In October 1999, the Department of Justice Administration joined with the Humana Foundation and the University of Louisville, Medical School as a part of a Healthy Communities Partnership Project. The project is funded through "in-kind" contributions from the participating organizations as well as a grant from the Alliance for International Health Association. The overall objective of this project is to create partnerships between American health practitioners and their counterparts in Central Europe and the Newly Independent States as a means of contributing to the improvement of health and health-related services. These partnerships have as a first objective, the identification of specific community health needs and, in the instance of the current project, the identification of women's community health needs.

The "partner" to the Louisville organizations was the City of Constanta, Romania. Women's community health needs were assessed through focus groups and surveys and the citizens of Constanta named domestic violence as one of the "top five" health issues for women in their community. A decision was made to address domestic violence through partnetship activities and the Department of Justice Administration was brought in as the lead organization on this program within the project.

The department has put together a "team" representing physicians, social workers, prosecution, police and community leaders that is providing training to comparable professional peers on the development of a network of community services for victims of domestic violence in Constanta, Romania. The training and consultation being provided is based on two model "networked" community service for domestic violence projects that have been funded in the greater Louisville Metropolitan Area by the U.S. Department of Justice. The premise is that if all organizations and providers who serve victims of domestic violence are "linked" and "coordinated" then integrated and more complete support services may be provided to victims and their families.

Agencies and individuals from the Louisville community who are participating in this project with the department include:

• Louisville and Jefferson County Crime Commission
  Stephanie Stidham, Program Manager

• Commonwealth Attorney's Office
  Carol Cobb, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney

• Louisville Division of Police
  Major Tracy Schiller

• Center for Women and Families
  Darlene Thomas, Shelter Director

• Jefferson County Department of Public Health
  Violanda Grigorescu, Research Associate

The Romanian partners traveled to Louisville during the summer of 1999 and were provided with an overview of services and programs offered within the community for victims of domestic violence. Based on this trip, the Romanian partners developed a set of goals and strategies for establishing comparable services in their community. One of the strategies included training of human service professionals to sensitize them to the problem and provide them with suggestions concerning how to better respond to the needs of victims and their families. A training session was conducted in March 2000. During this training, all service professionals in Constanta (physicians, police, social workers, emergency room personnel, nurses, prosecutors) received common training in addressing domestic violence from the various professional orientations. Members of the Constanta team organized and have initiated a community-wide public education campaign to increase awareness of the incidents and "costs" of domestic violence. A second training session, with more specialized professional information, is scheduled for November as well as work on the establishment of a hotline for victims of domestic violence in Constanta and support for domestic violence legislation in Romania.

Romanian police participant and Major Tracy Schiller, American instructor (March 2000)

American partners and Romanian seminar participants (March 2000)

Carol Cobb, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney, instructs Romanian participants (March 2000)

Volunteers conduct survey on attitudes toward domestic violence in Constanta, Romania (March 2000)

Volunteers distribute pamphlets during domestic violence public education campaign in Constanta, Romania (March 2000)