Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (DAIP)

Eight agencies dealing with prosecution, probation, civil protection orders, mental health services, shelter services and incarceration form a network and agree on experimental guidelines to handle cases brought into the system by the mandatory arrest policy and the increased use of civil protection orders.

Neighborhood-based women's groups are organized for women using the court system but not staying at the shelter. These groups are later documented in facilitator's manual, In Our Best Interest. (1987) (Update 1994)

Groups for men who batter are started by three mental health centers. These groups are later combined with the educational model described in the facilitator's manual Power and Control: Tactics of Men Who Batter. (1986) (Update 1993)

1982 Based on the results of an initial evaluation, nine agencies agree to permanently institute previously experimental policies. Each intervening agency's policies are documented in the manual Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Assault Cases: A Guide for Policy Development. (updated 1985, 1989, 1996)

Duluth KDLH TV station produces a documentary on the project, The Rites of Violence.

The court changes the number of mandated sessions for abuser rehabilitation from eight to twelve weeks.

1982 DAIP consults with Range Women Advocates to adapt the Duluth Model in four rural mining communities in northern Minnesota.

1983 Women in the neighborhood groups develop the Power and Control Wheel.

Duluth is selected for the "President's Award" from the Minnesota Corrections Association for its work in the domestic violence field.

1984 An educational and social change group for Native American women the Circle of Life is organized.

Women from the neighborhood-based educational groups form the Women's Action Group to work on issues of violence and poverty in women's lives.

DAIP conducts its second program evaluation based on an anonymous survey of victims' satisfaction with the system's response.

1985 The court changes the number of mandated sessions for abusers from twelve to twenty-six weeks.

The "no drop" policy of the prosecutor's office is eliminated and conviction rates gradually fall from 80% to below 47%.

1986 A group is organized for Native American men who batter.

A documentary on eight Indian women's struggles to end violence in their lives and community, The Journey, Parts I and II is produced.

1987 The City of Duluth receives the John F. Kennedy School of Government Award from the Ford Foundation for "Innovations in State and Local Government" for its changes in public policy regarding domestic assault.

The prosecutor's office returns to the practice of subpoenaing victims.

1989 The police department adopts a new policy which eliminates arrests in self-defense cases and develops a new training curriculum, Law Enforcement Response to Domestic Assaults for ongoing training of law enforcement officers.

1989 Duluth hosts its first week-long on-site institute for practitioners in eleven states.

The National Training Project is organized by DAIP to teach the Duluth Model and to build an ongoing funding source for the Visitation Center, DAIP, and the Women's Action Group.

An interagency committee is formed to develop a plan to help children caught in the wake of violence between their parents. The first steps toward eventual organizing of the Visitation Center are made.

The Visitation Center opens, offering a safe place to exchange children, on-site visitations, and safe place for separated parents with a history of battering to discuss visitation and emergency problems

A five-year recidivism study is completed on arrests made in 1985. (This is the first five year study in U.S.)

1990 The Minnesota Lawyer's Trust Fund awards a grant to DAIP to develop Prosecutors' Guidelines and organize a statewide conference on increasing convictions and protection of domestic assault victims.

The Inter-tribal Council to End Violence in Indian Families organizes the pilot project "Mending the Sacred Hoop" under the auspice of the National Training Project.

1991 Groups for Parents begin through the Visitation Center and the curriculum is documented in the manual What About the Kids?

Groups for adolescents using violence (Too Cool to Rule) are organized; the curriculum is documented in the manual What About the Kids?

1992 The National Training Project contracts with the US Marine Corps to develop a Marine Corps Intervention Model in spouse assault cases.

MPDI is funded to coordinate work of interagency council on children and battered women on issues of custody and visitation. (Custody/Visitation Special Project)

1993 Custody/Visitation Special Project completes draft assessment form and training design for practitioners.

Custody/Visitation Special Project documents concerns in the manual The Duluth Custody and Visitation Project.

Manual for US Marine Corps Intervention Model is completed.

Chief Judge of District Court appoints an Interagency Council on Domestic Violence to look at how to enhance the work of the DAIP and improve court disposition of cases.

Education Groups for Men Who Batter: The Duluth Model book is published by Springer Publishing Company.

Department of Health and Human Services funds MPDI (DAIP) to form in collaboration with three domestic violence programs, the Battered Women's Justice Project which provides a toll free telephone and clearinghouse on criminal and civil court reform work and development of programs for batterers.

1994 The Minnesota Medical Association selects the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project as one of three recipients for its first annual "Stop the Violence" award.

1996 Dr. Lonnie Bristol, president of the American Medical Association presented the Presidents Award of Excellence to the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project for its model of coordinated community response to domestic assault.

1996 U.S. Marine Corps contracts with MPDI to provide trainings and technical assistance to develop coordinated community response project on several Marine installations in the U.S. and Japan.

Mending the Sacred Hoop produces manual and videos for Native American communities working to end violence in families.

1996 The U.S. Department of Justice, Violence Against Indian Women Office, awards Mending the Sacred Hoop Technical Assistance Project funding to provide training and technical assistance to designated Native American tribal grantees.

1997 The Domestic Abuse Intervention Project and the Law Enforcement Resource Center of Minneapolis jointly produce a new law enforcement training curriculum Domestic Violence: The Law Enforcement Response which includes trainer guide, student guide, PowerPoint presentation, and four videos. (Update 2000)

1997 After many years of searching, a building is located in downtown Duluth to be named the Center for Nonviolence to house our programs and a state-of-the-art training center to provide training and technical assistance to other communities wishing to develop similar projects.

1998 Move to new building and training center in downtown Duluth.

MPDI organizes and conducts a national conference in Duluth for more than 500 attendees: Public Response to Private Violence: Lessons from Duluth.

Mending the Sacred Hoop Technical Assistance organizes and conducts a national conference for tribal grantees in Rapid City, SD, Women are Sacred: Key Issues and Practices in Indian Country.

1999 Sage Publications publishes Coordinating Community Responses to Domestic Violence: Lessons from Duluth and Beyond.

The National Institute of Justice awards MPDI a grant to study the impact of court intervention on Native American women.

NTP and BWJP receive contracts to provide trainings on developing community response to domestic violence in eastern Europe and the several countries of the former Soviet Union.

2003 Update facilitator manual and change name of the Duluth curriculum for facilitating

classes for men who batter. Formerly titled Power and Control: Tactics of Men Who

Batter, the new curriculum title is Creating a Process of Change for Men Who Batter.

2003 The National Training Project name is changed to Domestic Abuse Intervention Project

Training and Resource

2006A Christian supplement to the curriculum Creating a Process of Change for Men Who

Batter is created. Changing Men, Changing Lives includes a manual and two DVDs.

2010 Created the Domestic Violence Response Team (DVRT). A partnership between the

Duluth Police Department, St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, Arrowhead Regional

Corrections, Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs and Safe Haven Shelter for Battered

Women. The focus of the team is direct advocacy, dedicated domestic violence

investigators, dedicated probation agents, risk and danger analysis and distribution to the

court, prosecutors and pre-trial release agents. What makes this collaborative unique is

the team is housed in the Duluth Police department by multiple agencies

2014 The Duluth Model’s Coordinated Community Response to domestic violence, a partnership between Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs and criminal justice agencies in the City of Duluth and St. Louis County was named World’s Best Policy to address violence against women and girls by United Nations Women, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the World Future Council. The Duluth Model method of organizing won the Gold Award for prioritizing the safety and autonomy of victims while holding offenders accountable through a unique partnership between non-profits and government agencies.

2017 Completed the Blueprint for Safety Demonstration Project funded by the Office on Violence Against Women. The project was a five year organizing effort that incorporated the Blueprint for Safety created by Praxis International in partnership with the St. Paul Intervention Project into Duluth’s Coordinated Community Response. The project updated existing domestic violence policy and protocols, added a method of analyzing and distributing risk information and improved the way in which policies across the criminal system worked together to provide improved safety for victims and accountability for offenders.