Guest blogger is Martha Delehanty, senior vice president of human resources for Verizon, writes about the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project's annual Voices Against Violence event and its honoree, Vice President Joe Biden, who has championed against domestic violence for more than two decades.

 

Read more...

Guest blogger Susan Sullivan writes about Verizon's participation in the debut of NO MORE Day, a new annual event designed to increase awareness and spur action to prevent domestic violence and sexual assault in this country.

 

Read more...

Next Thursday, hundreds of domestic violence prevention advocates will gather for a Day to Connect, Inspire and Heal. The live-streamed event held Feb. 21, from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. EST, hopes to spur a national conversation about domestic violence and uncover new solutions to this critical issue. You can participate by submitting questions to expert panelists and moderators, including Dr. Richard Besser, chief health and medical examiner of ABC News; CBS sportscaster James Brown; and CNN anchor Christi Paul.

 

Read more...

We all have a role to play in preventing violence. The Verizon Foundation and CBS Sportscaster James Brown are helping to get the conversation going during a special #YourVoiceCounts Twitter Chat during the week before the Super Bowl on Thursday, January 31 from 4:00 – 5:00 pm ET. Talking about domestic violence prevention is one of the first steps to ending it.

 

Read more...

Verizon Foundation President Rose Kirk spoke on Verizon's commitment to empower women and help them escape abusive relationships. The video address was delivered yesterday at the U.S. State Department’s South Asia Women’s Entrepreneurship Symposium in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

 

The symposium convened more than 100 women entrepreneurs, private sector leaders and government officials from across South and Central Asia to discuss women's empowerment and the linkage to gender-based violence.

 

Read more...

Guest blogger Susan Sullivan announces a Twitter Chat on November 15 at 3:00 pm ET on the Foundation's "Your Voice Counts" campaign to help break the silence around domestic violence by equipping bystanders — especially men — with tools to begin speaking up.

 

Log on to Twitter (www.twitter.com) and search for the hashtag #YourVoiceCounts to follow the conversation. Add the hashtag to your own tweets to join the discussion.

 

 

Read more...

Guest blogger Samantha Yakal-Kremski took part in the Healthy Masculinity Summit that kicked off the Healthy Masculinity Action Project, a two-year, grassroots initiative that aims to educate men and boys about non-violent masculinity and teach them how to take the message to neighborhoods across the country.

 

Read more...

On Monday I spoke at a conference for the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Their Safety Net “Training of Trainers” event marks its 10th year, so I was happy to join the celebration – and I brought a robot to help.

 

Safety Net does great work providing education on technology abuse and online safety, particularly to people who help victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.

 

Read more...

Verizon’s longstanding support for domestic violence prevention efforts earned an invitation to the White House unveiling of a public service announcement on teen dating violence. Verizon Wireless’ Elva Lima shares her thoughts on the event and our commitment to using our technology to address important social issues.

 

Read more...

In late November, I had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion at the U.S. Department of State to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. A group of a couple hundred men and women from around the world gathered together for the common purpose of ending violence against women.

 

I shared with this group a brief video "Telling Amy's Story," a documentary by Penn State Public Broadcasting that we sponsored. It tells the story of Amy Homan McGee, a Verizon Wireless employee who, in 2001, was killed by her abusive husband. So far the documentary has aired on 378 public broadcasting stations in all 50 states ...

 

Read more...

For National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, I've asked Kim Wells, the executive director of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence, to answer some questions on why domestic violence prevention matters in the workplace. If you are an employer, please consider implementing a policy to provide help to employees that may be a victim of domestic violence. If you are employed by a company, please share this Q&A with your human resources contact or office manager. We can all do something to end domestic violence.

Read more...

Recently hundreds of New Jersey teens gathered at Rutgers University to listen to a few of their favorite NFL stars.

 

But the players weren’t there to demonstrate how to throw a pass, or use correct tackling technique, or any other football skill.

The players were there to talk with teens about the skills needed off the field to succeed in school, in relationships and in life.

 

The event, titled Training Camp for Life, was launched through a partnership of the NFL Players Association, A CALL TO MEN and the Verizon Foundation.   The event at Rutgers is the 1^st of 12 such events that will be held across the country in the coming months.

Read more...

 

This week our guest blogger is Lupita Reyes, national program director for the Verizon Foundation.  Lupita blogs on domestic violence prevention issues and Verizon’s Hopeline program. This week she has an important update on "Telling Amy's Story", a powerful documentary that was funded by the Verizon Foundation.

Read more...

In recognition of the 100^th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, Media Planet created a special section that appeared in many editions of this weekend’s USA Today.  

 

The section, titled “Investing in Women & Girls,” focuses on efforts by individuals, nonprofit organizations and businesses to create positive change for women and girls around the world.

 

I’m proud to say that Verizon and a few of our partners are featured in the section on the issue of domestic violence prevention.

 

Read more...

This week, Lupita Reyes, National Program Director for the Verizon Foundation, is our guest blogger. She writes about how your old, no-longer-used wireless phone can help victims of domestic violence.  

Read more...

After viewing the Verizon-funded PBS documentary, “Telling Amy’s Story,” Trina Murray, a senior consultant with Verizon Telecom and Business in Chicago, asked to come forward and tell her story in the hope that it would help other employees who might be in a domestic violence situation.    

 

Here is her story. . .

Read more...

Our nation’s epidemic of domestic violence, and Verizon’s response to it, made me think of those math equations my son is studying in 5^th grade.

 

Problem A. Solve for X.   1 in 4 women is abused every 30 seconds. Verizon has a little more than 82K female employees. X equals the number of women in Verizon who are potential victims of domestic violence.

 

Problem B. Solve for Y.  1 in 5 employed adults are victims of domestic violence. Verizon has approximately 205K employees. How many Verizon employees are potential victims of domestic violence?

Read more...

I’ve just attended the premiere screening for a documentary made in cooperation with PBS and Penn State that will air this summer.  The documentary is called “Telling Amy’s Story” and it chronicles the life and death of a domestic violence victim in Pennsylvania.

 

You can go to YouTube and see the trailer for the film.  I suggest you take three minutes and do that, then pass this along to anyone you know that can help spread the word that domestic violence is everyone’s business and we can all learn from Amy’s Story.

Read more...

I recently attended a gathering hosted by the Montgomery County Family Justice Center Foundation and Family Justice Center.  The invitation called it a “rare opportunity” to hear from National Family Justice Alliance President and Co-Founder, Casey Gwinn.   The evening, as it turns out, was a rare privilege ...

Read more...

 

Guest blogging today is John P. Frantz, a vice president and associate general counsel for Verizon. He is also a coordinator for Verizon's new pro bono program, which is described in detail below. -- With Veterans' Day approaching, it seems like a great time to share a new volunteer program that will help, among others, some of the brave men and women who have returned from duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. Unfortunately, Veterans are not alone in their need for legal services. Verizon's new pro bono program was created to help meet that need in communities where the company has legal offices. Read more...

Domestic violence, has no zip code, knows no education level or gender. Yet, for too long it has been thought of as solely a women's issue. Statistics show, that's simply not true. One-fifth of full-time employed adults are or have been victims of domestic violence (of those 65 percent are female; 35 percent male), according to the Corporate Alliance to End Domestic Violence

Read more...