October is domestic violence awareness month and YWCA Richmond is committed to ending violence in our community by providing critical services, educating the public about preventing violence and strengthening our community. During the last fiscal year, 14,903 contacts were made on the 24/7 regional hotline and we provided 981 bed nights of emergency shelter for 210 adults and children. 1,235 hours of trauma-informed counseling was provided for adult and children survivors and 574 survivors received court advocacy support. Our Prevention and Community Outreach team engaged with more than 19,000 individuals through our prevention and outreach programs.
Domestic violence occurs daily in our community, close to our everyday lives. It impacts our neighbors, colleagues, families and children, and you can help end the violence by becoming more aware. Our hardworking DVSA team has curated following events to help you learn, advocate and strengthen the community of survivors, services providers and people who care.
To learn about the warning signs of domestic violence and how to prevent violence, please join Greisy Gil, our Community Outreach Manager, for DV101 workshop in English on October 21 or in Spanish on October 28. Greisy will also speak on Radio Poder 1380AM on October 1, to share YWCA Richmond’s domestic violence resources with Spanish speaking members of our community.
To see how different service providers are working together to end domestic violence, please join us at the Domestic Violence Community Forum at the Cedar Street Baptist Church on October 17. We will have an engaging panel to address important topics and questions about how we can make Richmond a safer place to live.
To remember those lost to domestic violence, we invite you to Remember My Name, an annual community memorial to honor loved ones’ memories and to renew our commitment to end violence together on Thursday, October 22, from 6 pm to 8 pm. Families and friends of those lost are encouraged to bring a photo or memorial item to add to the collective altar and share stories.
You can register for all of our free events on the Domestic Violence Awareness Monthpage at ywcarichmond.org/dvam.