AVA Annual Meeting – Tucson 2017
AVA Annual Meeting 2017
March 28, 2017
Tucson, Arizona
It was great being in Tucson with you and we want to thank you for joining us at the AVA Annual Meeting! For me personally, it was exciting to meet some of you for the very first time and reconnecting with so many friends/administrators that I knew years ago.
This meeting reinforced several significant signs of growth and progress for AVA. First and foremost, as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of AVA, we are proud to announce that, as of last month, our membership rate is the highest in the history of AVA! We are encouraged that we had representation from 56 administrators representing 49 states/territories present at the meeting
If you were in attendance and your state/territory is not currently an AVA member, please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you or your agency with deciding to join AVA during this next year.
During our meeting, administrators participated in electing their peers to serve on AVA’s Board. Three existing Board members were reinstated and two new positions were filled to serve in vacant positions on the Board. Please help us in welcoming and congratulating Jade Palin (Indiana) and Virginia Funk-Currie (South Carolina) who were nominated and accepted positions on the Board. We received additional feedback from two other states who are interested in future Board positions, and/or offered their service as committee members. Thank you all for your participation and willingness to serve on the AVA Board!!
During the open-discussion portion of our meeting, we were fortunate to hear ideas from administrators regarding suggestions about ways to improve the assistance that AVA provides to each administrator. AVA is committed to continuing to deliver information to administrators in a timely manner. We will continue to enhance our partnerships with agencies like NAVAA and NCJA (in addition to OVW) and coordinate our respective efforts to ensure that you receive the information that you need as quickly as possible.
There was also discussion regarding the most recent VAWA Reauthorization. OVW implemented a new policy extending the Implementation Plan cycle from 3 to 4 years. While this is certainly good news, AVA will continue to monitor discussions about any future suggested changes to the content especially to the extent that sufficient time is allowed for Administrators to put any changes into place at the state level. This goes beyond simply ensuring a state’s legislative language corresponds to VAWA, but includes policy changes at various agencies, training and technical assistance relating to those changes, etc.
Finally, administrators joined the AVA Board in honoring Dorene Whitworth for her leadership and devotion to AVA over the past seven years as AVA’s Executive Director. Dorene was presented with a plaque and many administrators shared their appreciation to Dorene for all that she has done to advance AVA and to assist administrators during her tenure.
Thank you all for your active involvement with AVA and your commitment to our ongoing work. It’s shaping up to be a busy year and we look forward to continuing to receive your valuable feedback and providing you with timely assistance!
Below are a few photos from the lunch meeting.
Barry Bryant
AVA Executive Director
