ENROLLED
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 210
BY REPRESENTATIVE BARROW
A RESOLUTION
To authorize and direct the Louisiana State University Women's Center to conduct a review
and SWOT analysis of the state domestic violence coalition of Louisiana and provide
its findings in the form of a written report to the House Committee on Health and
Welfare no later than February 1, 2016.
WHEREAS, the House of Representatives of the Louisiana Legislature has long
recognized the need to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of this state; and
WHEREAS, the House of Representatives recognizes the need of Louisiana citizens
to feel safe in their own homes and recognizes that too often Louisiana residents are abused
by the people with whom they are most closely associated; and
WHEREAS, the House of Representatives recognizes the social need to address the
issue of domestic violence that is directed primarily against women; and
WHEREAS, domestic violence assails an individual's right to privacy, dignity,
security, and humanity, inflicts physical, emotional, and financial injury on its victims, and
exists in every segment of our population; and
WHEREAS, the mission of the Louisiana State University Women's Center includes
the advancement of women and women's well being through the active examination of issues
related to women and by serving as a conduit to connect students, faculty, staff, and
community members with the information that they need to make educated choices in their
lives; and
WHEREAS, a SWOT analysis is a structured survey method used to evaluate the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats involved in a project through specifying
the objective of the project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable
and unfavorable to achieve that objective; and
Page 1 of 3 HR NO. 210 ENROLLED
WHEREAS, the aim of a SWOT analysis is to identify the internal factors of a
project comprised of the strengths, the characteristics of the project that give it an advantage
over others, and weaknesses, the characteristics that place the project at a disadvantage
relative to others; and the external factors of the project comprised of the opportunities, the
elements that the project can use to its advantage, and the threats, the elements in the
environment that can cause trouble for the project; and
WHEREAS, a SWOT analysis can be used effectively to build organization or
strategy to best accomplish the desired goal by matching the project's resources and
capabilities to the environment in which it operates; and
WHEREAS, federal law mandates the creation of state domestic violence coalitions
which serve as statewide leaders in the efforts to end domestic violence by connecting local
domestic violence service providers and are valuable resources for information about
services, programs, legislation, and policies that support survivors of domestic violence; and
WHEREAS, one of the goals of state domestic violence coalitions is to improve
domestic violence intervention and prevention in their states by ensuring cross-coordinated,
best practice solutions are implemented and sustained; and
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence is the state domestic
violence coalition of Louisiana and is a statewide coalition of shelters, nonresidential
programs, and individuals who work together to deter domestic violence behavior; and
WHEREAS, in 2012, there was an increase of eight hundred crisis calls to the
statewide domestic violence assistance hotline, about a fifteen percent rise over 2011; and
together Louisiana's eighteen domestic violence centers received over thirty-five thousand
calls in 2012; and
WHEREAS, in a survey of one twenty-four-hour period on September 17, 2013, in
Louisiana, there were seven hundred twenty-one domestic violence victims and their
children who received services; three hundred thirty-four calls to domestic violence hotlines
were answered; one hundred sixty-seven requests from domestic violence victims were
turned down because programs did not have the resources to provide them; and thirty-four
percent of unmet requests were from victims who had chosen to flee their abusers, and were
seeking safe emergency or transitional housing; and
Page 2 of 3 HR NO. 210 ENROLLED
WHEREAS, it is crucial that a comprehensive review of the state domestic violence
coalition of Louisiana as the single point of coordination for all existing public and private
domestic violence programs be undertaken to identify gaps in prevention and intervention
services and to increase coordination among public and private programs to strengthen
prevention and intervention services in Louisiana.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby authorize and direct the Louisiana State University
Women's Center to conduct a review and SWOT analysis of the state domestic violence
coalition of Louisiana, the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, to ensure that
the organization is reaching its fullest potential as the umbrella organization for coordination
of domestic violence programs in all areas including but not limited to the use of best
practices, allotment and use of funding, coalition board structure, and training provided for
service providers.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the women's center shall provide its findings in
the form of a written report to the House Committee on Health and Welfare no later than
February 1, 2016.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
director of the Louisiana State University Women's Center.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Page 3 of 3