The Allina Foundation recently funded a project to studyfamilies in which both mothers and children are being abused. Professor Jeffrey L. Edleson in the Center and Dr. Sandra Beemanin the University of Minnesota's Center for Advanced Studiesin Child Welfare will collaborate on the project. Drs. Edlesonand Beeman will work closely with Hennepin County's Childrenand Family Services and the Domestic Abuse Project (DAP)in Minneapolis. Additional funds supporting this project comefrom Title IVE, the Bush Foundation, and the MinnesotaAgriculture Experiment Station. Three doctoral students -Melody Bialke, Susan Bullerdick, and Laura Boisen - will assistwith this project.
A project to evaluate the effectiveness of the Domestic AbuseProject's services to women and child victims of violenceand to perpetrators of violence has been subcontracted to ProfessorEdleson and the Center. The Domestic Abuse Project wasestablished in 1979 with the goal of ending violence against womencommitted by their partners or significant others. This missionis accomplished through four major programs: therapy, communityintervention, research and evaluation, and training. Helen Kinsella,a graduate student in public policy, is staffing the servicesevaluation project.
The Center also now houses the International Survey of AttitudesAbout Wife Assault led by Professor Edleson. Representative surveyswere previously conducted of 400 households in Singapore and 550in the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas. The same survey will beconducted this year in Northern Israel, Kuwait City, and Bucharest(Romania). When completed, this will be one of the first cross-nationalsurveys on wife assault. Collaborators on the project includeDr. Alfred Choi -- Nanyang Technological University in Singapore,Dr. Zvi Eisikovits -- Haifa University, Ms. Laura Grunberg-- Romanian Feminist Society, and Dr. Mesad Schlash --Kuwait University, and numerous students.
Professor Edleson will serve on the Management Committee of thisNational Network. He and an assistant, Andrea Bible, will becharged with developing a national effort to supply user-friendlyresearch information to state coalitions on domestic violenceas well as national organizations.
Responding to Violence and Abuse: Educating Minnesota Professionalsfor the Future is available free of charge. Those interestedin obtaining a copy of the report may contact:
Coreen Rohrberg, Principal Secretary
Higher Education Center Against Violence and Abuse
386 McNeal Hall
1985 Buford Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55108 - 6142
ph #: 612-624-0721 or (1-800-646-2282)
fax #: 612-625-4288
e-mail: Email Us
Participants' objectives for attending the conference includedthe following:
Ninety-five percent of the participants rated the conferenceas good or excellent in meeting their objectives.
The portion of the conference rated highest was the Ringof Fire production, a musical examination of the cycle of violencewith emphasis on domestic abuse and the system breakdown thatpermits it. Many commented about the play's powerful abilityto convey a message when words and information alone are not enough. However, several were disturbed by the play's content and unsettledby the way it affected them. In a processing session after theplay, most agreed that it was a powerful piece that stimulatedthem to think about their responsibility in stopping violence.
Christine Imbra (the outgoing director of the Center) andTim McGuire (a member of the human services task force) providedan overview of the task force report Responding to Violence andAbuse: Educating Minnesota Professionals for the Future. Thereport was the culmination of work by hundreds of Minnesota citizens who worked on task forces dedicated to increasingprofessionals' capability to respond to and prevent violence. Christine received thanks from the staff, task force members,and conference participants for her work as the Center's firstdirector.
Bonnie Campbell, Director of the Justice Department's ViolenceAgainst Women Office, provided an overview of the Violence AgainstWomen Act. She oversees the Justice Department's efforts to combinefederal criminal laws with assistance to states and localitiesto fight violence against women. Campbell was introduced by SheilaWellstone, who offered an update of the Wellstone Initiative forSafe Homes. Since the election of her husband, Paul, to the U.S.Senate in 1990, she has focused her efforts on preventing violenceand protecting victims of domestic violence.
A panel discussion focusing on both curriculum developmentand violence prevention or intervention services on campuses wasprovided by:
Attorney General Humphery's office supplied written updateson the Sexual Violence Prevention Project, results of the SexualHarassment/Sexual Violence Survey, and the Campus Safety and SecurityAct.
Conference participants suggested computer skills trainingfor accessing violence information available electronically, regionalinformation sessions, and skill building on specific violenceprevention techniques as topics for future conferences. Mostdescribed the day as worthwhile and expressed hope that futureconferences can be held under the auspices of the Center.
Christine was hired as the first director of the Higher EducationCenter Against Violence and Abuse in September 1994 and servedas the executive director through June 1995. From July to theend of October she served with Nancy Biele as co-director of theCenter.
Christine contributed an exceptional amount of dedicationand devotion to developing the Center and we are grateful forher leadership and guidance. Our thanks to her for her service. She has accepted the position of director of safety and securityat the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Mn. We wish herwell in her endeavors.
Andrea Bible, Intern
Andrea Bible has accepted the position of Assistant to the Coordinatorand will be working with Professor Jeffrey Edleson on the ViolenceAgainst Women National Electronic Network (VAWNET) starting inFebruary. We are excited to have Andrea fill this position andlook forward to her continued contributions to the Center.
We wish to thank Andrea for her contributions as an intern. Forthe past six months Andrea has assisted with many of the Center'sfunctions. She provided editing suggestions during the compilationof the task force report, assisted in organizing and publicizingour statewide conference, assisted in maintaining the ElectronicClearinghouse, and researched background information for our grantproposals.
According to the staff of the Feminist Majority Online:
The Clearinghouse now features the following categories:
In addition to the restructured categories, the site now featuresa recently added feedback form allowing users to easily communicatetheir opinions and suggestions to the staff. The Clearinghousealso sports new counters on all of the main pages so that staffand browsers may monitor usage of the site.
In 1996 the Clearinghouse will be adding other new features, suchas a key word search option, a guest book, a listing of film andvideo resources, and a listing of resource people who are availableon the Internet.
Senator Reichgott Junge expressed enthusiasm for the Center'smission and interest in the information she received. She promisedto share both the literature and her impressions of the Centerwith her colleagues in the state legislature.
"Social Workers and the Challenge of Violence Worldwide"
A national teach-in and video conference --
featuring Charles Kuralt
February 6 & 9
Sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers
Local contact -- School of Social Work/ U of MN
(612) 634-5888
National contact -- 1-800-638-8799
HIGHER EDUCATION CENTER
AGAINST VIOLENCE AND ABUSE
386 McNeal Hall
1985 Buford Avenue
University of Minnesota
Saint Paul, MN 55108-6142
Phone: (612) 624-0721
In Minnesota: 1-800-646-2282
Facsimile: (612) 625-4288
Electronic Mail: Email Us
World Wide Web Site: http://www.mincava.umn.edu
Last modified April 14, 1998 - kzb.
Copyright © 1995, Minnesota Center Against Violence & Abuse
