Domestic Violence Awareness Month was launched nationwide in 1987 as a way to connect organizations dedicated to ending abuse and helping victims, and also to raise awareness that domestic violence is in every neighborhood, regardless of economic, racial or other societal barriers.
Mayor Stan Joyner gave a proclamation at the Monday, October 11, 2021 Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting, proclaiming October as “Domestic Violence Awareness Month” in Collierville. The proclamation reflected the statistics of domestic violence in Tennessee in 2020:
• 69,385 domestic violence reports
• Women are the victims in 71.5% of domestic violence cases
• Children were victims in 6,755 cases
• 90 victims were killed by an intimate partner in Tennessee in 2020
Representatives from local victim advocate organizations were present to receive the proclamation, and they thanked Mayor Joyner and the Town for recognizing an important problem and participating in solving it. Romona Jackson, founding president and CEO of the Women’s Advocacy Center said:
“Thank you for your courage to step out and make this proclamation,” said Jackson. “It means a lot to the clients and the victims that we serve.”
As the Mayor’s proclamation stated: “Our community has a civic and moral obligation to work to prevent domestic violence, to address its brutal and destructive effects, and to make ending domestic violence a community priority.”
The Collierville Police Department (CPD) has a full list of such organizations in our area on their website, as well as a definition of domestic violence, and answers to questions about the process of prosecuting the abuser. The phone number for the CPD’s Domestic Violence Unit is (901) 457-2520. The phone number for the Family Violence Council is (901) 870-2990, and the number for The Women’s Advocacy Center is (901) 896-9055.
