Domestic Violence has reached epidemic proportions, with more than 10 million people experiencing abuse each year in the United States. The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV) is committed to reducing this number and eliminating domestic violence for future generations. Founded in 1976, PCADV is a statewide collaborative membership organization dedicated to ending intimate partner violence and all forms of violence against women.  Each year its network of 59 local domestic violence programs provides free and confidential direct services to nearly 90,000 victims and survivors of domestic violence and their children in all 67 counties of the Commonwealth.  Local programs and the statewide Coalition work in collaboration to deliver a continuum of services, support and systems to help victims and survivors find safety, obtain justice, and build lives free from abuse. 

The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence strives to create a collective culture of change that fosters safety, justice and autonomy.  While local domestic violence programs offer direct service to those in need, PCADV provides the infrastructure, support, expertise and training to make their work effective.  Stronger together, the Coalition provides a collective voice that amplifies many voices.   

Cultivating a vision of a society free of domestic violence and working toward that future, PCADV’s programming focuses on three areas: Prevention, Intervention, and Change.  

PREVENTION: Through its Prevention work, PCADV strives to stop intimate partner violence before it starts. Breaking the generational cycle of violence for children, teens, and young adults by changing public attitudes and social norms will create a future in which lives are neither lost to, nor limited by, domestic violence. 

INTERVENTION: All victims and survivors of domestic violence should have access to essential, life-saving services to have lives that are financially independent, free of violence, and sustainable. Key intervention programming is available through local agencies and includes Housing, Civil Legal Representation, Lethality Assessment Screening, Medical Advocacy, and Economic Justice. 

CHANGE: As the collective voice of its local domestic violence programs, PCADV is committed to making a lasting impact in the Commonwealth through policy work at the state and federal level. PCADV actively advocates for change and works to block policies that create additional barriers or penalize victims. 

PCADV’s Prevention, Intervention and Change initiatives establish survivor well-being, independence and financial empowerment, leading to a life free from abuse.