Our Department of Family Services works hard to help people who face domestic violence and sexual assault. On a recent “County Conversation” podcast, Sandra McGovern, operations manager for Domestic and Sexual Violence Services, shared how her team uses data to make their programs better and reach more people who need help.
Every day, people in crisis call the Domestic and Sexual Violence 24-hour hotline. McGovern’s team tracks these calls and services carefully. They want to know who needs help, what kind of help they need and whether their programs work.
The data shows her team where they need to focus their attention and resources. They show which groups of people might not know about available services. They reveal which programs work well and which ones need changes. This information helps the county decide how to spend money and where to add new services.
Understanding Who Needs Help
One key thing McGovern’s team looks at is demographics, including tracking age, language needs and family situations. This helps them create programs that fit what people need, not just what they think people need.
For example, if the numbers show that few people from a specific area call the hotline, the team knows they need to do more outreach there. They might need to advertise services differently or work with community groups in that neighborhood.
“Data really allows us to see if we’re meeting the needs of the community,” McGovern said. If something isn’t working, they can see it in the numbers and fix it.
Privacy
McGovern’s team takes privacy seriously. People calling the hotline are often in dangerous situations. The team collects only the information they need and keeps it secure. They follow strict rules about who can see the data and how it gets used. The goal is to learn from patterns in the numbers without ever putting individual people at risk.
Fairfax County doesn’t work alone. McGovern’s team shares some data, while also maintaining privacy, with other organizations that help domestic violence survivors. This coordination means multiple agencies can work together to fill gaps and avoid duplicating efforts.
The County Conversation Podcast
The “County Conversation” is a podcast featuring employees and subject matter experts from the Fairfax County Government discussing programs, services and items of interest to residents of Fairfax County. Listen to past episodes of “County Conversation.” To find other county podcasts, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/podcasts.
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