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News
releases from the Mary Byron Foundation
May 15, 2003
Mary
Byron Foundation honors innovative efforts in fight against domestic
violence
Organizations
in New York, California and Oregon receive cash prize
Louisville,
Ky. — The Mary Byron Foundation, a public grant-making charity
based in Louisville, Kentucky, is honoring four organizations across
the nation for their pioneering efforts to stop domestic violence.
The
Foundation’s Celebrating Solutions Awardã recognizes
institutions that have demonstrated an innovative approach to and
clear focus on confronting the root causes of domestic violence
and developing solutions to break the cycle. Each recipient will
receive a $10,000 cash award in recognition of their work.
The
four winners are:
- The
American Domestic Violence Crisis Line, 866-USWOMEN (formerly
American Women Overseas). Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, ADVCL
provides domestic violence intervention and crisis services to
all American women and their children while living overseas and
upon their return to the United States. Services include resources
that enable the mother to remove her children from abusive environments;
information and therapy to reduce the effects of trauma; training
and education for case workers; and planning for the return of
abused women and children to the U.S., including help securing
custody of the children, temporary housing, job training, and
employment. ADVCL is the only agency in the U.S. that specifically
assists battered American women and children in crisis overseas.
Its International Toll Free Domestic Violence Crisis Line is accessible
anywhere in the world AT&T operates and is the only resource
of its kind.
- Marin
Abused Women’s Services. Located in San Rafael,
California, MAWS provides women and families in Marin County and
the North Bay region with direct services, support programs, and
advocacy. An innovative aspect of MAWS’ offerings is its
batterer re-education programs — one of the nation’s
first — which uses a peer education approach to help men
end their immediate abuse of their partners; and to engage men
in community advocacy to change the attitudes and behaviors that
lead to men’s violence against women and children. Over
its 25 years, MAWS’ services — including a 24-hour
crisis hotline, emergency shelter, transitional housing and support
and education programs — have assisted more than 100,000
battered or at-risk women and children to find lives free from
violence.
- STEPS
to End Family Violence, a Family Program of Edwin Gould
Services for Children. Based in New York City, STEPS provides
services to abused women, as well as teens and children who have
witnessed or experienced domestic violence. The program’s
ultimate goal is to liberate these individuals from their victimization
by teaching them skills for self-sufficiency. A unique offering
from STEPS is its Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) program
for abused women. Upon a woman’s arrest or imprisonment
for retaliating against an abuser, an ATI counselor conducts a
psychological evaluation and provides the courts with evidence
of a history of abuse that may have been overlooked in the woman’s
case. STEPS also provides crisis intervention, counseling, domestic
violence education, support groups, job training and placement,
and legal assistance.
- The
Violence Intervention Program (VIP) at the Los Angeles
County and University of Southern California (LAC+USC) Medical
Center. The VIP provides 24-hour medical, forensic, mental health,
legal, advocacy, and support services to victims of domestic violence
and their children. These services have been built within the
context of a Family Advocacy Center, which evaluates and treats
all victims of family violence and sexual assault. The VIP remains
the only hospital-based and multidisciplinary Family Advocacy
Center in the United States, serving all victims of family violence
and sexual assault, including victims of child abuse and neglect,
domestic violence, sexual assault, and elder and dependent adult
abuse. Other offerings include bilingual and culturally sensitive
crisis intervention, case management, and individual, family,
and group mental health care.
“These
agencies are trailblazers in the field of domestic violence awareness
and intervention,” says Marcia Roth, executive director of
the Mary Byron Foundation. “They are offering solutions, not
excuses, to victims. All communities should do the same.”
“We
sought programs with strong records of support and collaboration
among advocates, law enforcement professionals, case workers, and
the legal community,” said Jerry Bowles, a Circuit Court Judge
in Jefferson Family Court in Louisville, who also serves as a Mary
Byron Foundation National Advisory Board member. “It was also
important that we choose programs that could be replicated, because
the overall goal of the Foundation is to promote best practices
and encourage communities to implement programs that have proven
to be effective elsewhere.”
In
the inaugural year for this program, the Mary Byron Foundation received
more than 300 applications from every state, plus several U.S. territories.
Awards were judged in two stages. Beginning in late summer 2002,
the Foundation accepted nomination forms and program outlines that
were reviewed by a state-wide review committee. Applications that
advanced to the second stage were evaluated in March 2003 by a group
of experts in criminal justice and public policy development.
The
Celebrating Solutions Awardã program is open to non-profit
or governmental programs that have been operating for a minimum
of three years and have demonstrated innovation, positive outcomes,
sensitivity to ethnic and racial diversity, evidence of partnerships
and community support, and potential for application in other communities.
The Mary Byron Foundation will announce application details for
the 2004 Celebrating Solutions Award in July 2003 on its website,
www.marybyronfoundation.org.
“We
had a truly impressive set of applicants for the awards,”
said Mary Byron Foundation President Pat Byron. “I’m
pleased to see that the Foundation has found such worthy institutions
to support.”
About
the Mary Byron Foundation
The
Mary Byron Foundation is a public charity created to help fund and
support programs and services designed to end domestic violence.
Contributions
from individuals, foundations, and corporations make it possible
for the Foundation to provide funding and educational opportunities
to communities that demonstrate collaboration and innovation in
the fight against domestic violence.
Go
back to Mary Byron Foundation news releases
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