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.

 

Registration Now Open: Domestic Violence and the Workplace - Three Case Studies in Practice

EMPLOYERS - YOU ARE INVITED TO:

"Domestic Violence and the Workplace: Three Case Studies in Practice" -- an educational opportunity provided through the CAEPV HopeLine® from Verizon Webinar Series.

WHEN:

Friday, September 23, 2011
2:00 PM- 3:30 PM ET
1:00 PM- 2:30 PM CT
11:00 AM- 12:30 PM PT

WHY:

A recent survey of CEOs found that most believe domestic violence to be a serious issue, yet 71% did not believe it is a problem in their company. The reality is that approximately 21% of full-time working adults report being a victim of domestic violence.

This webinar will examine current practices of employers addressing domestic violence as a workplace issue from three unique perspectives.

HOSTS:

M. Alan Gardner, Vice President, Human Resources, Verizon Wireless
Kim Wells, Executive Director, Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence

PRESENTERS:

• Jane Randel, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications & Brand Services, Liz Claiborne Inc.
• Ken Dolan-Del Vecchio, Vice President, Health and Wellness, Prudential
• Dr. Brigid McCaw, Medical Director, KP NCal Family Violence Prevention Program, Kaiser Permanente

RSVP:

Registration for this webinar closed on September 21, 2011.  A recording of the webinar will be available in the days following the event. 

To access the recorded webinar and webinar materials, visit http://www.caepv.org/about/program_detail.php?refID=71


The CAEPV HopeLine® from Verizon Webinar Series is made possible by a grant from HopeLine® from Verizon.

                                 

Leading Corporations Develop National Plan to Engage Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to Address Domestic Violence in the Workplace

This unprecedented initiative focuses on leveraging resources of EAPs to help employers better assist domestic violence victims at work.

Today, major employers such as Gap Inc., Kaiser Permanente, Liz Claiborne Inc., Macy’s and Verizon Wireless, along with leading EAP providers including Ceridian, CIGNA, Magellan Health Services, OptumHealth, ValueOptions and others, announced a new national plan to help employers make better use of EAPs to better assist employees who are victims of domestic violence. The plan, called the S2 Blueprint for Action, outlines the significant advancements that employers and EAPs can implement to increase the level of support and assistance to victims, including:

- Making the business case to CEOs, including the cost to business, liability issues, legal mandates, employee engagement and corporate social responsibility
- Managing the workplace environment, including developing and implementing a comprehensive domestic violence policy, positioning the EAP as a valued and effective resource, and changing communications to include domestic violence prevention in the promotion of health and well-being of employees
- Encouraging employers and brokers to ask about an EAP’s capabilities for identifying and addressing domestic violence issues for the workforce when soliciting proposals, and encouraging EAPs to proactively share their domestic violence programs as value-added strategies for employers when bidding for their business.
- Integrating the expertise of the domestic violence service providers into the referral network offered by the EAP to the employer and providing those resources on brochures, posters, etc., in addition to the EAP.

The plan, developed at a major conference in San Francisco, is the first effort designed to leverage the work of EAPs to address domestic violence as a workplace issue. The S2 Blueprint for Action is available at http://www.caepv.org/about/program_detail.php?refID=35. The conference was organized by the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (CAEPV).

“We have engaged a powerful national collaboration through the S2 Blueprint,” said Kim Wells, executive director for the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence. “This is the first time employers and EAPs have come together to address domestic violence as an issue that affects productivity, absenteeism, presenteeism, turnover, healthcare costs and workplace safety. If employers and EAPs can address these issues, they will provide a true ‘value-added’ service in this difficult economy. ”

Research conducted by the CAEPV indicates that 21 percent of full-time employees are victims of domestic violence. Sixty-four (64) percent of these employees indicated their ability to work was impacted by the abuse going on at home. Among key causes for their decline in productivity, victims noted "distraction" (57%); "fear of discovery" (45%); "harassment by intimate partner at work (either by phone or in person)" (40%); fear of intimate partner's unexpected visits" (34%); "inability to complete assignments on time" (24%); and "job loss" (21%).

CAEPV is promoting the S2 Blueprint for Action, and attendees will participate in a webinar in February 2009, to evaluate their progress and determine next steps. The conference highlighted various ways that well-equipped EAPs can be used to assist domestic victims effectively and economically including:

- Presenting workplace education programs on issues such as recognizing healthy and unhealthy relationships.
- Providing resources including referrals to services such as counseling or legal assistance that can help a victim maintain stability while working.
- Guiding managers in how to best assist employees who they think may be victims of domestic violence.
- Being a valuable part of the “domestic violence response team” that includes management, human resources, security and the EAP to proactively address domestic violence cases impacting the workplace.

The S2 – Smarter, Safer Workplace Conference took place on Friday, November 7 at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.caepv.org/about/program_detail.php?refID=35.

About the S2 – Safer, Smarter Workplace Conference
The S2 – Safer, Smarter Workplace conference was presented by the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence. This conference was made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with additional support provided by The Allstate Foundation, Blue Shield of California Foundation, CALCASA, Health Care Service Corporation and Texas Health Resources. The Technology Sponsor for the conference was the Verizon Foundation.

The conference planning workgroup includes representatives from the following organizations: Chestnut Global Partners; CIGNA; Gap Inc.; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Macy’s West; Magellan Health Services; OptumHealth.

Ok -- the Blueprint is started, the employers and EAPs worked together with incredible energy and enthusiasm along with researchers, those from the domestic violence field, foundations, and many others. We will see what comes next! If you want to check out the "S2 Blueprint" or any of the presentations from the conference, they are all on our website at the link above.

Creating a Safer, Smarter Workplace - Addressing Domestic Violence

Things sure have been busy here. . .yesterday we held The Allstate Foundation Pre-Conference Webinar for the S2 – Safer, Smarter Workplace Conference. It was great. . we had employers and EAPs and researchers and others from all over the country at all levels of expertise regarding domestic violence as a workplace issue participating in this interactive 2 hour forum.

We are going to have so much going on at the S2 conference that we really wanted to make sure we have everyone on the same page before we get there, so we did the “pre-conference webinar” to get the business case made for employers and EAPs regarding domestic violence.

And because of the interactive text chat feature (thank you CALCASA) people could chime in with things like “Don’t forget it happens to men and same-sex relationships. . .” and people could make connections and discuss in the midst of the presentations.

In spite of travel restrictions which are REALLY affecting businesses, we are going to have a great turnout for this first of its kind conference. And we will be “unveiling” new research on the topic of domestic violence and EAPs. . .and the people at the webinar were very enthused about that.

We’ll also be presenting real life practices from employers and EAPs working together who are working together “on the ground” right now to effectively assist employees. And we will showcase some case studies of real situations and how the companies dealt with those from HR, Security, EAP, etc. . .so we can all see the different ways different employers and EAPs help employees dealing with domestic violence.

And we will be creating a “blueprint for action”. . .next steps EAPs and employers can take to really make a difference.

And then it hits you right at home why you are doing this. . . a 19 year old young woman in a small community very near here was killed in a domestic violence situation here on Tuesday.

That is why we are having the "Silent Witness" display from Kaiser Permanente there at the conference. . .to make sure we all remember exactly why we are there. And who we are there for.