The Colorado Men Against Domestic Violence Pledge Initiative is growing by leaps and bounds! The last thirty days has resulted in over 400 additional pledges. Most of the new pledges are hand written pledge cards from City and County of Denver employees. Several others and myself have been entering these by hand on our online pledge page. With each name and pledge I enter I am tossed between excitement and despair.

Excitement because I am seeing a growing number of men who recognize the extent and damage caused by domestic violence and are willing to take a stand to prevent domestic violence and promote healthy relationships.

Despair because the Colorado Bureau of Investigation reported over 11,000 incidences of domestic violence in 2007, including assaults, homicides, and other violent crime involving intimate partners. The Colorado Department of Human Services 2007 Child Maltreatment Fatality Report found that 70 % of the reviewed families had a history of domestic violence, and that domestic violence co-occurs in 30 – 40% of all reported incidents of child maltreatment.

I challenge you to help us achieve over 8660 pledges by October 31st. Why 8,666? Because that is the number of people turned away from shelter services across Colorado last year due to a lack of capacity, a 36% increase from 2007. One pledge for each person turned away. It is nowhere near enough, but it’s a start - a start that you can be a part of!

Follow this link to sign the pledge and this one to forward it to five other people. This goal is doable if each of us reaches out to a few who in turn reach out to a few . . .

Rich

Did you know that one in 11 high school students reports being a victim of physical teen dating violence? (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006). Young men can play a crucial, every day role in taking a stand against this issue. Follow this link for 10 Things young men can do to end gender violence, courtesy of MVP Strategies.

Follow this link to our community column with coaching tips from The Family Violence Prevention Fund for fathers to use to help their sons become good boyfriends, husbands and fathers.