Project Opal

In July 2021, members from the National Domestic Violence Hotline (The Hotline) and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) leadership met to explore how our two organizations could work together to further our missions — expanding support for victims, survivors and for those who provide services to them. Over the course of the last year, our leadership teams and respective boards explored the possibilities of what joining forces would mean. Together, with external organizational and legal experts, we quickly realized that we could do something bold, transformational, and trail-blazing.

In August 2022, both boards unanimously voted to join together through a venture affectionately named Project Opal.

The Need for Project Opal

The response to domestic violence has long been overburdened and under-resourced. We believe it takes a comprehensive multi-layered national, regional, and local approach to fully support survivors — to further their survival, safety, and recovery. This approach includes national 24/7 resources dedicated to serving those affected by domestic violence (DV) or intimate partner violence (IPV), such as The Hotline, state, regional and local providers, and emergency shelter systems.

This also includes organizations, such as NCADV, dedicated to policy change and ensuring the education and wellness of those on the frontlines doing this critical work. What would it look like if there were no domestic violence? We can’t keep waking up to a world where the norm is that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men will experience domestic or dating violence in their lifetime. We must do something different than we have ever done. It’s time to work ourselves out of jobs and put survivors first — always. We believe Project Opal will put us even more firmly on that trajectory.

Our goal is to reimagine our two organizations to create systems change in the national response to domestic violence. By joining together, we can grow our missions, reach more survivors by maximizing resources, modernize our programs and services, and leverage the talent of our two phenomenal teams.

Goals of Project Opal

Through Project Opal, we will work in tandem to achieve the following:

● Create an ecosystem of services rooted in equity for survivors and advocates on a regional, statewide, national, and even international level.

● Lead survivor-informed, trauma-informed, and field-informed education, training, technical assistance, and certifications, and host the national conference on domestic violence.

● Create a scientific, data-driven, and scalable approach to domestic violence response that includes alternatives to law enforcement responses and a focus on culturally specific resources.

● Advocate for survivor-centered policies and protections.

● Create a standard for the wellness and retention of those doing this work. Every year across the country, domestic violence organizations lose amazing people because we do not equip them with the tools or resources, they need to truly take care of themselves and relieve the impact of the secondary trauma they experience daily.

● Develop strategies to address social and racial justice in the framework of intimate partner violence. Putting in place education, resources, tools, and proposed policy that advance marginalized victims and communities and to ensure they also receive the highest quality and most holistic services and support.