Futures Without Violence (formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund) is a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on ending domestic and sexual violence. Futures Without Violence is involved in community based programs, developing educational material, and public policy work.
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Futures Without Violence (formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund) was established with a federal grant in 1980 by Esta Soler, its current President. In 1994 it launched the There’s No Excuse for Domestic Violence advertising campaign.[1] It has a four-star rating from Charity Navigator.[2] As of June 1, 2011, Family Violence Prevention Fund has changed its name to Futures Without Violence.[3]
Futures Without Violence assisted in drafting the first comprehensive national legislation ever to address violence against women - the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 - and in expanding and reauthorizing it in 2000 and 2005.[4]
Coaching Boys into Men
In 2001, Futures Without Violence (then the Family Violence Prevention Fund) and the Advertising Council launched a public education campaign called Coaching Boys into Men. This media campaign encourages men to talk to the boys in their life about the importance of respect and nonviolence. The Coaching Boys into Men media campaign includes television, radio, and print public service announcements in multiple languages.
In 2004, Coaching Boys into Men expanded from a media campaign into a sports-based program for athletic coaches to lead with their young male athletes. The Coaching Boys into Men Coaches Leadership Program includes tools and resources to guide coaches in talking to their athletes about respect, non-violence, and relationships. The CBIM Coaches Kit includes the CBIM Playbook, CBIM Card Series and additional support materials for coaches to lead weekly activities with their athletes throughout the sports season.
Coaching Boys into Men also includes work outside of the United States. In 2007, Futures Without Violence and UNICEF partnered to develop and distribute an International Coaches Manual that includes quotes and endorsement from stars such as David Beckham, Emmanuel Adebayor, and Thierry Henry. The International Coaches Manual is available in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. In 2009, Futures Without Violence began an initiative with the Nike Foundation to develop a cricket based Coaching Boys into Men program in India.
Founding Fathers
Futures Without Violence’s Founding Fathers campaign is intended to mobilize men, inviting them to teach the next generation to treat women and girls with honor and respect, teaching boys that violence does not equal strength. Since 2003, on Father’s Day, men from all walks of life are invited to sign a Founding Fathers Declaration to join the movement to end violence against women and children. The names of these men that support the campaign are printed on a full page ad in the New York Times on Father’s Day.
Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships
Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships is the largest initiative ever funded to target 11- to- 14-year-olds and rally entire communities to promote healthy relationships as the way to prevent teen dating violence and abuse. A national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in collaboration with Futures Without Violence, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Blue Shield of California Foundation are investing $18 million in 11 Start Strong communities across the country to identify and evaluate best practices in prevention to stop dating violence and abuse before it starts.
kNOw MORE
The kNOw MORE campaign explores the reproductive health consequences of violence and sexual coercion. The national public awareness campaign invites youth to say ‘no more’ to reproductive coercion; know more about how to stop it; and say more to anyone and everyone who will listen. Its aim is to use the campaign website, www.knowmoresaymore.org, to start a dialogue and find a common language on the issue by using the stories of women and teens that have experienced reproductive coercion.
RESPECT!
The RESPECT! Campaign is a social action campaign designed to promote respect in relationships and increase awareness about the positive role everyone can play to help end and prevent relationship violence and abuse. The RESPECT! Campaign is a multi-year initiative supported by Macy’s, the national founding partner and exclusive retailer of the official RESPECT! bracelet.
That's Not Cool
In 2009, Futures Without Violence and The Advertising Council launched That’s Not Cool, a national public service advertising campaign that uses digital examples of controlling behavior online and by cell phone to encourage teens to draw their own line about what is, or is not, okay in a relationship. This multimedia campaign, created pro bono by R/GA, includes an interactive website, mobile component, television, radio, print, outdoor, posters, and Web ads. The PSAs direct audiences to visit www.ThatsNotCool.com, where teens can find tools to “draw their own digital line” and a forum to discuss this form of abuse and seek help.
Lessons from Literature
Futures Without Violence and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) launched Lessons from Literature, a program that enlists high school English teachers all across the country to use the books and material they’re already teaching to facilitate discussion and build awareness about physical, verbal, and sexual abuse. The program includes lesson plans that are aligned with National Standards for the English Language Arts, materials to prepare teachers and students to discuss themes of abuse, and an online resource library that suggests books, poems, artwork, and more that can be used to begin these discussions.
Futures Without Violence’s Health Care Initiative provides health care providers with the resources necessary to identify and respond to domestic violence. Futures Without Violence hosts the National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence. It is the nation’s clearinghouse for information on the health care response to domestic violence and provides free technical assistance and materials to thousands of people each year.[5] The Center is one of five specialized domestic violence resource centers in the country funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Futures Without Violence’s National Judicial Institute gives judges guidelines, education and materials to ensure that their courtrooms provide real help to victims of family violence.
The Futures Without Violence Children’s Initiative works with domestic violence and batterer intervention programs, child welfare agencies and community organizers to build collaborations and partnerships that promote safe and healthy families.
Futures Without Violence's Workplace Project is a collaboration with employers and unions, and offers an online resource kit which includes items like sample workplace domestic violence policies, education and training materials, case studies and resources. [6]
Futures Without Violence works with immigrant communities in the United States to expand services for immigrant victims of violence and to mobilize Americans to press for more humane asylum policies. Futures Without Violence’s International Partnerships in China, India, Mexico and Russia are addressing all forms of violence, including human trafficking.
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