Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs

Men's Nonviolence Classes help men stop battering and explore the consequences of the violence for themselves, their partner and their children. Women's Advocacy and Education Groups help women find support and identity after years of isolation and abuse. Duluth Family Visitation Center works to restore safety and repair harm in the lives of women and children after abuse. The DFVC supervises visits and exchanges with the child and the parent responsible for the abuse, with a focus on building safe and positive relationships. National Training Project is a national leader for training in community interventions to end violence against women.

The mission of Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs is to end violence against women. We give voice to diverse women who are battered by translating their experiences into innovative programs and institutional changes that centralize victim safety. We partner with communities worldwide to inspire the social and political will to eliminate violence against women and their families. 1980 - The Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP) organizes under the nonprofit corporation Minnesota Program Development Inc. Duluth is selected as the site for a pilot criminal justice reform project involving domestic violence cases. 1981 - Duluth Police Department issues an experimental "mandatory arrest policy," - the first in the U.S. Coordinated Community Response to domestic assault includes agreements among eight agencies dealing with prosecution, probation, civil protection orers, mental health services, shelter services and incarceration. Now known as "The Duluth Model." 1983 - Women in the neighborhood groups develop the Power and Control Wheel. 1985 - Court-mandated sessions for abusers increases from twelve weeks to twenty0six weeks. 1986 - A group is organized for Native American men who batter. 1987 - Duluth receives the John F. Kennedy School of Government Award for changes in public policy regarding domestic assault. 1989 - DPD eliminates mandatory arrest in self-defense cases. New curriculum for law enforcement initiated. National Training Project begins - providing training, materials, and technical assistance to communities worldwide. Visitation Center opens, offering a safe place to exchange children and for on-site visitations with children and the offending parent. 1992 - NTP contracts with the US Marine Corps to develop a Marine Corps Intervention Model in spousal assault cases. 1993 - US Dept. of Health and Human Services funds the Battered Women's Justice Project under the auspices of DAIP to provide a clearinghouse on criminal and civil court reform work and development of programs for batterers. 1994 DAIP receives the "Stop the Violence" award from the Minnesota Medical Association 1996 - DAIP receives the President's Award of Excellende from the AMA for its model of coordinated community response to domestic assault. 1998 - DAIP moves into a new building and training center in downtown Duluth. 1999 - NTP partners with the Open Society Institute to provide training on The Duluth Model for emerging democracies in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. 2000 - St. Louis County Sheriff adopts a predominant aggressor policy to reduce dual arrests. 2001 - Power and control: The Tactics of Men Who Batter is translated into Spanish. 2002 - DPD adopts predominant aggressor policy to reduce the number of dual arrests. 2003 - The Domestic Abuse Information Network is completed to provide domestic violence programs with a database to track and monitor cases, evaluate demographic information, type of arrests, re-arrests, offender program records. 2007 - DAIP hires the organization's first Executive Director. 2009 - DAIP receives the Touchstone Award from the Duluth Superior Community Foundation. 2010 - DAIP celebrates its 30th anniversary.