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FROM THE FAMILY VIOLENCE BLOG

December 18, 2012 in Blog Post, Domestic Violence, Uncategorized

With Impunity has received the MSP Magazine 2012 Best Local Documentary and MN Women’s Press named it one of the 2012 Changemakers. The program will be rebroadcast in April as part of Sexual Violence Awareness Month.

2012 Changemaker: With Impunity

Reposted from Minnesota Women’s Press

“Potentially a breakthrough shift in the way abuse and violence against women is discussed by looking through the lens of men,” is how the “With Impunity” documentary has been described.

Ellen Pence and Michael Paymar thought progress had stalled after working together for 30 years on gender-based violence. They had written books, created curriculum, and lectured and led trainings nationally and internationally. They could point to a lot of successes-changes in laws, in law enforcement and in criminal justice. Read the rest of this entry →

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by United Front

Examining the Realities & Options for Ending Violence

September 20, 2012 in Archive, Domestic Violence

With Impunity: Men & Gender Violence

Beliefs about manhood that allow men to exploit and hurt women with impunity are ingrained in our culture. “With Impunity” engages the thinking of leading historians, sociologists and practitioners to examine our past, cultural realities and options for ending men’s violence against women.

Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide
Oct. 1 starting at 8 p.m.
Introduced by George Clooney, and traveling with intrepid reporter Nicholas Kristof and celebrity advocates (America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde), HALF THE SKY presents women and girls who are living under some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable — and fighting bravely to change them. Their intimate, dramatic and immediate stories of struggle reflect viable and sustainable options for empowerment and offer an actionable blueprint for transformation. The series was filmed in 10 countries: Cambodia, Kenya, India, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Liberia and the United States.

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by United Front

The Making of With Impunity

September 19, 2012 in Archive, Domestic Violence, Uncategorized

Michael Paymar, MN House of Representatives

Why would anyone write a documentary about men’s violence against women? After working in the battered women’s movement for over three decades, my colleague Ellen Pence and I wanted to capture the lessons we had learned by exploring the struggles, history, successes and challenges of ending gender-based violence.

I met Ellen in 1981 when she was organizing the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP) in Duluth, Minnesota. At this time in history, battered women’s activists from around the country recognized the injustice–the very institutions that were supposed to be protecting victims from violent crimes were failing miserably. Law enforcement rarely arrested abusers unless the violence was egregious. Prosecutors didn’t seek convictions because they didn’t think they could win. And judges frequently perceived these cases as private family matters. In this bleak environment, women battered by husbands and boyfriends were forced to adapt to lives where fists, kicks, broken bones, and sexual assault were a way of life. The terror of wife beating was occurring with impunity.
READ ARTICLE (PDF)

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by United Front

FROM THE FAMILY VIOLENCE BLOG

September 19, 2012 in Archive, Domestic Violence, Public Policy

Minnesota agencies rely on anti-violence act that’s in limbo

Reposted from Star Tribune

Congress reconvened Monday with a host of issues likely to be loudly debated, from jobs to the environment to health care. Let’s hope they raise their voices about violence, too.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), created to protect women from domestic and sexual violence, has flown through periodic reauthorizations in both houses with bi-partisan support since its creation in 1994. Read the rest of this entry →

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by United Front

FROM THE FAMILY VIOLENCE BLOG

May 17, 2012 in Archive, Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Events

Blogger Asks: What’s it going to take?

The new research report from Prevent Child Abuse America was recently released and puts the cost of toxic stress (or child abuse and neglect) experienced by children in this country at a staggering $80 billion dollars per year. Several studies have come out in recent years with numbers ranging from $80-124 billion dollars per year and are inclusive of paying for the consequential program costs associated with child abuse and neglect.

With child welfare reporting close to 3.5 million children per year for the maltreatment of children, what should our society’s response be? If a virus suddenly started taking the lives of children worldwide there would be a national outcry for a cure; money would be poured in to research; communities would mobilize in an effort to halt the spread of the disease.

And yet, there’s a child abuse pandemic right here in America that we could invest a fraction of that $80 billion dollars to create healthy environments for children but we keep diverting funds to intervention after the crisis has already hit.

We know it’s far more expensive to treat diseases after they occur rather than preventing them in the first place. The same dynamic exists here when it comes to child abuse and neglect.  How many lives must be lost? How much money do we need to spend on emergency room health care?  I wonder what, exactly, it’s going to take? Read the rest of this entry →

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by United Front

Crime After Crime

March 26, 2012 in Archive, Domestic Violence, Events, Uncategorized

The 2012 Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival, running through April 1, showcases a diverse range of films from effervescent French romance, frivolous comedy and touching family drama to politically engaged personal documentaries, including Crime After Crime.

This powerful documentary follows the course of Deborah Preagler’s dramatic legal battle. Imprisoned for over a quarter century in connection with the murder of a brutally abusive boyfriend, Debbie finds her only hope for freedom in an unlikely pair of rookie attorneys (one and Orthodox Jew) with no background in criminal law. Convinced that they can free Debbie in a matter of months, her attorneys soon discover corruption and politically driven resistance that extends the case for years. Their investigation ultimately attracts global attention, and takes on profound urgency when the case becomes a matter of life and death. This film tells an unforgettable story of the relentless quest for justice and the endurance of the human spirit.

Directed by Yoav Potash | USA, 2010 | 93 minutes | English

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by United Front

February 16, 2012 in Archive, Domestic Violence, Events, Uncategorized

Results from the 2010 Minnesota Crime Victim Survey

Thursday, March 1, 2012, 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Greater Twin Cities United Way, Minneapolis
Domestic Violence has a crippling effect on our community. An estimated 200,000 women and men experience domestic violence each year in Minnesota. Nationally, women lose 8 million paid days of work a year, which translates to roughly 133,000 lost days of work in Minnesota. Join us for a presentation about Domestic Violence: Results from the 2010 Crime Victim Survey, a new report to be released in March through the partnership of United Way and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety-Office of Justice Programs.

Materials

Download the Report

Download the Presentation

Executive Summary – Spanish

Executive Summary – Somali

Executive Summary – Hmong
 

 

 

 

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by United Front

FROM THE FAMILY VIOLENCE BLOG

February 1, 2012 in Archive, Domestic Violence, Sexual Violence

A new ally joins fight to end teen sex trade
Reposted from the Star Tribune

Women’s Foundation of Minnesota has launched a $4 million campaign to halt trafficking of teen girls.

Terry Williams stood in front of guests at a swank Wayzata home on a recent evening, carrying a message that wasn’t exactly cocktail party fare. Surrounded by lovely furniture and a glowing fireplace, she showed them a gritty film titled “Minnesota Girls Are Not for Sale.” For the next 45 minutes, a dozen guests sipping wine learned about a new $4 million, five-year campaign to halt sex trafficking of teenage girls.

“Most people are quite shocked that this is happening,” said Williams, of the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, the campaign’s sponsor.

Such unlikely house parties are taking off across the metro area, as the foundation launches the first philanthropic campaign in Minnesota — and one of a handful in the nation — focused on teen sex trafficking. Read the rest of this entry →

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by United Front

FROM THE FAMILY VIOLENCE BLOG

December 15, 2011 in Archive, Domestic Violence, Uncategorized

Family Violence Year in Review
Dave Ellis, United Way, Community Partnership Manager

The Family Violence community has had a productive and impressive year with the launch of many new programs and initiatives. We have, as well, sustained the loss of family violence agencies while new ones have formed to fill the gap and carry on best practices amid dwindling funding and resources.

Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery, whose The Nursery Way model for working with families, and Cornerstone Advocacy Service new teen dating violence website, are among the many stellar programs in our community continuing to provide essential services that support victims of violence and create inroads toward eliminating it. Read the rest of this entry →

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by Tania Jones

Making the Voices of Children Heard

October 13, 2011 in Archive, Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Uncategorized

As we near the middle of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we want to encourage you to share this new interactive resource, HonorOurVoices.org, with colleges and other professionals and complete the training module for yourself.

Together through this learning module the voices of children who have experienced domestic violence are elevated to ensure that they are better heard, understood and responded to by social service providers.

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