The Jewish Domestic Violence Coalition of Greater Boston was established in 1994 to unite concerned organizations and individuals in an effective response to domestic violence in the Jewish community.  The Coalition provides a forum to exchange information about domestic violence and available services, to collaborate on projects, and to provide resources to the community. 

One such project has been our Poster Program.  In order to raise awareness in the Jewish community and to provide direction to people seeking services, Coalition members created a Jewish Domestic Violence Resource Poster to be hung in restroom stalls in synagogues, JCCs and other Jewish institutions.  Thanks to a volunteer coordinator, liaisons were recruited at each site. These liaisons worked with the “powers that be” at each organization in order to get permission to hang the posters and to get institutional buy in.  To date, more than 400 posters have been distributed at over 30 locations throughout Greater Boston.

Here is just a peek at what some of the organizations that make up the Coalition are doing to address domestic violence in the Jewish community:

KOL ISHA – JEWISH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROGRAM AT JEWISH FAMILY AND CHILDREN’S SERVICE

Kol Isha was established to ensure that a comprehensive, culturally and religiously sensitive system of care is available to all Jewish and Russian victims of domestic violence.  Kol Isha offers free and confidential services including counseling, safety planning, financial assistance, legal and medical advocacy and support groups.  For more information about their services, contact 617-558-1278 or www.jfcsboston.org.

In addition to providing services to victims and survivors, Kol Isha works collaboratively with other JF&CS programs, in the Jewish and Russian communities and with domestic violence agencies throughout Greater Boston and beyond, in order to help weave a larger safety net for their clients.  Some of their initiatives include:

• The Sukkah of Peace Event, which raises awareness for the Jewish and secular communities in and around Boston about the issue of Jewish domestic violence.
• Committee work on the Massachusetts Governor’s Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence.
• Participation in the Russian American Rule of Law Consortium’s trip to Tomsk Siberia, in order to increase awareness of detrimental effects of domestic violence and help with the creation of domestic violence programs in Russia.
• Teen Safe, a comprehensive coordinated program that reaches out to Jewish and Russian teens in Greater Boston around issues of teen dating violence. 
• Work on the National Advisory Board of the Teen Action Campaign, a teen driven media campaign that focuses on teen relationship violence (www.seeitandstopit.org).
• Participation in the planning of JWI's 2^nd International Conference on Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community.

SAFE HAVENS – INTERFAITH PARTNERSHIP AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

This year Safe Havens completed its sixth program year of the Family Violence Prevention Project (FVPP), which has provided comprehensive domestic violence prevention and intervention training to teams from 57 congregations representing approximately 62,000 congregants.  Congregations from 10 synagogues from communities throughout the Greater Boston area have participated to date.  These congregations are prepared to respond safely and effectively to domestic violence because they have gained knowledge and skills and developed connections to domestic violence service providers in their own cities and towns.  Clergy and lay leaders who have participated in the training program are also active in prevention efforts and have developed sermons, created resource libraries, become part of domestic violence roundtables, implemented consciousness raising events in their own communities, and reached out to children and youth through religious education activities.

As a result of their unique work (they are currently the only organization in the country that has successfully developed and implemented such a program for religious communities) Safe Havens was invited to address the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women in April 2003.  Safe Havens was again placed in the national spotlight in October 2003 at a White House event in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  This culminated in an award from the Department of Justice in October of 2003.  This federal grant will allow us to provide technical assistance to five sites nationally that are interested in learning from Safe Havens’ approach to domestic violence intervention and prevention.  Faith communities will work in an interfaith or interdenominational setting to build the capacity of all faith communities to respond to this social justice issue, to develop leadership from religious communities, and to strengthen collaborations between religious communities and domestic violence service providers. For more information about this exciting opportunity please contact us at safehavens@earthlink.net or at 617-227-6992.