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Futures Without Violence (formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund) is a non-profit organization with offices in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Boston, United States, with the goal of ending domestic and sexual violence. Futures Without Violence is involved in community-based programs, developing educational materials, and in public policy work.
Futures Without Violence (previously known as Family Violence Prevention Fund) develops programs, policies, and campaigns geared toward individuals and organizations working to end violence against women and children around the world. The national nonprofit trains professionals such as doctors, nurses, judges, and athletic coaches on improving responses to violence and abuse. Futures Without Violence also works with advocates, policymakers, and others in an effort to build sustainable community leadership and educate people about the importance of respect and healthy relationships.
In 1980, Esta Soler received a federal grant and founded the Family Violence Project. The grant money provided more funding and resources for education and training programs in response to domestic violence calls for police departments to undergo. This police response reform had a domino effect for police departments across the country.
Soon after the grant for the Family Violence Project and the nationwide police response reform concerning domestic violence cases, Soler partnered up with various organizations to form the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The bill was drafted to provide more funding and services for domestic violence shelters across the country, to change the way police departments and court systems handled domestic violence cases, to provide more training and intervention programs concerning domestic violence, and help support public education campaigns nationwide. VAWA was passed on September 13, 1994. Domestic violence has decreased 80% since 1980 as a result. The Family Violence Project was later renamed as Futures Without Violence in 2011. Soler still serves as the founder and president of the nonprofit.
Futures Without Violence was a driving force behind passage of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994—the nation’s first comprehensive federal response to the violence that plagues families and communities. Congress reauthorized and expanded the law in 2000, 2005, and 2013. The organization is now working with advocates, policymakers, and more to spearhead efforts to pass the International Violence Against Women Act to prevent gender-based violence on a global scale. [1]
In 2001, Futures Without Violence and the Advertising Council launched a public-education campaign called Coaching Boys into Men. This media campaign encourages men to talk to the boys in their life about the importance of respect and nonviolence. The Coaching Boys into Men media campaign included television, radio, and print public service announcements in multiple languages.
In 2004, Coaching Boys Into Men expanded from a media campaign into a sports-based program for athletic coaches to lead with their young male athletes. The Coaching Boys into Men Coaches Leadership Program includes tools and resources to guide coaches in talking to their athletes about respect, non-violence, and relationships. The program provides support materials for coaches to lead weekly activities with their athletes throughout the sports season.
Coaching Boys Into Men also includes work outside of the United States. In 2007, Futures Without Violence and UNICEF partnered to develop and distribute an International Coaches Manual that includes quotes and endorsement from stars such as David Beckham, Emmanuel Adebayor, and Thierry Henry. In 2009, Futures Without Violence began an initiative with the Nike Foundation to develop a cricket-based Coaching Boys Into Men program in India. The program has since been introduced in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships is the largest initiative ever funded to target 11- to- 14-year-olds and rally entire communities to promote healthy relationships as the way to prevent teen dating violence and abuse. A national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in collaboration with Futures Without Violence, the RWJF and Blue Shield of California Foundation invested $18 million in 11 Start Strong communities across the country to identify and evaluate best practices in prevention to stop dating violence and abuse before it starts.
The RESPECT! Campaign was a social action campaign designed to promote respect in relationships and increase awareness about the positive role everyone can play to help end and prevent relationship violence and abuse. The RESPECT! Campaign was a multi-year initiative supported by Macy’s, the national founding partner and exclusive retailer of the official RESPECT! bracelet.
In 2009, Futures Without Violence and The Advertising Council launched That’s Not Cool, a national public service advertising campaign that uses digital examples of controlling behavior online and by cell phone to encourage teens to draw their own line about what is, or is not, okay in a relationship. This multimedia campaign, created pro bono by R/GA, includes an interactive website and mobile app.
Futures Without Violence provides health care providers with resources to help identify and respond to domestic violence. The organization hosts the biennial National Health Conference on Domestic Violence, convening medical, public health, and domestic violence experts from across the U.S. to advance the health care system’s response to domestic violence. The organization provides technical assistance and materials to thousands of people each year through the National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence. [2] The Center is one of five specialized domestic violence resource centers in the country funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.[ citation needed ]
Futures Without Violence’s National Judicial Institute gives judges guidelines, education, and materials to ensure that their courtrooms provide help to victims of family violence.
The Futures Without Violence Children’s Initiative works with domestic violence and batterer intervention programs, child welfare agencies, and community organizers to build collaborations and partnerships that promote safe and healthy families. As the national technical assistance provider of Attorney General Eric Holder's Defending Childhood Initiative to prevent and reverse the impact of early exposure to violence on children, the organization leads the prevention, intervention, treatment, and community organizing strategies used by every Defending Childhood site across the nation.
Futures Without Violence's Workplace Project is a collaboration with employers and unions, and offers an online resource kit which includes items like sample workplace domestic violence policies, education and training materials, case studies, and resources. [3]
The White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) is a global movement of men and boys working to end male violence against women and girls. It was formed by a group of pro-feminist men in Toronto, Ontario, in November 1991 as a response to the École Polytechnique massacre of female students by Marc Lépine in 1989. The campaign was intended to raise awareness about the prevalence of male violence against women, with the ribbon symbolizing "the idea of men giving up their arms". Active in over 60 countries, the movement seeks to promote healthy relationships, gender equity, and a compassionate vision of masculinity.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, leadership and training, and changing systems to address barriers to health. RWJF has been credited with helping to develop the 911 emergency system, reducing tobacco use among Americans, lowering rates of unwanted teenage pregnancies, and improving perceptions of hospice care.
The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law signed by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. The Act provided $1.6 billion toward investigation and the prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress when prosecutors chose not to prosecute cases. The Act also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the U.S. Department of Justice.
The United States Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) was created following the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994. The Act was renewed in 2005, 2013 and again in 2022. The Violence Against Women Act legislation requires the Office on Violence Against Women to work to respond to and reduce violence against women in many different areas, including on college campuses and in people's homes. VAWA requires Office on Violence Against Women to administer justice and strengthen services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
Rape crisis centers in the United States, usually capitalized as Rape Crisis Center and often abbreviated as RCC, are community-based organizations affiliated with the anti-rape movement in the U.S. Rape crisis centers in other countries offer similar services, but have different histories and vary in their organizational structure.
ValorUS, formerly the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA), is a nonprofit membership association of rape crisis centers and sexual assault prevention programs in the State of California, in the United States. CALCASA is the only statewide organization in California whose sole purpose is to promote public policy, advocacy, training and technical assistance on the issue of sexual assault. CALCASA’s primary members are the rape crisis centers and rape prevention programs in the state. CALCASA also has affiliate members which include organizations, businesses, individuals and others committed to their mission and their vision of the elimination of sexual violence. Its programs, projects and campaigns include the National Sexual Assault Conference, PreventConnect, Raliance and Bold Moves.
The Center Against Domestic Violence is an American not-for-profit organization dedicated to preventing violence in the family and promoting the well-being and economic independence of women and children. It provides safe shelters, a network of supportive services, advocacy, education and resource information, and coalition building.
The National Network to End Domestic Violence(NNEDV) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 1990, based in the District of Columbia. It is a network of state and territorial domestic violence coalitions, representing over 2,000 member organizations throughout the US. The National Network to End Domestic Violence works to address the many aspects of domestic violence.
As sexual violence affects all parts of society, the responses that arise to combat it are comprehensive, taking place on the individual, administrative, legal, and social levels.
Legal Momentum, founded in 1970, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the nation's first and longest-serving legal advocacy group for women in the United States. Betty Friedan and Muriel Fox were its co-founders and Muriel Fox is an ongoing leader of the organization. Carol Baldwin Moody became President and CEO in April 2018. The organization, founded as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, became Legal Momentum in 2004. Legal Momentum is a multi-issue organization dedicated to advancing women’s rights and gender equality, particularly in the areas of equal education opportunities; fairness in the courts; ending all forms of gender-based violence; workplace equality and economic empowerment. The organization employs three main strategies: impact litigation, policy advocacy, and educational initiatives. It is headquartered in New York City.
The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation is a statutory authority in the Australian state of Victoria, originally funded by hypothecated taxation raised by the Victorian Tobacco Act 1987. It was the first health promotion body in the world to be funded by a tax on tobacco.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) is an American nonprofit organization that addresses the causes and impact of sexual violence through collaboration, prevention, and resources. Working in collaboration with state and territory sexual assault coalitions, representatives from underserved populations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women, and a host of community-based and national allied projects, NSVRC provides national leadership to address and prevent sexual violence.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) is an annual campaign to raise public awareness about sexual assault and educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence in the United States. It is observed in April.
The International Violence Against Women Act of 2015 (I-VAWA) is proposed legislation to address violence against women through United States foreign policy. The legislation was introduced in the 114th United States Congress in March, 2015. Similar legislation was introduced in the 110th and 111th United States Congress but was not passed into law.
The Network for Better Futures d/b/a Better Futures Minnesota is a non-profit social enterprise based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, dedicated to reintegrating high-risk adults, primarily African-American men, into society by providing a platform to help them succeed. The agency works with men with histories of incarceration, substance abuse, chronic unemployment, and homelessness—men who have a high risk of being repeat offenders.
Women's Way is a grantmaking, advocacy, and education 501(c)(3) status nonprofit that deals with current issues facing women and girls in the greater Philadelphia region.
The management of domestic violence deals with the treatment of victims of domestic violence and preventing repetitions of such violence. The response to domestic violence in Western countries is typically a combined effort between law enforcement, social services, and health care. The role of each has evolved as domestic violence has been brought more into public view.
Esta Soler is an American activist who founded the social justice organization Futures Without Violence, and serves as president of FUTURES.
Our Watch, formerly Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children, is an Australian organisation that exists to help prevent violence against women and their children. Founded in mid-2013 with Natasha Stott Despoja as founding chair, the organisation is based in Melbourne, Victoria. It is an independent non-profit organisation that is jointly funded by all states and territories of Australia.
The National Indigenous Women's Resource Center (NIWRC) is a nonprofit organization that provides health resources to Native American women and also advocates for women's health, housing, and domestic violence support. The organization was founded and is led by Native American women.