My sorority chapter, Omicron Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, promotes health in a very broad sense, including healthy relationships with family, spouses and friends.

We have held a number of events this year in which domestic violence was a focus, including a brunch for teenaged girls and their mothers in May and a panel discussion on domestic violence in August. 

Domestic violence doesn’t just affect survivors; it has a ripple effect throughout the community. Thus, it’s the community’s responsibility to address it. 

Those who are subjected to domestic violence are strongly encouraged to report it to law enforcement and seek counseling/support immediately. 

by Claudia Henly
Court Advocate for HICA! Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama

En mi trabajo como facilitadora de recursos en la corte para victimas veo algunos casos que nos ayudan a preparar  
material para educar a la gente inmigrante sobre Violencia Domestrica y otros problemas que atacan a nuestra comunidad.
Constantemente publicamos articulos con la ayuda de diferentes medios de comunicacion el abuso en el hogar y sobre los recursos existentes de los cuales gran prte de la gente no conoce y dado que no existen en nuestros paises de origen.
 
El porcentaje mas grande de victimas al rededor del mundo son mujeres y ninos siendo estos ultimos los que sufren en silencio.En Estados Unidos y especificamente en Alabama el panorama es similar. Las mujeres sufren frecuentemente las concecuencias de la persepcion equivocada sobre la relacion de pareja y en algunas ocasiones por venir de familias y  sociedades que tacitamente motivan la creencia de que los hombres son el sexo fuerte y deben demostrarlo.De alguna manera algunas creencias culturales, religiosas  de mas motivan al sexo masculino a tener el control y el poder, reflejandose este concepto en la familia y otros campos.
 
Los ninos usualmente tambien sufren,sienen sentimientos ambivalentes cuando son testigos de la violencia entre sus padres ya que para ellos es muy dificil decidir de parte de quien deben estar ya que ellos generalmente aman a ambos padres.muestran bajo rendimiento academico, malestares de salud, depresion, problemas de socializacion y en muchos de los caso copian los ejemplos de los padres como abusadores o como victimas.
 
Tambien hay un porcentaje de hombres que viven violencia en el hogar pero pocos los denuncian por temor a ser el blanco de bromas.
 
 

The City of Birmingham responds to some 800 incidents of domestic violence calls per month.  The domestic violence court docket consists of approximately 250 cases per month.  With the help of Voices against Violence, the court is able to properly dispose of most of its cases by holding the perpetrators accountable.  Now victims (because of our two victim advocates) and police officers are coming to court and testifying.  In addition, better evidence is available, i.e. digital pictures and medical records.  We now have a city prosecutor who specializes in domestic violence cases.  Also, enforcement of the orders is probable because of our compliance officer and probation services.  I give a special thanks to Voices against Violence, Alabama Civil Justice Foundation, The YWCA, The City of Birmingham, The Women’s Fund of Greater Alabama, and the Birmingham Police Department. 

Judge Agnes Chappell

When I ask myself why I support The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham, it’s not only because I CAN, but it’s also because I know the money will be spent to make life better for a very targeted group of women and girls who are in great need. Very often these people lack the strength and self-esteem to lift themselves out of the depths despair in which they find themselves. Ghandi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” and I say, “Fund the change you want to see in the world.” Funding The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham will go a long way toward helping victims of violence and poverty – phenomena which often go hand-in-hand.  

So today I’m celebrating the work of this group who has a history of creating new, never-before-tried initiatives such as the Blog-A-Thon today. It’s a fearless group of smart women who listen to what’s needed and then goes about funding change that positively affects women and girls. For those of you who might not know, it was The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham who created CUT IT OUT in 2000 in the State of Alabama, because DV service providers said, “Go to the salons. That’s where victims tell all.”

Carol Gundlach of the Alabama Coalition Against Domestic Violence (quite literally the unsung hero) created phenomenal training materials that teach salon professionals how to recognize signs of DV, and teaches them how to respond by referring victims to the DV Hotline number for help. Salon professionals never try to counsel victims. They always refer victims to the counselors who are trained. Because of this program, salon professionals offer victims these life-saving messages: “It’s not your fault, you’re not alone, help is at this number … 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).” 

In the early years of the 21^st century, I was Founder and President of Southern Living At HOME, a direct sales company, who was looking for an “official national philanthropy” to call our own. I thought to myself, “Hey, I have a national platform, I have VOICE … why not take CUT IT OUT national?” I knew this program was having a real impact in Alabama. How hard could it be to go national? Yes, how hard could it be, indeed? I was about to find out.

The first thing I did was to find a partner in the industry who wanted to help victims of DV as much as I did. And Gordon Miller of the National Cosmetology Association was just such a partner. We launched the program on a national basis in 2003 with an Advisory Board of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), and the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Everyone knew we were onto something important by engaging some of the most trusted members of any community: its hairdressers and nail techs. They hear it all – including deep, dark, frightening secrets about what’s really going behind closed doors. In addition, very often there are physical signs of violence such as bruising and ripped out clumps of hair that are blatantly visible. Sometimes your “hairdresser knows for sure” as the ad slogan used to say. 

In the six years of its operation, the program has been embraced by DV service providers in all 50 states. Attorneys General have been extremely influential in involving their states’ DV service providers and salon professionals with CUT IT OUT. By all estimates, about 12,000 victims have called the National Domestic Violence Hotline number as a result of the program. And now the American Association of Cosmetology Schools is  teaching CUT IT OUT as part of the cosmetology curriculum. I recently learned that men and women who are in the cosmetology industry are at a higher-than-average risk of being in abusive relationships, themselves. I’ll bet some are saving their own lives as a result of this program.

Since the beginning of the national reach in 2003, over 3.5 million safety cards, in English and in Spanish, have been distributed (for a victim to put in his or her own shoe to hide it from the perpetrator) 500,000 posters have been distributed to hang in discreet locations like ladies’ rooms, 2,200 training kits have been distributed to DV agencies to train in their local communities, and about 30,000 training classes have been taught to salon professionals nationwide.  For more information, please visit www.cutitout.org. 

You can’t imagine how good I feel about all the lives we’ve touched. Imagine if The Women’s Fund had not had the vision and determination back in 2000 to create the program. That’s really what it takes … vision, determination, follow-through and, of course, funding.  I want to add my two cents and ask you to donate on The Women’s Fund’s website. It’s HIGH IMPACT GIVING. You just might save a life.  

Please click donate now on this website give today.

Dianne Mooney

diannemooney@aol.com

Blogging Against Violence

10/7/09

Steve Gunderson, President and CEO of the Council on Foundations, wrote in his congratulatory letter:

This award was created for a very special reason--to recognize those who
truly make a difference in their grantmaking while sharing with the
public examples of how philanthropy seeks to enhance the common good.
Twenty-first century philanthropy requires a focus on the impact of
grantmaking.

The Council on Foundations believes that extraordinary efforts deserve
widespread recognition. By all measures, The Women's Fund of Greater
Birmingham's effort in leading a community-level initiative to reduce
the incidence of domestic violence assaults in the Birmingham, Alabama
area has been extraordinary. In bestowing the 2009 Critical Impact
Award on The Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham, we acknowledge your
organization's innovative leadership and bold vision to enhance the
common good through effective grantmaking.

Thank you for establishing philanthropy as the innovators and architects
of social change.

A second letter from the Critical Impact Awards Committee described their decision process:

Voices Against Violence was thoughtfully considered among a field of qualified applications and rose to the top because of its innovative approach to a complex social change issue and effective execution. The Women’s Fund project team’s commitment to understanding the issues of domestic violence from a variety of perspectives and creating thoughtful solutions was noted by the Committee.

The use of landscape evaluation, connections with local organizations, and convenings at multiple levels created a logic model that the Committee recognized as having broad implications for social change.

Recognition by The Council on Foundations validates The Women’s Fund’s work. Over the past 5 years, we have moved from a charity model to a social change model.  Voices Against Violence  was our first demonstration to the community in creating the paradigm shift. The social change model has truly created:

• collaborations where we had competition
• respect for the myriad of perspectives held by the multi-racial, cultural, and socio-economic diversity in our community
• the community’s exemplar in the power of pooling resources and the power of giving together to address issues that disproportionately affect women and girls

Even more special to The Women’s fund is the award’s validation for social change led by women—women on our board and women in law who lead the giving circle.

Thank you to all of the members and sponsors of the Voices Against Violence giving circle. This year we have raised $88,000 to bring our four year total to $324,000 of gifts to the community.

Virginia Sweet, our Executive Director, says:

Kudos to all of you!!! Our fantastic giving circle members who all work
so hard to raise funds, our VAV partners who are working together like a
well-oiled system to really make a difference in our community, the
super women on our board and our former board members who have moved us
from a charity model to a social change model, and of course, the
Community Foundation folks who nominated us. This recognition of our
combined effort to make our community a better place for women and girls
and to address issues that disproportionately affect women and girls
says for me what is in my heart-you are all so incredible. Thank you for
your work and support.