Hundreds of advocates, health care professionals and legal system workers are set to descend on The Orleans Hotel & Casino from September 15 through 17 for the 2026 Guidance for Growth conference, a three-day training summit organized by the Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. The gathering comes as Nevada continues to post some of the grimmest domestic violence numbers in the country, with Clark County absorbing the overwhelming share of the state's deaths.
The conference is expected to draw advocates, service providers, health care professionals, leaders and other professionals from across the country, according to KSNV. Organizers designed the event to strengthen connections among the systems survivors may encounter, including health care, legal systems, workplaces, families and communities, the station reports. Saran Almond, communications manager with the coalition, said the goal is to help build a more coordinated statewide support network for people impacted by domestic and sexual violence.
Registration for Guidance for Growth ran from $125 for early-bird coalition members to $250 for regular non-members, with early-bird pricing available from July 1 through July 31 before final registration closed in late August, according to the Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. The event offers dedicated programming across four tracks — Leadership, Sexual Assault, Healthcare and Power-Based Violence, and Navigating Legal Systems — reflecting the range of professionals the coalition hopes to reach.
A Coalition Born From Local Shelter Directors
The coalition traces its roots to 1980, when it was founded by five domestic violence shelter directors as the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence. It later rebranded as the Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence to address both domestic and sexual violence under one statewide umbrella, according to the organization. The coalition now provides statewide advocacy, education and support for organizations helping people affected by both forms of violence, per KSNV's report.
That mission has taken on added urgency in recent years. A March 2026 report by the coalition documented 45 domestic violence-related homicide deaths across 32 separate incidents in Nevada in 2025, with Clark County accounting for 40 of those deaths, according to KTVN. The station notes that those 2025 deaths included 11 murder-suicides and five incidents where children were present.
Las Vegas Homicides Tied Closely to Domestic Violence
Domestic violence was linked to roughly 30% of all homicides investigated by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in 2025, making it the single most common known cause of homicide in the city that year, Hoodline reported in its coverage of an East Las Vegas murder-suicide. Metro homicide detectives handled 24 domestic violence-related killings in 2025, per KSNV. Nevada has also ranked among the top 10 states nationwide for the rate of women murdered by men in 23 of the past 25 years, according to Violence Policy Center data cited in that reporting.
Recent state public health data indicate that approximately 43.8% of Nevada women and 32.8% of Nevada men experience intimate partner violence in their lifetimes, placing Nevada among the top states nationwide for the problem, according to Renown Health. Regional domestic violence resource centers reported a 22% average year-over-year increase in clients served over three recent fiscal years, the health system notes.
Shelters Turned Away Dozens Seeking Help
The demand on Nevada's shelter system shows up starkly in a single day of data. During a 24-hour national survey conducted in September 2024, participating Nevada programs served 530 victims but were forced to turn away 36 requests for help due to resource shortages, according to the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Roughly 97% of those unmet requests were for emergency shelter and housing assistance, the network's report found.
Underlying much of this strain is a funding gap that advocates have long flagged. Nevada is among a small group of states that does not fund domestic and sexual violence prevention and intervention through its state general budget, instead relying primarily on federal grant allocations and private contributions, per KTVN. Coalition leadership has said this structure forces programs to operate reactively rather than maintaining stable long-term prevention budgets.
That funding pressure has pushed the coalition toward private partnerships to sustain core training programs. In 2026, the coalition secured a $35,000 private investment from Nevada Gold Mines to support the Victim Assistance Academy of Nevada, a 40-hour advocate training program the coalition adopted in 2023 after federal VOCA grant funding lapsed, according to the coalition. The academy delivers foundational skills for professionals interacting with crime victims across state and tribal jurisdictions.
Mandatory Arrest Law Shapes Police Response
Nevada law also plays a direct role in how domestic violence cases unfold once police get involved. Under Nevada Revised Statute 171.137, responding officers are legally required to make an arrest whenever they establish probable cause that a domestic battery occurred within the preceding 24 hours, according to Battlefront Legal. The law also mandates a 12-hour hold without bail for individuals booked on domestic battery allegations.
That statute has come up repeatedly in Hoodline's own coverage of local incidents this year, including a SWAT standoff on Poplar Leaf Street two days ago and an arrest documented in an April case involving threats to a baby. Hoodline has also reported on the life sentence handed down five years after a Northeast Las Vegas stabbing, a case that cited the same March 2026 fatality report referenced above.
For a coalition trying to knit together health care providers, attorneys, law enforcement and shelter staff into a single statewide network, the Guidance for Growth conference represents an attempt to close gaps that show up again and again in Nevada's case files — from shelters turning away survivors to homicide detectives citing domestic violence as their most common caseload. Whether three days of training in a Las Vegas ballroom can move those numbers remains to be seen.
