This week on Speaking Of, we are speaking with Lisa Nitsch. Lisa will share the rich history of her work in the movement to end domestic violence by working with those who perpetrate the violence and his experience being a part of the development of the Coordinated Community Response.

Lisa Nitsch, MSW

Chief Operating Officer

House of Ruth Maryland

Community Engagement Center

2521 North Charles Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21218

lisanitsch@hruthmd.org, (443) 569-0449

Lisa is responsible for House of Ruth Maryland’s intervention services for abusive partners, the Training Institute, which coordinates professional development for staff, external community education, and professional technical assistance, as well as agency-wide initiatives. She has been with House of Ruth Maryland since 1998 and has advanced through a variety of positions, including overseeing the agency’s Clinical Services for survivors and their children, the Teen Initiative, and the Developmental Childcare Center.

Lisa is Vice-Chair of Baltimore City’s Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, a member of the City’s Domestic Violence High Risk Task Force, and an appointed member of the Maryland Governor’s Family Violence Council. For several years, she was on the Board of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, served as Vice President of the national organization, Women in Fatherhood, and as Co-Chair of Maryland’s Abuse Intervention Collaborative. Lisa has been on training teams for notable organizations such as Futures Without Violence, Battered Women’s Justice Project, Women of Color Network, Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community, and the National District Attorneys Association. She has served as an advisor to the United States White House, the National Institutes of Health, the United States Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women, and the United States Department of Health & Human Services’ Administration for Children & Families.

Lisa is most proud of being recognized as a field leader in Ed Gondolf’s 2015 book, “Gender-Based Perspectives on Batterer Programs”, her 2013 award from the Center for Urban Families for her “years of dedication in serving Baltimore City’s most vulnerable citizens”, and the Special Day of Honor designated for her by Mayor Nagin in 2007, for “promoting positive outcomes and providing support to the fathers of New Orleans” following the devastation of hurricane Katrina.

Her current, but ever-changing, interests include developing programs for abusive partners within disinvested communities that address the dual experience of both holding privilege and being oppressed, increasing access to learning tools for service providers globally, and exploring community-based accountability models that function outside of the criminal legal system.

Lisa’s roots run deep in her hometown of Baltimore City, Maryland, where she has helped raise two of her nieces and continues to proudly live with her husband of more than 20 years.