Men Stopping Violence

Help us End Violence against Women ... Make a Donation

TIMM Conference Draws Attendees From 8 States

Twenty-eight people dedicated to the work of ending male violence against women attended Men Stopping Violence's Training Institute for Mobilizing Men (TIMM) conference February 27 through March 1, 2008, in Atlanta.

Men Stopping Violence, in consultation with the New York-based organization A Call to Men, has created TIMM, which helps state coalitions against intimate partner violence organize and educate men who want to work to end violence against women.

The recent conference was the first of two such trainings for the eight participating state coalitions. In addition to the training conferences, TIMM provides in-depth assistance and support to the coalitions as these groups create programs and protocols for working with men. TIMM works with both the leadership of the coalitions and the men with whom they are working or planning to work with.

This project supports the men who become organizers and the coalitions who lead them through conference calls, a listserv, the sharing of best practices and organizing materials, and face-to-face meetings. To be included in the project, participating coalitions had to meet a specific set of criteria that signalled their readiness to do the work of organizing men around the issue of violence against women.

TIMM, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), began in the Fall of 2007 and ends in the summer of 2009. At the end of the project, each of the participating coalitions will have a men's initiative that is sustainable, effective in engaging men, accountable to battered women's advocates, and a model for other states interested in starting the work of engaging men.

The eight participating state coalitions are: Idaho, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, West Virgina and Wisconsin.

MSV Begins Piloting

Mentor Training Program

Atlanta -- Communities are increasingly calling on more men to become strong role models for boys, and Men Stopping Violence (MSV) has created a program that helps mentors support academic success for boys and increased safety for women and girls.

Drawing on lessons learned from working with men for more than two decades, MSV has established the Mentor Training Program (MTP), which trains college sudents to work with high school freshman who are having disciplinary problems and are at risk for dropping out. The MTP trains mentors to rely on strategies that value education while challenging destructive definitions of masculinity.

MSV began piloting the project in the fall of 2007. Eight men from Morehouse College trained with MSV and continue to receive support and guidance. The mentors have begun regular meetings with eight boys from Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta, and each mentor has been paired with a mentee. The project is being supervised by Ulester Douglas, MSV Director of Training, and coordinated by Morehouse College student Joseph Drummond, who recently completed the MSV Internship Program.

Success in the MTP will be measured by:

Improved academic performance (indicated by higher report card grades and standardized test scores)
Increased attendance rates
Improved behavior, including fewer disciplinary referrals and less violent and disruptive behavior

Men Stopping Violence would like to extend special thanks to to Booker T. Washington High School and Communities in Schools for facilitating and supporting this project.

Studies Evaluate

MSV Initiatives

Articles have been published on two evaluations of Men Stopping Violence initiatives.

An article appeared in the October 2006 issue of the journal Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice reporting findings from a study that evaluated the Violence Prevention Mentoring Project, a program conducted by Men Stopping Violence from 1995 to 2000. The article -- "Preliminary Findings for an Outcome Evaluation of an Intimate Partner Prevention Program for Adjudicated, African American Adolescent Males" -- was authored by Laura F. Salazar, who conducted the study, and Sarah L. Cook. (Access the article.)

More recently, an article reporting findings from an evaluation of an MSV-implemented coordinated community response in two Georgia counties appeared in the October 2007 issue of Journal of Family Violence. This article -- "Examinnig the Behavior of a System: An Outcome Evaluation of a Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence" -- was authored by Salazar, James G. Emshoff, Charlene K. Baker, and Terrence “Red” Crowley, former Director of Men's Education for Men Stopping Violence. (Read an abstract of the article.)

The Violence Prevention Mentoring Project (VPMP) had two goals. First, it aimed to offer an intervention program to juvenile males in the DeKalb County, Georgia, criminal-legal system who were identified as having a problem with male violence against women and girls. Second, it worked to expose judges, probation officers and others involved in the criminal-legal system to MSV's analysis of the problem of male violence against women in the hope of changing their attitudes and influencing systems change.

Juveniles in the program attended five sessions: a two-hour initial meeting; a visit to the regular Court Class taught by MSV for men who were arrested for battering in DeKalb County; two sessions of the 24-week batterers' intervention classes conducted by MSV; and a review class.

The evaluation of the VPMP, conducted by Salazar as part of her doctoral studies, spanned a period from June 1999 to May 2000. It concluded that Men Stopping Violence was effective in educating juvenile males about male violence against women and somewhat successful in changing their attitudes about women in general. Also, the VPMP was successful in gaining access to a particular segment of the criminal-legal system, and garnering support from the personnel for the program, although it remained unclear whether there was widespread attitude change among personnel.

The study of the coordinated community response (CCR) evaluated whether a CCR implemented by MSV in two Georgia counties would be effective at increasing criminal-legal system sanctions for male domestic violence offenders. The evaluation revealed that there was a significant increase in arrests of male offenders in both counties. However, law enforcement agencies also arrested more women following the intervention.

(From left) "Champions of Change" award recipient Dick Bathrick with Jesse Bathrick and Sam Bathrick.

'Champions' Honoree:

Strong Partnerships Key

to Social Change

Atlanta -- As Dick Bathrick, Men Stopping Violence co-founder, accepted the 2007 Champion for Change Award from the Women's Resource Center to End Domestic Violence (WRC) on April 10, he mused on what it meant to be "recognized for doing what men should have been doing for the past 5,000 years."

The work of ending male violence against women, Bathrick said, continues to be not just about individual effort but about collaboration. And the work of Men Stopping Violence (MSV) continues to be not just about individual change, but about men learning how to listen to and learn from women. The WRC and MSV have worked together in solidarity for more than 20 years to create safer and more just communities for women and girls.

“WRC and MSV have been in the work together for a long time,” said WRC Executive Director Jean Douglas, speaking at the 4th Annual Champions of Change Luncheon.“We were happy and excited to honor Dick's work."

In accepting the award, Bathrick emphasized that collaboration and partnerships drive effective social change.

“MSV forges and sustains change by creating powerful partnerships within and outside of our organization,” he said. “When we partner in solidarity, we can become Champions for Change.”

Community Restoration

Program Marks 20 Years

of Support, Advocacy

This year marks the 20th anniversary of MSV's innovative Community Restoration Program (CRP).

CRP is a community education and advocacy team committed to the work of ending violence against women. The group's original intent was to offer men who ongoing connection and support and an opportunity to offer service to Men Stopping Violence. CRP continues that mission but since its founding has taken on a greater advocacy role in the community.

“'(CRP) allows me to reinforce my commitment to treat all folks, including my partner and all women, with fairness and dignity and trust,” said Bill Kirksey, co-leader of CRP. “Second, it sets an example for the men in my life. And third, it allows me to work toward creating a safe and more just world.”

'The Work

Starts With You'

Fall Interns Showcase

Community Projects

In the early fall of 2007, three individuals began the Men Stopping Violence (MSV) Internship Program seeking to learn more about the issue of violence against women. In late fall, they acknowledged that the end of their formal experience at MSV was just the beginning of their work and their struggle with that issue.

On December 11, interns Michael Pearson, Joseph Drummond, and Alex Cullen presented their culminating work – projects that engaged members of their community around issues of masculinity, violence and objectification of women – to a gathering of friends, family, victims' advocates, and MSV staff. At the same time they acknowledged that some of the most challenging and transformative work they engaged in was self-examination.

“I took to heart the idea that the work starts with you,” said Drummond.

The Men Stopping Violence Internship Program seeks to identify, educate and mentor the young men who will become the next generation of male allies in the work to end violence against women. College-aged men were recruited for the fall 2007 15-week Internship.

During that period Pearson, Drummond and Cullen engaged in critical self-examination, attended seminars on the Core Principles of Men Stopping Violence, attended MSV's Men's Education Program classes with other men, volunteered for MSV and worked on the community projects.

Eighteen people gathered at MSV to witness project presentations and to acknowledge and support the interns' efforts. In comments that evening, all three interns talked about how their experience increased their awareness of how the patriarchal system works and their relationship to it.

“In a patriarchal society, men enforce patriarchy by never questioning it … and forcing women to deal with the pain that system causes,” said Cullen, a graduate of Rice University who presented a project on men's and women's attitudes about pornography.

Drummond, a student of Morehouse College in Atlanta, works as the coordinator of MSV's Mentor Training Project (MTP), and did his presentation on that program. The MTP trains college men to mentor high school boys using tools that boost academic success and at the same time educate and inspire those boys to define masculinity in healthy ways. He said attending MSV classes with other men and working with MSV mentors was a revelatory experience for him.

“Holding the mirror up was a difficult thing to do,” he said. “But just to know that people live like this, out of the masculinity box, is amazing.”

Paying attention to how he lives and acts in a patriarchal society was one of the hardest things he had to do, said Pearson. He created a survey to measure people's attitudes to interpersonal violence in everyday life.

“We don't really talk about violence on a base level,” he said. “What you see on an everyday level.”

MSV Participates

in V-Day Premiere

Men Stopping Violence Executive Director Shelley Serdahely joined Eve Ensler, Jane Fonda, Kenny Leon and other performers on stage September 27, 2007, for the Atlanta premiere of "A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer: Readings to End Violence Against Women and Girls."

Others performers at the event at Opera in Midtown Atlanta included Melissa Carter, Jenn Hobby, Jaquitta Williams and Doria Roberts. Men Stopping Violence was a beneficiary of this V-Day event.

Learn more about V-Day

25th Anniversary Awards Dinner

Dawson, Ensler Honored at Annual Event

More than 300 guests filled the ballroom of The Ritz-Carlton Atlanta on Oct. 27 to mark Men Stopping Violence's 25th anniversary and honor two individuals who have made a strong commitment to the safety of women and girls.

Harold A. Dawson, Jr., president and CEO of The Dawson Company, accepted the True Ally Award. Mr. Dawson is the first corporate ally to receive the award, which recognizes someone who has shown himself willing to take a stand for women's safety.

Playwright and activist Eve Ensler, appeared via video to accept the Kathleen Carlin Justice Seekers Award.

Harold A. Dawson, Jr.

Eve Ensler