examination of the mix of bothcollectivist and bureaucratic ‘‘structures, practices, and goals as they work to sur-vive and to transform society’’ (p. 6). Hyde (1992) provides an insightful articula-tion of the functioning of a social movement organization within a human service(host) agency. Further feminist service movement organizations should be ana-lyzed in terms of ideology and environmental relations that appreciates that ‘‘littlecommon ground exists between feminism and the New Right’’ (Hyde, 1995,p. 307), and that ‘‘many right wing groups are women serving women’’ (Hyde,personal correspondence).

2. The author recognizes that a definition of feminist practice is quite broad andas discussed by Nes and Iadicola (1989) incorporates several models that includebut are not limited to liberal, radical, and socialist models. As noted by Nes andIadicola, what these models do hold in common is a focus on the need to examinehuman nature in terms of sex roles, evaluate the social order, discuss sex-based is-sues of inequality and the factors that maintain and support that inequality, evaluatesocial structures, consider the political aspects of personal experiences, identifystrategies of social and structural change, and consider strategies for sex-rolechanges (please see Gottlieb, 1992 and Wood and Middleman, 1992).

3. To better insure confidentiality of Board members and members of the YWCAstaff, they are referred to as ‘‘Program Representatives.’’ Representatives of fundingsources and referral sources are referred to as ‘‘Community Representatives.’’ Currentand former service participants are referred to as ‘‘Service Participants.’’

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APPENDIX

RICHMOND YWCAWOMEN’S ADVOCACY PROGRAM EVALUATION

AUGUST 1994

Date

Person Interviewed

Role with Agency

Length of Time Associated with Program

What do you see as the strengths of the Women’s Advocacy Pro-gram?

What do you see as the limitations of the Women’s AdvocacyProgram?

What is the program that you are the most familiar with and what is(are) its goal(s)?

How does this program that you are most familiar with interact with theother components of:

the Women’s Advocacy Program?

the YWCA?

the Community?

What do you see as the primary service needs of women who seekservices from the Women’s Advocacy Program?

What would be the primary recommendation(s) that you would makefor addressing the need or needs that you identified?

Other comments?

Interviewer

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Documents

The YWCA Women's Advocacy Program: A Case Study of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services