Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women awards the Retreat and LICADD critical federal funding to engage men in regional efforts to prevent violence against women and children
East Hampton, NY (April 19, 2011) – While incidents of violence against women in Suffolk County have surged, responses among our local communities have focused disproportionately on engaging girls and women. Communities across Suffolk County are neglecting to engage, educate, inspire, and motivate men and boys to play the key role in prevention. To compound the matter, increases in violence against women are highly correlated with a tendency among men to increase their dependence on alcohol and/or drugs—particularly during tough economic times. Today the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women announced that the Retreat, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing domestic violence services for women and children, and its collaborative partner the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (LICADD,) have been funded to end this neglect. The funds were provided through the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Women as a part of the Engaging Men in Preventing Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking Grant Program and will shift attention to men and boys and their role in the solution.
This initiative will make its impact through the following mechanisms: (1) a traditional media campaign – building awareness through men-targeted print, radio, and television public service announcements about domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking; (2) an emerging-media campaign -including web presence, viral videos, email campaigns, and mobilizing youth through special activity days shared on Facebook and Twitter; (3) ‘we come to you’ prevention education program days for men and for boys; (4) enhancement of an existing men-to-boys mentoring program that will add domestic violence prevention to it; and (5) and community organizing—including events that bring various segments of the community (e.g., police, sports coaches, parents, youth, media, and local businesses) together for positive activities that will build awareness about sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking… and achievable ways to prevent each. Funds will provide critical resources for Long Island communities to prevent violence against women and children.
“We applaud the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women for utilizing critical resources to begin the engagement of our men and boys in the prevention process of domestic violence. We strongly believe that this fundamental shift will put us on the path of finally breaking the cycle of family violence.” said Jeffrey Friedman, Executive Director, Retreat.
“The connection between violence against women and addiction has long been established and these twin epidemics must be addressed simultaneously, especially as we consider men who are actively using drugs/alcohol and those in early recovery who may have trouble expressing their feelings without drugs, alcohol or violence” said Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, Executive Director of LICADD. “This collaboration between The Retreat and LICADD will not only save lives, but also provides a blueprint for other communities seeking an efficient, effective and targeted approach to combating violence against women.”
The Retreat, a domestic violence services agency, since 1987, has been a community-based, not-for-profit agency that provides domestic violence services and support for victims of domestic crimes on eastern Long Island and beyond. Retreat provides a wide array of direct services, including five core services of Crisis Hotline, Domestic Violence Shelter, Legal Advocacy, Counseling, and Domestic Violence Prevention Education. For more information on these and other programs, please visit Retreat’s website.
Serving Long Island for 55 years, LICADD provides nonprofit, chemical dependency services, mental health services, prevention education, and professional trainings. LICADD provides community-based substance/alcohol screenings, brief intervention and referrals to treatment (SBIRT) for adult and adolescents, and remains the only area nonprofit providing no-cost family interventions designed to facilitate entry into treatment. For those who have completed inpatient and/or outpatient treatment, LICADD offers professionally facilitated relapse prevention groups, creating a wrap-around, comprehensive approach to addressing addiction. With an eye towards breaking the cycle of poverty and incarceration, LICADD also offers an innovative mentoring program for young people ages 4-18 who have a parent who is incarcerated. For more information about these and other programs, please visit LICADD.org.
