Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence Launches New Campaign with KNOW MORE VIDEO PROJECT featuring real bystander stories and live TWEET CHAT for Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Launch also includes digital tools page on ricadv.org

WHERE: www.ricadv.org – premiere of KNOW MORE VIDEO PROJECT featuring real bystander and survivor stories of intervention, and www.Twitter.com/RICADV #NOMORERI for live Tweet Chat where users are encouraged to share their bystander stories and let the RICADV know what they need to KNOW MORE to end domestic violence in their communities. For those that do not have Twitter accounts, a live feed will be shown at www.ricadv.org.

WHEN: Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - 2 p.m. EDT

WHY: To launch the KNOW MORE campaign to end domestic violence during Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) 2013! Throughout the month of October the RICADV is asking bystanders to get involved in the movement in various ways. KNOW MORE is an expansion of the organization's adoption of the national NO MORE campaign in Rhode Island, chosen because research shows that educating and engaging bystanders is a promising way to help prevent the widespread problem of domestic and sexual violence within communities.

• 65% of domestic violence victims who come forward say no one helped.
• 60% of Americans, that's 149 million Americans, KNOW a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault. They are neighbors, coworkers, family and friends.
• A new, national survey uncovers staggering silence and inaction around domestic violence and sexual assault. The majority of Americans have never discussed these hidden issues with children or friends. nomore.org/nomorestudy
• People looking for information about domestic violence are increasingly going online to do so—and about a third of the RICADV's online visitor's access the website from a mobile device.

WHAT: As part of the launch designed to educate every Rhode Islander about domestic violence prevention, the RICADV is debuting a digital tools page, the KNOW MORE VIDEO PROJECT featuring real bystander stories, and inviting community members to participate in a TWEET CHAT to share bystander stories. Additionally, survivors of domestic violence from SOAR (Sisters Overcoming Abusive Relationships) share what it meant to them, when a bystander got involved.

The RICADV's commitment to educating bystanders will go beyond DVAM because it will take more people in more communities coming together to end domestic violence. Visit www.ricadv.org and www.NOMORERI.org; often for additional tools. There, users will be able to give feedback on tools, interact with the RICADV staff, and submit bystander videos for possible inclusion on the websites.

KNOW MORE. DO MORE. KNOWLEDGE IS YOUR FIRST STEP. TOGETHER WE CAN END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT.

Planning for prevention: What's the logic behind my program?

Blog by Alexis Marbach, Empowerment Evaluator, RICADV

Strategic planning for prevention seems like such a luxury. Can you imagine stepping back from implementing a program, researching emerging trends in program delivery, and participating in an agency wide conversation around the efficacy of a given program? In an era of reduced funding (and subsequently reduced levels of staffing), comprehensive planning can fall by the wayside as we strive to give and do more with less. But what happens when we forge ahead without the thoughtful and sometimes complicated planning process? We run the risk of implementing a strategy that fails to meet the needs of our audience (culturally, developmentally) and fails to achieve our intended outcomes. As prevention specialists, we must plan for our programming to know if we have the resources we need, if our program's content aligns with our intended outcomes, and what we need to do to effectively implement our identified program.

During the last week of August, I set off for Los Angeles to facilitate a conversation around one kind of planning process: creating a logic model. I was invited by the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to present the core components of logic models to their Rape Prevention Education (RPE) grantees at the pre-conference to the National Sexual Assault Conference. There are over 64 RPE programs in the state of California, and each one has a unique scope of work for their primary prevention activities. While all California RPE grantees are working to evaluate their primary prevention efforts, many have not stepped back from implementation and evaluation to reassess which of their prevention programs are the most effective. In the last few months, RPE grantees have also experienced a reduction in their funding, forcing them to step back and decide which programs (or pieces of programs) should be cut or put on hold as CDPH has made it clear that their expectation is that RPE grantees "do less with less" not do more with less. Given this news, I must admit that I was a little worried about the tone of my training. Would the participants feel as though this was just one more hurdle to jump through or one more public health tool that took time away from their ability to implement? I was totally off the mark.

Over 65 prevention specialists, administrators, and rape crisis center advocates joined me on Tuesday morning to talk about the mechanics of logic models. We started by reviewing some content we had previously discussed in a webinar in July, and then outlined how we would move forward. I framed our conversation as an opportunity to learn how to create a tool that would have multiple benefits such as:

Read more: Planning for prevention: What's the logic behind my program?

Regarding the Domestic Violence Murders of Evelyn Burgos and Vanessa Perez

Statement by Judith Earle, Executive Director of the Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center, and Deborah DeBare, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, August 12, 2013

CONTACT: Cristina Williams at RICADV: (401) 467-9940; Cell: (917) 940-3729; cristina@ricadv.org; www.ricadv.org; Facebook.com/RICADV; Twitter @RICADV

"We are very saddened today at the loss of the lives of Evelyn Burgos and her daughter, Vanessa Perez. We are, however, grateful that Burgos' two-year-old son Isaiah Perez was found physically unharmed after being abducted from his home following the alleged murder of his mother and sister by Daniel Rodriguez."

"Our hearts go out to the family, friends and community of the two women and the three children who may have witnessed the tragedy. Domestic violence all too often impacts families, friends and bystanders, and we must remember them in our response to and prevention of these cases. While the details of this particular case are still unfolding, we know that Rodriguez has a lengthy criminal history that includes domestic violence incidents, and that Rodriguez and Burgos were involved in an ongoing domestic dispute, according to police."

Read more: Regarding the Domestic Violence Murders of Evelyn Burgos and Vanessa Perez