A tall order, but made possible through STOP grant money and concerted effort within the various agencies. The illustration offers a visual glimpse of the development. It is continually emphasized in the report the importance of fully developing a coordinated community response to domestic violence and sexual assault. Also emphasized is the fact that this response does not happen in a day, or even a few months and that it requires the commitment of many people, constant attention and support. The first level is communication .
Information is shared in a friendly and helpful manner.
Collaboration occurs when joint work on protocol development occurs that complements and supports other agencies with commitment from agency heads. The final level, coordinated community response , is in place when all the critical systems are involved with organizational commitment, frequent feedback sessions and goal-planning for next steps. This requires developing and adopting response protocol between partner agencies. Critical to gaining a clearer understanding of how the actions of one agency depend on or are crucial to the success of another agency so that procedures ensuring the greatest possible coordination of effort can be developed into official protocol. The process is lengthy but is vital to better understanding for, and appreciation of each agencies unique contributions, roles, responsibilities and professional language.