NEW YORK, 2016-Oct-25 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today (October 24, 2016), the Avon Foundation for Women announced its partnership with Futures Without Violence, a national health and social justice nonprofit, to launch the first National Leadership Institute: Changing the Narrative on Campus Gender-Based Violence with 20 colleges and universities. Through a $200,000 grant from the Avon Foundation, this comprehensive, action-oriented leadership program will enable participating schools to develop and implement action plans to prevent and respond to sexual assault at their respective institutions. Together, they will form a growing learning community committed to ending gender-based violence on school campuses.
“The Avon Foundation has funded campus-based campaigns and bystander intervention initiatives for more than 5 years to help change behaviors around sexual assault. We want to inspire and empower others to be a part of the solution,” said Christine Jaworsky, Avon Foundation Program Director. “We see the National Leadership Institute as an innovative opportunity for students and schools to take the lead in shifting the conversation around gender-based violence in the campus setting, but also in the broader dialogue around sexual and domestic violence in our society.”
The first Institute will be held in Boston from October 25 to 26 with 10 area colleges and universities, followed by a second cohort in Atlanta with 10 area schools from November 30 to December 1. Each school will send a multi-disciplinary team of five to six representatives, including administrators, security and service providers, Title IX personnel, and student leaders. During the program, participants will learn and share best practices on how to respond, using a trauma-informed lens, when an assault occurs. At the end of the two-day institute, each school will have a sexual assault prevention and response action plan, which they will be supported to implement over the course of a year.
“We’re very proud to partner with the Avon Foundation for Women on this National Leadership Institute to train multi-disciplinary school teams to take the lead and work collaboratively to end gender-based violence on their campuses,” said Lonna Davis, program leader for Futures Without Violence. “There were over 70 schools who applied to be part of the program, so we know there is an immediate need and desire to find and implement solutions.”
Futures Without Violence received a grant from the Avon Foundation for Women to research, design and implement a curriculum in collaboration with Harvard Law School’s Gender Violence Program and the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education.
“The Gender Violence Program has been a longtime partner of Futures Without Violence in developing cutting-edge policy innovations to reshape our culture by eliminating gender based violence,” said Diane L. Rosenfeld, the founding Director of the Gender Violence Program at Harvard Law School and a Lecturer on Law. “Through legal advocacy grounded in support for survivors and an ethos of care, we have been on the forefront of the national effort to use Title IX to prevent and address campus sexual assault and we are making an important step forward with the support and leadership of the Avon Foundation.”
The National Leadership Institute curriculum focuses on four major areas: 1) fundamentals of gender-based violence and trauma, 2) campus cultures and climate, 3) prevention and education, and 4) response, policy, and adjudication. Developed in consultation with national experts and institutional representatives from schools across the country, the curriculum provides colleges and universities the opportunity to learn best practices in the prevention, response and resolution of sexual violence, and the tools needed to implement action plans.
The University of Virginia served as one of the founding institutions working with Futures Without Violence and Harvard Law School to host the pilot of the Leadership Institute. “We are grateful to the Jefferson Trust for providing funding for the University of Virginia to serve as a partner on the development and implementation of this program and to the Avon Foundation for the historic creation of the National Leadership Institute to expand our community of higher education institutions working to end gender-based violence,” said Nancy Deutsch, an associate professor in the University of Virginia Curry School of Education.
Below are the participating colleges and universities in Boston on October 25-26, 2016.
- Brandeis University
- Dean College
- Eastern Nazarene College
- Emerson College
- Lasell College
- Lesley University
- Providence College
- Stonehill College
- University of Massachusetts, Lowell
- Wheaton College
Below are the participants in Atlanta on November 30-December 1, 2016.
- Benedict College
- Clemson University
- College of Charleston
- East Tennessee State University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Georgia State University
- Middle Tennessee State University
- Morehouse College
- Tuskegee University
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Futures Without Violence
Futures Without Violence is a national health and social justice nonprofit that leads groundbreaking educational programs, policies, and campaigns to end violence against women and children around the world. Providing leadership from offices in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Boston, FUTURES has trained thousands of professionals and advocates—such as doctors, nurses, judges, athletic coaches, and other community influencers—on improving responses to violence and abuse. The organization was a driving force behind the passage of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act in 1984 and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994—the nation’s first two comprehensive federal responses to interpersonal and family violence.
Avon Speak Out Against Domestic Violence
Avon and the Avon Foundation for Women launched Speak Out Against Domestic Violence in 2004 to support domestic violence awareness, education and prevention programs aimed at reducing domestic and gender violence, and to provide direct services for victims and their families. Through 2015, Avon and the Avon Foundation have contributed nearly $60 million to support this goal. Globally, Avon supports efforts to end violence against women in nearly 50 countries by raising funds through special product sales and educating women around the world through its army of nearly six million Avon Representatives. For more information, visit http://avonfoundation.org/.
About Avon and the Avon Foundation for Women
Avon is a global corporate leader in philanthropy focused on causes that matter most to women. Through 2015, Avon and the Avon Foundation for Women have contributed over $1 billion in over 50 countries. Avon’s funding is focused on breast cancer research and advancing access to quality care through the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade, and efforts to reduce domestic and gender violence through its Speak Out Against Domestic Violence program. The company’s global markets sell special products to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer and domestic violence, conduct hundreds of events for these causes, and educate women around the world through its global network of nearly six million Avon Representatives.
Media Contacts:
Liz Micci
The Glover Park Group
+1 (646) 495-2700
emicci@gpg.com
Kristina Jorge
Avon Corporate Communications
+1 (212) 282-5852
Kristina.Jorge@avonusa.com
Source: Avon