Stakeholders Influences

Stakeholder Influences on Programs
PEACE Domestic Violence Agency’s mission is to reduce victim trauma, empower survivors, and promote recovery through direct services. PDVA is committed to reducing the incidence of sexual assault and domestic violence through education and strives to challenge societal norms and beliefs that condone the perpetuate violence in the community.
Stakeholders and the influence they have in a program plan, along with staff and administration personnel, is usually inadequately misunderstood and has room for alterations. Stakeholders are defined as a corporate party that can affect or be affected by actions of the business. A major stakeholder can make or break a program’s success depending on the positive support or negative reactions it conducts. We have to remember that some stakeholders may have strong connections to the community and hold great influence on others who may be investors or potential investors. This kind of hidden influence with authority (mainly political) is very capable of causing major disruption to the development and concerns that impact citizens within the community and how a program progresses. A good example is the recent scandals with a funding collection charity organization, known as Quadriga Arts and the many agencies associated with them, charging outrageous fees for service and never delivering any charity funding collected. They have many agencies’ who state they help veterans and support homeless food banks, animal shelters, to name a few, when in fact they are not providing funding collected from nationwide donations to these charities and non-profit organizations. Too much fraud is going on and this is another factor making respectable organizations to have a difficult time acquiring funding. A few bad apples are destroying great respectable organizations, because of their own greed and recklessness. We have this kind of fraud also within our own government establishments especially in defense contractors, banking institutions, and veteran life insurance companies, just to name a few more. Finding stakeholders is unfortunately getting fewer and fewer and more difficult and this is why large corporations are joining together and getting involved more so, than private individuals who might become liable and become possibly involved with a larger, fraudulent agency. Protection comes in groups more than the average individual might have.
The needs and expectations of the stakeholder must always be considered when planning a program within the community where it resides. Stakeholders need to be given a good sense of security as well as the agency, and that positive outcome will promote positive change. Some stakeholders of course have different out looks on what success is, causing conflicts and concerns and the agency should be aware of this as well when excepting a stakeholder. This is when the agency has to be strong in its goals and mission and show positive plans for positive outcomes with the target population and what is required and prioritized for success within their communities. The give and take is; always conduct a thorough vetting process of stakeholders as stakeholders should do the same when funding any agency. The bottom-line is when final partnership is achieved then everyone is liable for any misfortunes or crimes committed within the agency.
PDVA administration and staff have the same interests as their stakeholders especially when it comes to financing and possible audits that may accrue from government agencies. This is especially true when addressing private foundations/ non-profit 501(c) 3 organizations like PDVA. Since PDVA is working with human services, and also receiving grants, the agency and the stakeholders are responsible for any inside conflicts of interest or other inappropriate interests that may be present or transpire. The agency and stakeholders have to be aware of the strict regulations concerning any grants, donations, and funding they acquire, and comply with any Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assessment or audit if requested. The agency has to ensure that all parts of their programs are for non-profit, and no one person or stakeholder benefits from the agency’s assists in case of agency closure.
PEACE Domestic Violence Agency has two funding grant programs at this time for nonprofit agencies. “The Small Grants Program” which offers a one-time grant of up to $5,000.00 to registered charities with an annual budget under $500,000.00.The second is “The Investor Program” which is an innovative funding program designed to support six organizations under each of the objectives of the “Supporting Families program”. This is up to $150,000.00 a year for three years. This of course is not including private donations, charities and other fund raising activities that are available in the Portland Metropolitan Area and work together. Example is; Catholic Charities Oregon, Gateway Center for Domestic Violence, Women of Wonder Day and Oregon Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence (OCADSV). Along with these funding charities Portland also has in operation, mentor programs in local schools, sports programs and religious entities that contribute to the prevention of domestic violence among youth’s, through fundraising events and donations. The city of Portland also has the court system now applying mandatory youth camps or home parent programs instead of incarceration. But probably, most and foremost, is the education, prevention and awareness of drug and alcohol abuse and the consequences involved. For example; we have to ask ourselves who has these problems, the children or their parents, and how we protect children whose parents don’t protect them and promote or influence drinking and drug activities, or even worse violent gang activities for profit. I believe education is the answer along with empowerment and enforcement. We have so many parents that have no idea how to play the role of a parent or they don’t have or want to make the time. With this being said we also have to look at the nation, the economy, and availability of employment within our target population and how it directly affects the community and involvements for family survival. When parents have to work two to three jobs to support their families, it is hard to be in control of your children when your never home. Children cannot babysit children and relatives or friends who have substance abuse addictions cannot be responsible or creditable for mentoring these children. Example; latch key children and unemployed adults should have a safe place like community recreation centers, job and preparation training, along with professional staff for mentoring, counseling, interaction, and developing safe alternatives for these parents and children who find themselves in abusive or neglected situations and need to have a safe place to go.
When we have stakeholders contributing to PDVA they both have one common goal, this is to develop a program(s) that benefit and enriches the lives of children and parents through education, protection, and awareness within the community. If the agency’s administration and staff can ensure that the agency will follow their objectives, the program will be successful and continue to receive the frequent assistance needed from stakeholders, then and only then can the agency achieve its goals and have the trust of the community it serves. Team work and involvement makes all the difference especially when the agency speaks out against violence and abuse to the community.
The final conclusion is to have the agency’s administration, staff, stakeholders, and the community on the same page and be accountable for their program(s) and mostly be involved. This is to protect, educate and make everyone aware of domestic violence, prevention, rape, abuse (physical and verbal), bullying, gang activities, child trafficking, and alcohol/ substance abuse. Everyone within the agency and the community needs to identify, speak out and report these activities and to do it in a safe protective method, for this is what saves lives. To have law enforcement, probation officers, professional trained advocates, hospitals, schools, churches, local businesses, neighborhood watch programs, and community centers becoming one in corporation, to eliminate domestic violence and abuse of any form, before it transpires and becomes a life threating situation. Having a place to go, any time, day or night is a must. To learn new trades and keep everyone active, growing and progressing towards recovery and success. Children and parents need to stay active and constantly progressing towards success, not falling into idle time to get in trouble or make trouble. My grandmother use to say “Idle time is the work of the devil”