EVE provides gender-specific education and support to women with a history of sexual and/or physical abuse.  EVE also houses the Task Force’s prevention programming.  Specific course offerings include: 1) support groups for survivors (offered in Spanish, English, and Russian); 2) intervention classes for female and same-sex abusers; 3) parenting classes for non-offending parents (offered in conjunction with the Child Witness to Domestic Violence Project); 4) family-strengthening and prevention classes offered in partnership with the Wisconsin Humane Society.  In addition to teaching and administering classes, EVE personnel also work on an individual basis with clients who need extra mentoring and support. 

Approximately half of the referrals to EVE come internally or from outside sources such as the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, the District Attorney’s Office, and the Department of Corrections.  The other half is identified through an innovative partner contact campaign.  EVE staff systematically reach out and offer services, support, and information to the victims and children of criminally convicted abusers who enter the batterers’ intervention program at our partner agency, the Alma Center.  Besides making telephone calls and writing letters to these prospective clients, we hold quarterly “Family Fun” events on Saturdays.  These events function as an orientation to the Task Force and offer substantive yet fun programming for children. 

In an additional effort to implement long-term solutions to domestic violence, EVE offers quarterly Restorative Justice Circles in partnership with Marquette Law School and the Alma Center.  The primary goal of Restorative Justice is to restore the voice and power of survivors; a secondary benefit is to help perpetrators understand the impact of their violence on partners, children, extended families, and communities.