FAMU has received a $10,000 grant from the Avon Foundation
for Women through its Speak Out Against Domestic Violence initiative. The grant
will fund efforts by FAMU’s Student Health Services to activate bystanders to
reduce sexual assault, dating abuse, and stalking.
This is the first year FAMU has received funding from the
Avon Foundation for Women.
The grant is one of only 25 Avon campus grants, totaling
$250,000, awarded to colleges nationwide to fund programs providing preventive
education and training and promoting healthy relationships, as well as offering
local resources.
Tanya Tatum (pictured), director of FAMU Student Health Services and
principal investigator for the grant, said the funds are going to be used to
obtain training for students and staff members in the nationally recognized
Green Dot Program, which teaches bystander intervention.
Young women, ages 16 to 24, experience the highest rates of
dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
Since the Clery Act was passed in 1990, a variety of initiatives have
been developed to educate college administrators on the issues of gender
violence, particularly sexual assault, and to provide resources for college
campuses to reduce violence.
The Avon Foundation’s grant program has funded campus dating
abuse programs to educate significant numbers of student groups and faculty to
create awareness, recognize the warning signs of abuse, and to encourage
students to intervene safely to help prevent violence. The Foundation is the largest corporate-affiliated
philanthropy organization focused on issues that matter most to women.
Since its inception in 1955, the Avon Foundation has
promoted or aided charitable, scientific, educational, and humanitarian
activities, with a special emphasis on activities that improve the lives of
women and their families. In 2014, Avon global philanthropy, led by the Avon
Foundation, contributed nearly $1 billion in over 50 countries. Today, Avon
philanthropy focuses on funding breast cancer research and advancing access to
quality care through the Avon Breast Cancer Crusades, in addition to efforts to
reduce domestic and gender violence.