Avon Foundation awards FAMU grant for Dating Abuse Prevention Education

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.

“Our goal is to obtain trainer certification for two staff persons, train 100 students in bystander intervention strategies, and reach 50 additional students, faculty, and staff with overview speeches,” Tatum said.  “Students receiving the training are campus leaders, so we expect to monitor social media traffic to assess the dissemination of prevention and bystander messaging to additional students.”

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.