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The Illinois Center for Violence Prevention fosters safe communities for people at every stage of life. We identify, promote and evaluate the best ways to prevent violence.
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The Illinois Center for Violence Prevention believes that:
- Violence is preventable.
- Everyone has the right to live free from violence.
- Everyone has a role in preventing violence.
- Equality and respect are fundamental to successfully preventing violence.
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The following principles guide ICVP and shape our systems approach to violence prevention in Illinois:
- We believe in a systems approach. Violence can be prevented if strategies are incorporated in all aspects of community life including family, school, workplace, social service, health care, and law enforcement settings.
- We believe in collaboration. Violence prevention initiatives succeed when they build on the existing strengths of individuals, families, organizations, communities, institutions and systems.
- We believe that research provides understanding of the root causes and consequences of violence, and the most effective means for preventing it. Successful violence prevention relies on research and evidence-based practices.
- We believe that effective program evaluation will help communities reduce violence and will demonstrate that investing in violence prevention makes good sense.
- We believe that ICVP must model the practices we advocate. We maintain a healthy and safe work place and build programs based on collaboration, research and evaluation.
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ICVP emerged after a statewide conference on domestic violence held by the Illinois Department of Public Health and Illinois Attorney General in 1992. Initially targeting an audience of 300, this event drew more than 900 concerned individuals and organizations. Attendees at the conference called for a statewide, multi-disciplinary organization to address interpersonal violence the model that became the basis for ICVP.
Prevention works, and everyone has a role in preventing violence, says ICVP Executive Director Debbie Bretag. ICVP has always strived to be a bridge that connects people and organizations and moves critical issues forward. We will continue to be that bridge. Since its founding, ICVP has played a key role in helping communities around the state prevent violence through the focus areas listed in its mission.
The idea of violence prevention as an inclusive movement that relies upon a myriad of partnerships has been an essential part of our work from the beginning. ICVP has always embraced a collaborative approach that links public, private and community- based entities. In ICVPs early years, the passage of The Violence Prevention Act of 1995 brought new partners and new attention - to the movement and helped open the doors for more resources to reach community and school-based programs. The law created the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, the first state agency in the nation designed to fund community and school-based efforts to understand the roots of violence and present alternatives.
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