Verizon Foundation

Featured Domestic Violence Grants

We are proud to support nonprofit organizations across the nation. Below we've profiled some of the organizations we've invested in and the positive contributions they've made in domestic violence awareness and prevention.

National Family Justice Center Alliance

Survivors of domestic violence and their children will receive new and more effective services throughout the U.S., thanks to a $1 million grant from the Verizon Foundation to the National Family Justice Center Alliance.

The grant, announced earlier this month, establishes the Family Justice Center Institute, a technology and training arm within the National Family Justice Center Alliance. The center will use technology and best practices to streamline service and provide training for employees and volunteers.

The grant will be used to develop systems that:

• Allow multiple agencies within a Family Justice Center to quickly and securely share information -- so that survivors will have to tell their story only once, rather than repeatedly conveying their traumatic experiences to various social, medical, legal and public safety professionals.
• Create protocols for the development of electronic "safety deposit boxes" - helping domestic violence survivors to keep important documents secure.
• Develop online training for Family Justice Center employees and volunteers nationwide -- enabling them to share information, attend online courses and learn best practices.
• Link the management systems of five pilot Family Justice Centers --- creating consistency and information-sharing models among these centers, which will be selected during the grant period.
• Assess technology needs -- to evaluate practical uses of online client resources, text messaging and video messaging to support Family Justice Center employees and clients.

Verizon has been a longtime supporter of Family Justice Centers across the country, beginning with a Verizon Wireless HopeLine® grant to the San Diego Family Justice Center in 2002.

"Verizon Wireless was proud to be the first business to award a grant to develop the first Family Justice Center in the nation right here in San Diego," said John Palmer, region president, Verizon Wireless. "Now that this city's dream is a reality and has spread to more than two dozen other major cities, the service delivery challenges facing these centers are of a national dimension. Today's grant is a critical first step toward meeting those challenges head-on and better serving survivors of abuse everywhere through the use of technology and best practices."

Raising awareness of domestic violence and aiding in its prevention is a key focus of the Verizon Foundation. In 2007, the foundation awarded more than $5.5 million in grants to aid in domestic violence prevention.

"Through this grant, the National Family Justice Center Alliance will be able to make better use of technology to continue to provide quick and needed service to survivors of domestic violence," said Tim McCallion, West region president, Verizon. "We are proud to partner with the Family Justice Center Alliance on such a worthy project."

Verizon Foundation President Patrick Gaston added, "Domestic violence is an issue that touches us all. Statistics show that one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime."

"The creation of the Family Justice Center Institute can be part of the solution, enabling survivors to quickly and compassionately receive the assistance they need to help create a better tomorrow for them and their children."

Coaching Boys into Men

One of the most successful strategies for preventing domestic violence is education. And some of the most influential people with young men are their athletic coaches. Coaching Boys into Men puts the two together in an innovative program that trains high school coaches to talk with young male athletes about respect for women.

Verizon Foundation's donation helped pay for a training package (Download 297K PDF) and clinics that are being used to teach coaches how to integrate violence prevention messages of respect, decency and fair play, on and off the field, into their fundamental coaching strategies. An online "Coaches Corner" supplements the training by providing tips and success stories from other coaches.

"There's only one thing more satisfying than helping a young man become a great basketball player – and that's helping a basketball player become a great young man."

John Thompson, Sr.
Hall of Fame Coach, Georgetown University

"A lot of coaches don’t have the expertise to discuss social situations with their teams. This training and role play gives us tools to add to our tool box."

High School Coach
Sioux City, Iowa

Los Angeles Domestic Violence Prevention Collaborative

Awareness and relief are two key ingredients for putting a stop to domestic violence. The Los Angeles Domestic Violence Prevention Collaborative’s mission is to increase awareness of domestic violence in ethnic communities and provide information about the resources available to help victims.

The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, Los Angeles Urban League and Asian Pacific American Legal Center are using a Verizon Foundation grant to help improve education and awareness of domestic violence within the Latino, African American and Asian communities.

These organizations are reaching out to service providers, youth and parents with targeted, multilingual messages delivered at local health fairs, festivals and community meetings. Their efforts include a bilingual hotline and newsletter, a domestic violence prevention resource directory and wallet-sized reference card, information for parents on teen dating violence and myths and facts about domestic violence.

Take a look at the MALDEF Teen Dating Violence Prevention PSAs, paid for by a Verizon Foundation grant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWyQG-77b5Y, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=834pkw85F2A and share the message!