October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. Elizabeth Power, Marketing Director for the Women’s Center for Advancement, says they provided 22,000 services related to domestic violence and sexual assault last year.
She says one of their goals this month is to get the word out about what she calls the “reality of domestic violence.”
“And that it can happen to anybody, no matter their religion, their race, their gender, their socioeconomic status. So, just making sure that people understand to talk about what a healthy relationship looks like, and if you find yourself in an unhealthy relationship, the different resources that are in the community available to them.”
Bobby Brumfield, Co-founder and Co-Director of the Men Against Domestic Violence Action Coalition, or MADVAC, says he saw domestic violence “up close and personal” during his career as an Omaha Police officer. He says they’re trying to let young men know that this is a men’s issue and men need to get more involved in getting it taken care of:
“We are looking right now at the 4th grade up through adulthood, so we would be reaching anyone who deals with youth. Right now we have plans to work with fraternities for the college level, and of course we’re reaching out with the WCA to the workplace and offering training so that managers can put support procedures in place for victims of domestic violence.”
The WCA and MADVAC will be hosting a free Men against Domestic Violence Panel discussion next Tuesday, October 25th, at UNO’s CEC building at 6:30 p.m.
For more information, the websites are WCAomaha.org,; WCAomaha.org/domestic-violence-awareness-month/