Our History
Since 1978...
In the late 1970’s, the domestic violence awareness movement was just beginning to take hold throughout the state and country, with the establishment of grass roots organizations to help victims.
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We began in 1978 known as The Battered Women’s Alliance. We were a small, grassroots effort run by volunteers committed to the full range of family violence problems.
In 1981, we received non-profit status and services for rape intervention were added. We went through a few names changes, landing upon the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Coalition (DVSAC) in the early 1990's.
In 1993, the Prevention Education Program was implemented with funding from the State of California. In the year 2000, we opened the first recognized battered women’s shelter in the Grass Valley area through a grant from the Maternal Child Health Department.
We continue to provide direct services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, and provide education and prevention services to our community.
Why We Changed Our Name In 2017
In the Summer of 2017, we renamed DVSAC to Community Beyond Violence.
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Our name change is more than just a name...
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​Changing our name to a positive, solution-oriented phrase more accurately reflected our mission and vision for our community.
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This name change was geared to reaching a wider and more diverse audience and increasing the role we play in preventing and reducing violence in our community.
Dropping the words “domestic” and “sexual assault” was meant to appeal to more potential clients as well as supporters. The word “violence” was kept to keep the public mindful of how it stands apart from other local non-profits who work to promote healthy and stable families.
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A former shelter client said the name Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalition didn’t connect with her.
The term ‘domestic violence’ is something that not everyone can relate to, or wants to relate to, particularly people who haven’t been physically hurt but have experienced emotional abuse, like me.