Mission/History

Mission

To end domestic violence in the Capital Area through:

• serving victims of family violence;
• educating the public about family violence;
• and eliminating economic, social and cultural conditions and attitudes that contribute to domestic violence
  

History

For more than 30 years, CAFVIC/Battered Women's Program , the largest nonprofit domestic violence organization in Louisiana, has provided professional, compassionate, and empowering support to battered women and their children in the Capital Area.

The Capital Area Family Violence Intervention Center, Inc. / Battered Women’s Program began in the late 1970's as a result of a project of the Commission on the Needs of Women to perform a city-wide needs assessment of women in Baton Rouge.  That survey revealed that domestic violence was a serious problem in our city and that no services existed to address it.

A Board of Directors was formed in 1979 with the purpose of opening an emergency shelter for battered women and their dependent children in Baton Rouge and the Capital Area Family Violence Intervention Center, Inc. (CAFVIC, Inc.) was created.  By the time the shelter opened its doors to survivors in February of 1981, the mission of the Program was established.   After training the first Battered Women’s Program volunteers in January, a  24-hour, seven days a week crisis line became operational in early 1982.

Currently, our Program provides a 24 Hour Domestic Violence Response Hotline, emergency shelter, counseling, advocacy, legal services, education and training  and a wide range of support services to survivors of domestic violence and their children. Services are provided throughout the Capital Area and include outreach offices in Gonzales, Plaquemine, New Roads and Clinton.