This is the final installment of the Best Practice Assessment series. Click to read the previous installments.
The Best Practice Assessment (BPA) report has a simple, but powerful, purpose. It provides agency leadership—those charged with implementing changes in workplace practices—a centralized, concrete account of 1) what is currently in place and 2) what needs to change.
After each team has analyzed all the information gathered throughout the assessment, the BPA coordinator works with their Praxis consultant to consolidate their findings and recommendations into the report, using a template provided by Praxis.
The report provides a record of the good work conducted by the team; documents the commitment by agencies to make changes that enhance safety for victims of domestic violence and hold offenders accountable for the harm they have caused; and, if relevant/desired by the team, shares the team’s ongoing process for improving the systemic response to domestic violence with the broader community, which can go a long way in increasing trust in the criminal justice system and awareness of the services that are available to victims.
Once the BPA is complete and the report is written, the work doesn’t stop there! The BPA is simply the jumping off point for future changes in ICCR communities. As teams move forward with their ICCR year and beyond, the BPA report serves as a touchstone that ensures each subsequent effort, training, and policy shift addresses the specific, unique needs of local survivors, and a reminder that the community is committed to self-reflection, collaboration, and centering survivor voices every step of the way.