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Men Stopping Violence: Educating and Advocating for Change
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Who we are

Men Stopping Violence is a social change organization dedicated to ending men's violence against women.

Men Stopping Violence works locally, nationally, and internationally to dismantle belief systems, social structures, and institutional practices that oppress women and children and dehumanize men themselves. We look to the violence against women's movement to keep the reality of the problem and the vision of the solution before us. We believe that all forms of oppression are interconnected. Social justice work in the areas of race, class, gender, age, and sexual orientation are all critical to ending violence against women.

Join Men Stopping Violence and help change society for the better!

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Make a donation.

Request training or a presentation.

View our brochure.

About Our Programs:

Because We Have Daughters®

Community Education & Training

Community Restoration Program

Internship Program

Men's Education Program


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Community Organizations:

Take Your Work

to the Next Level!

True safety for all women means looking beyond intervention with batterers and inspiring male allies in communities to take on the work of ending male violence against women.

With 27 years of experience doing just that, Men Stopping Violence can help other organizations doing this work find ways to identify, educate and organize men who want to contribute. At the same time, our trainings can help prepare organizations to apply for funding that will be used to incorporate men and boys in our efforts.

Below is a list of trainings that give community-based organizations throughout the country opportunities to learn about and implement our innovative programs.

Interested? Request a training online or contact Ulester Douglas at 404.270.9894.

Mobilizing Men: Beyond Batterers' Intervention

This training is designed for organizations that are interested in mobilizing male allies to work to end violence against women or those who have already begun working with men.

Read more.


Men at Work: Building

Safe Communities

Men Stopping Violence's years of experience in conducting men's education classes has allowed us to test and implement effective strategies for engaging men in a classroom setting.

We can train organizations in how to use our 24-week Men at Work course, which offers men the education and tools they need to disrupt cultural patterns that promote violence, dominance and abuse of women.

Read more.


Because We

Have Daughters®

Men Stopping Violence created the Because We Have Daughters® (BWHD) initiative to engage more men in the work of creating safer and more just communities for women and girls.

BWHD provides an opportunity for fathers and daughters to share fun activities, followed by discussions about what the activities taught them about themselves and each other.

This training combines the experience of conducting a Because We Have Daughters® event with instructions about how to implement a similar program.

Read more.

 

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In the news

Office on Violence Against Women Selects MSV to Lead

National Initiative

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has chosen Men Stopping Violence (MSV) to organize and manage the first national initiative to engage men and youth in the work of addressing violence against women. The goal of the program is to increase the number of males involved in primary prevention programs that drive awareness and education about violence against women and girls.

This two-year initiative, "Engaging Men and Youth," is part of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act and will be administered by the DOJ's Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). MSV, in partnership with the Family Violence Prevention Fund, will advise OVW about effective methods and programs for organizing men and youth to create safer communities for women and girls.

“With nearly three decades of experience in this arena, Men Stopping Violence is the right organization to assist communities seeking to prevent the abuse of women and children,” said Shelley Serdahely, executive director of Men Stopping Violence. “We have trained thousands of individuals and groups, nationally and internationally, and we have developed solid, innovative programs, such as Because We Have Daughters® , the Community Restoration Program and the Mentor Training Program, that give men community-based tools for creating a safer environment for women and girls. Now, we have the opportunity to continue expanding that reach.”


True Ally Breakfast Brings Men
to Table in Support of MSV

   

            Dawson                       McKerrow

Approximately 15 men attended Men Stopping Violence's (MSV) True Ally Breakfast on Feb. 18, 2010, and pledged their support of the work to end violence against women.

Hosted by True Ally Committee co-chairs Harold Dawson, Jr., and George McKerrow, Jr., the event was held at Ted's Montana Grill in downtown Atlanta.

True Ally Committee members and guests meet for breakfast in February and September. Along with the meal, attendees are provided education that help them spread the message of safety and respect for women and girls. Some men choose to become more involved with Men Stopping Violence or related organizations.Others use this opportunity to prepare themselves to speak up for women’s safety in a more informal way.

The committee also nominates recipients for the True Ally Award, which is presented at the Men Stopping Violence Annual Awards Dinner in October. The person receiving this award has shown himself to be a man of conscience who uses his position to create positive safe environments. Nominees for the award can be a member of the committee or another man of prominence who should be publicly recognized as an ally. Both Dawson and McKerrow are past recipients of the True Ally Award.

True Allies are sometimes asked to support the work of Men Stopping Violence, but the primary function of the committee is to provide a vehicle for men who are ready to take a stand to end the violence that affects women and girls.


           

MSV co-founder Dick Bathrick, Langston Walker of the Communitiy Restoration Program, and executive director Shelley Serdahely participated in Stop Violence Against Women Day.

MSV Participates in Stop Violence
Against Women Day at the Capital

Men Stopping Violence joined several statewide organizations and other community partners at the 11th annual End Violence Against Women Day at the Georgia State Capital on January 26.

Langston Walker, coordinator of MSV"s Community Restoration Program,  spoke about men's role in ending violence against women.

"Now is the time for men to rise up and stand with women to help end the suffering millions feel because of domestic violence and sexual assault. Now is the time for men to challenge and encourage other men to be better while striving to be better ourselves," he said.

Georgia Commission on Family Violence, the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and the Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault - along with Caminar Latino, Men Stopping Violence, and Raksha.


MSV's Yolo Akili Receives

Creative Leadership Award

On January 22, 2010, a lot of people gathered for the Feminist Women's Health Center 's (FWHC) “Stand Up for Justice” gala discovered something that we here at Men Stopping Violence already knew: Yolo Akili is an activist, educator, poet, yogi, astrologer, truth-teller who walks very deliberately towards trouble instead of away from it.

And that's a good thing.

Akili, who works as a facilitator and trainer at MSV, received the Creative Leadership Award at FWHC's event. The trouble he faces down is the kind that tries to marginalize people of color, lesbian, gay and queer people, and women.

For him, art, activism and education are all threads in the tapestry of his life's work.

“For me, it's all the same work,” he says. “Men Stopping Violence is dedicated to helping to create safer communities for women and all human beings. I share that same goal when I'm performing my poetry, yoga and activist commitments.”

Akili, who helps teach two classes and directs the Internship and Mentor Training programs, joined Men Stopping Violence in 2008, the same year he completed the MSV Internship.

“I had been involved with gender-based activism for sometime already, so when I found out that Men Stopping Violence's work with men was based on feminist principles, I was very excited. I reached out to MSV and things just meshed. The rest is history!”

MSV's philosophy of guiding men to become embrace their full humanity as a way of modifying behavior was also appealing.

“So often the field of DV can be a space where unhealthy masculinity is critiqued, but rarely a place where healthy masculinity is modeled and men are given tools in which to shape and define this for themselves,” he said. “MSV is unique in that it takes an approach centered in self-awareness and not self-abnegation.”

In addition to his work with MSV, Akili is a well-known poet who is the author of “Poems in the Key of Green” and the new spoken-word recording “Purple Galaxy.”


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Upcoming Trainings

 

Men at Work:

Building Safe Communities

February 24-26,

June 2-4,

& August 11-13

Men Stopping Violence

2785 Lawrenceville Highway, Suite 112

Decatur, Georgia 30033

Join us for three days

of transformation!

Our curriculum, Men at Work, is an innovative and multidisciplinary tool that explores the complexities of violence against women in an accessible manner that holds men accountable and helps them transform. Each of these three-day training will equip facilitators and service providers with the knowledge and tools that can help them understand and implement

the curriculum.

Participants will receive:

  • Men At Work Instructors' Manual
  • Men At Work Students' Manual
  • Men At Work Facilitation Training
  • Men At Work Curriculum Implementation Training
  • "Working With Men To End Violence Against Women" Training
  • “Working With Men Who Batter" Training

Read more about the training.

For more information or to register for one of these trainings, contact Ulester Douglas, Director of Training, at 404.270.9894 or

udoug@menstoppingviolence.org.


Save the Date!

Join us for the

Annual Awards Dinner.

October 2, 2010

The Ritz-Carlton Atlanta


For more news, check out In the News and the Events Calendar.