Vision, Mission, and Values

Vision

The Snohomish County Center for Battered Women. . . .

Working together to build a safe community that is responsible and supportive of battered women and their children and that fosters dignity, respect, hope, and self-determination.

Mission

The Snohomish County Center for Battered Women is dedicated to ending domestic violence by providing a wide range of services to victims of domestic violence, including their children, and by facilitating social change.

Values

We believe that domestic violence is rooted in the social, political, and economic inequality between men and women; it is a form and an outcome of oppression rooted in historical and current social norms.  In order to eliminate domestic violence, we must redefine these social norms through education and institutional change.

  • Working from this feminist perspective requires that we:
  • Work with battered women and their children
  • Encourage the liberation of battered women and their children
  • Provide support, resources, and opportunities for action and social change within all levels of our organization
  • Strive for empowerment and liberation within our organization
  • Participate in the broader anti-oppression, feminist, and battered women’s movements; and
  • Support battered women as leaders within our movement.

The Center for Battered Women maintains high quality services with consistent and clear training, policies, procedures, review and feedback.  Services are victim focused, comprehensive, flexible, and varied to meet individual circumstances.  Services empower women and children and we support the decisions they make.  We maintain ethical professional boundaries, and collaborate with other organizations to ensure that the needs of battered women and children in our community are met.

The Center for Battered women recognizes and embraces the value of diversity at all levels of our organization.  We strive to make our organization culturally competent, accessible and welcoming.  This requires that we hold each other and ourselves accountable for identifying and eliminating our own biases and oppressive behavior. CBW values open collaborative relationships among the board, staff, volunteers, and clients.  All roles are respected and valued within the structure of the agency.