About Member Services

Our members work in communities across the state to provide direct support to people affected by domestic abuse and violence, and to improve the ways our communities and institutions respond to abuse. Supporting their efforts is a core component of MCEDV’s mission.

This close partnership benefits us all. We rely on our members to shape our policy, training and awareness-raising priorities. Their experiences with survivors in communities across Maine deeply informs our work at the Coalition office.

Services we provide for our members include:

• Technical Assistance – Coalition staff provides regular consultations to advocates from the membership. We answer questions and connect advocates in Maine with emerging information and national trends.
• Trainings – Our advocate-focused trainings build the capacity of Maine’s domestic violence advocates to do excellent work. Recent training initiatives have included:
  • Reinvigorating the Maine Victim Assistance Academy in collaboration with many partners, including the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Wabanaki Women’s Coalition, and the Maine Office of the Attorney General;
  • Developing the Systems Advocacy Learning Lab, a yearlong educational course focused on understanding the experience of survivor-defendants in the criminal legal system; and 
  • Providing shadowing opportunities for advocates who are delivering educational content in their own communities and/or at the statewide level, in topics such as non-fatal strangulation response, the Basic Corrections Training Program through the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, the 12-hour MCEDV mental health training curriculum, and others.
• Advocate convenings – MCEDV brings together groups of advocates from across the state working around specialized topics, including:
  • Prevention and public awareness
  • Partnering with the child welfare system
  • Response to non-fatal strangulation
  • Financial administration
  • Housing and sheltering
• Administrative Support – As a funding administrator, we work with our subrecipients to meet requirements for reporting and financial oversight required by state and federal funders.