Announcing...
We’re proud to announce The RESPECT! Challenge, a national public action campaign and contest that we hope will spark a conversation about the critical role that parents, teachers, coaches, family, and mentors play in shaping young lives and promoting a respectful society. We’ll be honoring the everyday heroes who encouraged us to value those who are different, or urged us to believe in ourselves. In fact, we’re asking the public to answer a very simple question: Who would you like to thank for teaching you Respect?
We’re particularly grateful for responses from some high profile friends; For Nicole Kidman, it was her parents. America Ferrera credits her fifth grade teacher. Willie Mays names his dad, Willie Howard Mays, Sr. They each took a moment to stop and reflect on a person who made an everlasting impact. Watch the video below for more of their responses and to enter the RESPECT! Challenge yourself.
Macy's is the Founding National Partner of the RESPECT! Campaign and proud to support local and national education and awareness programs that promote positive solutions for healthy relationships. With support from customers and associates, Macy's and Futures are working together to spread awareness and promote positive solutions to prevent relationship violence.
As children head back to school, and the Presidential election ramps up, we hope Respect will be part of the conversation at dinner tables and in classrooms all across the country. In the weeks ahead, we’ll explore what Respect has meant to public figures as well as private lives. In the meantime, take a moment to think about the role models in your life who taught you the value of respect. And enter The RESPECT! Challenge! [more...]
President Obama Addresses Human Trafficking
President Obama delivered a moving speech before the Global Clinton Initiative in New York, vowing to crack down on the widespread practice of human trafficking and calling it, “one of the greatest human rights causes of our time.”
While the President’s remarks and initiatives have helped shed light on human trafficking, we have been working to combat this deplorable form of gender-based violence for decades. Futures Without Violence advocated for the passage of both the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the International Violence Against Women Act—two crucial pieces of legislation that protect victims of human trafficking.
In addition to shaping legislation, we've also collaborated with the Office on Violence Against Women to help improve responses to trafficked victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Futures Without Violence helps train and educate service providers, law enforcement, and other community organizations to best help international trafficking victims who have faced violence in the U.S.
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Dating Violence Featured on Katie Couric's Show
This week, Dr. Jacqueline Campbell was featured as a guest on the new Katie Couric Show for a powerful episode on dating abuse. Dr. Campbell, our board president and a national leader in research and advocacy in the field of domestic violence, spoke with host Katie Couric about the impact of dating violence on victims and their families.
The program reminded viewers that teen dating abuse is an issue affecting thousands of young Americans each year. In fact, approximately one in three adolescent girls in the United States is a victim of physical, emotional, or verbal abuse from a dating partner.
To continue the conversation after the cameras stopped rolling, Futures participated in a post-show Google+ Hangout to discuss the issue of teen dating violence in more depth. Futures’ Brian O’Connor facilitated a discussion with Dr. Campbell and Whitney Lass, an advocate at the National Dating Abuse Helpline.
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