GROUNDBREAKING EFFORT LAUNCHES TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR SUPPORT TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT

As part of NO MORE week, on March 18, 2014 I was privileged to attend a first of it's kind meeting at the White House: a roundtable of business leaders and advocates called upon to discuss building public-private partnerships aimed at helping end domestic violence and sexual assault in the United States. The meeting served as an opportunity to share strategies and concrete steps companies can take to address violence in their workplaces and communities. 

During the gathering, we heard from several companies that are working to improve the status quo, including Avon, Macy’s, Allstate, Viacom, and Kaiser Permanente.

 

 

The outcome?  Major corporations joined forces to pledge millions of dollars in new commitments to help end domestic violence and sexual assault as part of a groundbreaking effort to increase private sector support of these urgent issues. For several of the corporations this is their first, significant and public endeavor to support domestic violence and sexual assault awareness, two issues that many corporations have historically shied away from tackling.

 

The corporate commitments announced this week to address domestic violence and sexual assault include:

 

• Allstate Foundation: Announced a 50 percent increase in funding for financial empowerment services benefitting domestic violence survivors.
• Avon Foundation for Women: Announced three grants to create and disseminate three targeted prevention and intervention training tools to help bystanders – families, friends and strangers – recognize, respond and make appropriate referrals in situations when partner violence, dating abuse or sexual assault are suspected or observed.
• Finn Partners: Committed to provide pro bono communications and public relations counsel for the NO MORE symbol and movement.
• GUESS?, Inc. / GUESS Foundation: Announced an investment to support the roll-out of Peace Over Violence’s annual sexual violence awareness campaign, Denim Day. The commitment includes a donation of $100,000, the participation of more than 400 stores under the GUESS? Inc. umbrella including messaging in storefront windows, online and mobile marketing, and print PSA’s in Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, Teen Vogue and Lucky magazines.
• Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Announced a donation to the NO MORE public awareness effort to end domestic violence and sexual assault.
• Mary Kay: Committed $1 million to the loveisrespect text for help service that provides young people with resources and support to have healthy dating relationships, as well as $100,000 to support Break the Cycle’s, “NO MORE Silence: It’s Time To Talk Day,” a nationwide parent-child engagement campaign to prevent teen dating violence on Feb. 4, 2014.
• USA Network: Committed to airing a 16-hour “NO MORE Silence” marathon of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) on April 27, 2014 to commemorate National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Throughout the marathon, which will be hosted by SVU cast members, USA Network will air NO MORE PSAs, direct viewers to contact national help resources and highlight NO MORE on social media.
• Valeant Pharmaceuticals: Pledged to donate a goal of $1 million from sales of its aesthetic injectable, Obagi, and dermatology products to support the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in serving survivors of domestic violence and educating communities about this issue. To date Valeant’s support has reached 19,000 women and enabled NCADV to expand many of its initiatives. 
• Verizon Wireless: Committed $75,000 to support Break the Cycle’s “It’s Time To Talk Day,” which included the creation of a teen dating violence prevention PSA. Additionally, the spot will air across Verizon’s FiOS platform throughout May 2014.
• Viacom: Announced an investment to produce and disseminate new, NO MORE PSAs, co-directed by Founder & President of the Joyful Heart Foundation, Actress Mariska Hargitay and Executive Vice President of Viacom Velocity Creative Content Solutions, Viacom Music and Entertainment, Niels Schuurmans. The PSAs will air across a variety of Viacom's networks.

 

NO MORE, a unifying symbol for domestic violence and sexual assault, works to generate support and resources to help domestic violence and sexual assault prevention organizations. These organizations are partners of NO MORE:

• 1in6, Inc.
• Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence
• National Sexual Violence Resource Center
• National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
• Safe Horizon
• National Domestic Violence Hotline
• National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
• Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault
• A CALL TO MEN
• U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women
• California Coalition Against Sexual Assault
• National Network to End Domestic Violence
• National Sexual Assault Coalition Resource Sharing Project
• Futures Without Violence
• Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation
• Joyful Heart Foundation
• Casa de Esperanza
• Break the Cycle
• Men Can Stop Rape
• National Alliance to End Sexual Violence
• Peace Over Violence
• YWCA USA

To learn more about NO MORE visit www.nomore.org.  To learn more about the work of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (CAEPV) and how we help workplaces address domestic violence, visit us at www.caepv.org or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CorporateAlliancetoEndPartnerViolence.

 

Vital Voices, Avon and the U.S. Department of State Hold Unprecedented Meeting on Global Issue of Violence Against Women

On Tuesday, March 9th Vital Voices will launch a three-day Conference on the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Women. The three-day conference hosted by Vital Voices in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State and with support from CAEPV Member the Avon Foundation for Women and Avon Products Inc. will look for new innovative solutions to address the global pandemic of violence against women with a focus on the three worst forms of violence against women and girls internationally: domestic violence, sexual violence and human trafficking. CAEPV Executive Director Kim Wells will participate in this conference and facilitate a strategy session for business leaders.

The Conference will host delegations from fifteen countries with delegates representing diverse sectors -- business, government, law enforcement, the NGO community, media/entertainment, academia, and others. These delegates will work together to develop country-specific, culturally-sensitive solutions for dealing with violence against women within their home countries.

Avon Launches Global Mobilization Effort Against Domestic Violence

Remember when you thought that Avon was "just" little ladies your Aunt Bonnie knew who sold little things door to door and you got little gifts? (Well, it was my Aunt Bonnie, anyway). Those days are long gone, let me tell you!

On March 3, Reese Witherspoon, Avon Chairman and CEO Andrea Jung, and CAEPV Member of the Month the Avon Foundation announced the launch of a new campaign against domestic violence in Washington, DC. The effort includes more than $1.5 million in new grants by the Avon Foundation to launch the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School.

The new center will focus on working with judges, legal professionals, governmental and non-governmental organizations to improve access to justice in an effort to eliminate violence against women and girls.

Avon also expanded its relationship with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) with a new commitment of $250,000 for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which will be added to the grant of $1 million awarded in 2008 for the Trust Fund. This brings the total Avon global commitment to ending violence against women to over $14 million to date.

The new Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School will undertake four major initiatives, including intensive legal clinical projects, providing legal research for judges, hosting conferences and events, and maintaining an extensive international online library, as well as a discussion forum for judges relating to gender-based violence.

The Avon Global Center, which will launch this fall, will serve as a forum for judges and legal practitioners to share ideas and strategies on the role of the judicial system in facilitating access to justice for women victims of violence.

These new efforts underscore Avon's ongoing commitment to ending violence against women, which includes the Speak Out Against Domestic Violence program launched by Avon and the Avon Foundation for Women in 2004. These efforts have expanded to 45 countries, including award-winning Avon programs in Mexico and the Czech Republic.

The company is also partnering with local UNIFEM offices on the issue of violence against women in 13 countries. Behind the success of these initiatives are much-needed grassroots mobilization and fundraising, which are assets Avon brings to global philanthropy, driven by the company's network of nearly 6 million Avon Sales Representatives worldwide.

Reese Witherspoon, award-winning actress, Avon global ambassador and honorary chairperson of the Avon Foundation for Women, announced at a press conference before the Global Forum a new Avon fundraising product: the Women's Empowerment Necklace. Launched as a companion piece to the 2008 Women's Empowerment Bracelet, the Necklace is accessibly priced at just $5.00.

It will be sold through Avon's Sales Representatives and on www.avon.com. All net proceeds of the Necklace will support domestic violence programs, building upon the $4 million already raised by the Bracelet in one year. In the US, every Women's Empowerment product sold will include a free Domestic Violence Resource Guide to increase awareness of this epidemic of violence and encourage everyone to speak out so it stops.

Aunt Bonnie can buy me these little gifts. . .and know she is changing the lives of women around the world. Pretty cool, no?

Avon Announces Partnership With United Nations to End Violence Against Women

Do you think that celebrities help make a difference in creating awareness about important issues? I happen to think they do -- and Forbes.com admits it.

One thing I do know is that domestic violence is a subject that people are not very comfortable discussing (trust me, I am never the most popular table at the employee wellness fair) -- and anything that makes it more "high profile" (for lack of a better phrase) makes it easier to raise awareness. is really great. And Reese Witherspoon is certainly a person who can do that. And Avon and The Avon Foundation have done a wonderful job of working with Salma Hayek and now Reese Witherspoon to draw attention to the issue of domestic violence.

Reese Witherspoon was at the United Nations Tuesday, lending her celebrity to the new partnership between Avon and the United Nations Development Fund for Women [UNIFEM], in their efforts to end domestic violence globally. Ahead of International Women's Day this weekend, Avon CEO Andrea Jung announced the partnership between her company and UNIFEM, in which the Avon Foundation will match the first $500,000 in sales of a "Women's Empowerment Bracelet" for the U.N. Trust to End Violence Against Women. The bracelets are available through Avon.com for $3.

Jung described domestic violence as a "pandemic" that affects up to one billion women worldwide. Witherspoon, honorary chairperson of the Avon Foundation and the Global Ambassador for Avon Products (nyse: AVP - news - people ), acknowledged the celebrity issue by thanking the media for covering the event--a not-so-subtle way of acknowledging that the room may not have been filled with celebrity photographers and reporters from People and US Weekly magazine if she weren't there. And at this point in the story, Forbes.com admits they may not have been there either had it not been for Reese Witherspoon. I think that is very cool of them.

Thanks to Witherspoon's presence, the issue will be read about by millions in celebrity magazines and on Web sites. For her part, the actress said, simply: "I'm happy to use my recognizability to bring awareness to this.

It is unfortunate that it takes a celebrity to draw attention to the issue of domestic violence, but the fact is it DOES make a difference -- and if that helps change or save a life, I think that is wonderful and I thank Reese Witherspoon for doing so!

If you are interested in a really cool bracelet, AND in something you can do to make a difference, check out the bracelet by clicking here.