PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Teri Stoddard
Telephone: 301-801-0608
Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org
SAVE Applauds Growing Number of Inclusive Abuse Shelters
WASHINGTON / April 16, 2013 – SAVE, a national victim-rights organization, welcomes the growing number of abuse shelters and other domestic violence service providers that now provide inclusive services. These services are required under the new VAWA Inclusion Mandate (1), a series of anti-discrimination provisions included in the newly reauthorized Violence Against Women Act.
The anti-bias measures were included in the Violence Against Women Act due to documented discriminatory practices against lesbian/gay (2), male (3), and other (4) victims of abuse. The Violence Against Women Act reauthorization, signed into law on March 7, 2013, now bans discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.”
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments – SAVE – has compiled a listing of inclusive shelters that features over 50 domestic violence providers located around the country (5). Examples include:
1. Peaceful Paths, based in Gainesville, Fla., provides a crisis line, emergency shelter, advocacy, support groups, and transitional housing to LGBTQ, male, and female victims of partner abuse.
2. Located in Lebanon, New Hampshire, WISE offers a 24-hr crisis line, emergency shelter, counseling, legal advocacy, referrals to all victims – LGBTQ, female, or male.
3. First Step in Fostoria, Ohio, First Step offers a shelter for male victims of domestic violence and programs to build healthy relationships, learn parenting skills, manage stress effectively, and develop life skills.
Many shelters, such as South Valley Sanctuary in Murray, Utah, also offer their inclusive services in both English and Spanish. Some groups, such as the Domestic Violence Program of Asian Americans for Community Involvement in San Jose, Calif., target their services to specific ethnic groups.
“After years of exclusion, it’s thrilling to see so many shelters now expanding their services so no survivor of domestic violence becomes revictimized by the system,” notes SAVE spokesperson Sheryle Hutter. “And for shelters scrambling to come into line with the Inclusion Mandate, SAVE’s Inclusion Resource Center should be a great help.”
SAVE offers a range of resources to shelters working to assure compliance with the VAWA Inclusion Mandate, including an Inclusion Checklist, fact sheets, research summaries, and population-specific information (6). Domestic violence providers who wish to be considered for inclusion in the Listing of Inclusive Shelters should send a request to inclusivevawa@saveservices.org. There is no charge for the listing.
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to domestic violence and sexual assault: www.saveservices.org
- http://www.saveservices.org/inclusive-vawa/legal-provisions/
- http://www.avp.org/resources/avp-resources/136
- http://www.saveservices.org/downloads/Domestic-Violence-Programs-Discriminate-Against-Male-Victims
- Tricia Bent-Goodley. Perceptions of Domestic Violence: A Dialogue with African American Women. Health and Social Work, Vol. 29, No. 4. 2004.
- http://www.saveservices.org/inclusive-vawa/shelter-listings/
- http://www.saveservices.org/inclusive-vawa/resources/