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Today, the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) applauds the introduction of the Help End Abusive Living Situations (HEALS) Act, a critical bill that will expand access to housing and homelessness resources for survivors of domestic violence. Introduced by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), the bipartisan HEALS Act would ensure that federal resources from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are better distributed to meet the unique confidential and safe housing needs of survivors of domestic violence.
Domestic abuse is a leading cause of homelessness among women. “We simply cannot overstate the importance of safe housing for survivors who are fleeing their homes due to abuse. Nearly 60 percent of all homeless women report that domestic violence was the immediate cause of their homelessness. Safe housing is literally a lifesaver. Once housing is established, it is a stepping stone to a life free of violence,” said Kim Gandy, NNEDV President and CEO.
Abusers often sabotage a victim’s economic stability, making it difficult for victims to find rental properties because of damaged credit, rental, and employment histories as a result of abuse. Consequently, victims of domestic violence are at an increased risk of homelessness. Victims are forced to choose between homelessness and remaining in a home where they are abused, beaten, intimidated, and controlled.
NNEDV’s <a href="https://nnedv.org/content/domestic-violence-counts-11th-annual-census-report/" target="_self">11th annual Domestic Violence Counts: National Census of Domestic Violence Services</a> found that, in a single day, nearly 8,000 victims were turned away because there was not enough safe housing to meet the need. Unfortunately, recent changes in HUD’s Continuum of Care funding have significantly reduced availability of domestic violence transitional housing programs, leaving many communities without the resources they need to provide safe housing for victims and survivors.
“We are incredibly thankful for Senator Cornyn’s leadership in introducing the HEALS Act. Over the last several years we’ve seen a de-prioritization of transitional housing for domestic violence survivors, resulting in decreased funding and ultimately harming both programs and survivors,” said Gloria Terry, CEO, <a href="http://tcfv.org/" target="_self">Texas Council on Family Violence</a>. “We know that this bill will make a difference in the lives of countless Texas survivors by helping them secure safe housing so they can heal and begin rebuilding their lives.”
The troubling funding shifts are a result of changing priorities and a misalignment of performance measures – where domestic violence programs are not evaluated on survivor-centered outcomes of safety and trauma-responsiveness.
“Federal housing policy shifts from transitional housing to rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing has disproportionately and negatively impacted victim services providers and survivors in North Dakota by decreasing victim-specific housing programs. Many domestic violence survivors need the supportive services transitional housing offers to get them back on their feet and out of the cycle of poverty and homelessness,” said Janelle Moos, Executive Director, <a href="http://www.cawsnorthdakota.org/" target="_self">CAWS North Dakota</a>, statewide sexual and domestic violence coalition.
The HEALS Act would direct HUD to evaluate domestic violence programs on their ability to safely house survivors. It would allow programs that have lost funding to reapply, directs HUD to conduct research into effective housing options for survivors, and to report on funding trends. It requires communities to consider housing models equally, including domestic violence transitional housing.
“The HEALS Act is a crucial step in ensuring that the needs of homeless victims of domestic violence are understood and met in communities, said Monica McLaughlin, Director of Public Policy at NNEDV. “Recent policy shifts have reduced funding for domestic violence programs. It is unacceptable that communities do not have the resources to help those fleeing life-threatening violence. We are hopeful that the HEALS Act will help to reinvest in survivors.”
Advocates and survivors consistently identify housing as a primary need. NNEDV works to increase awareness of survivors’ housing needs and to help improve system-wide access for victims and survivors.

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The Help End Abusive Living Situations (HEALS) Act, a critical bill that will expand access to housing and homelessness resources for survivors of domestic violence.

From peer-to-peer events to crowdfunding, nonprofits are enjoying the fruits of donors’ independent initiative like never before. The next up-and-coming trend might be giving circles, with tens of millions of dollars per year potentially in play.<div class="user-content">Giving circles, at their most basic, are groups of friends, neighbors, and individuals of like concerns that gather to learn about issues that interest them and pool money to fund greater impact, according to Jason Franklin, W.K. Kellogg Community Philanthropy Chair at the <a href="http://johnsoncenter.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University</a> and co-author of The Landscape of Giving Circles/Collective Giving Groups in the U.S.
The study, conducted with funding from the <a href="https://www.mott.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Charles Stewart Mott Foundation</a> and <a href="https://www.gatesfoundation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation</a> by way of the <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/womens-philanthropy-institute/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University</a>, is based on accumulated data of more than 1,000 giving circles, as well as survey responses from representatives of 358 circles.
The data show that that giving circles are becoming increasingly popular with 46.1 percent launched since 2010 as compared to just 5.8 percent prior to 2000. Member donations tend also to be on the higher side. The right to vote on funding recipients requires anything from a $4 donation in some circles to a $2 million donation in others. The average donation amount is $1,312 with the median donation level being $400, per the report.
Survey respondents, representing 33 percent of giving circles identified in the study, reported raising $30.1 million in 2016, of which $27.7 million was granted out. The study’s database showed since-inception payouts of $375.25 million based on information from 37 percent of the study’s dataset. Extrapolated, studied giving circles have granted $1.29 billion since their inceptions.
Giving circles are also notable in that they are women-dominated. Of the 706 circles to describe a common gender identity, 640 were led by women as compared to 42 for men and 24 for members of the LGBTQ community. Overall, 76 percent of participating giving circles indicated that women made up more than half of members. Just 12 percent of groups reported that men made up the majority.
This gender dynamic seems to impact common causes supported by giving circles. Of circle representatives surveyed, 196 (55 percent) reported support of human services causes, while women and girls (191 overall, 53 percent) and education (187 overall, 52 percent) were other causes to draw more than half of circles’ support.
Franklin attributed the large number of women in giving circles to the current dynamics in fundraising and the distribution of wealth in the United States. White males tend to have concentrated power and wealth and nonprofits tend to focus attentions on them. In response, women — and other traditional minorities such as Asian and Jewish Americans — have turned to giving circles as a means of aggregating impact. They have also served as a means of developing nonprofit leaders among minority groups, Franklin said.
Giving circles might be coming down the pike at a similar time as other non-traditional fundraising methods such as crowdfunding, but the notable difference is that giving circles seek coordinated efforts and group education as opposed to individualized giving, Franklin said. Circles are also often focused on local issues as opposed to national initiatives. Nonprofits active in causes supported by giving circles might be well served in simply Googling for local giving circles or reaching out to local community foundations, which house about half of giving circles, though Franklin suggests seeking out more than financial backing.
“It’s not just the check they’ll write, but the engagement that community circles represent,” Franklin said, adding that giving circles might be a strong place to find future board members.
Other key findings from the study included:
* Giving circles also identify by race and religion. Among 117 circles identified by race or ethnic identity, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (52) led the way followed by African Americans (38) and Latinos (16). Members of the Jewish faith were far and away the most common religious affiliation among circles, making up 88 of 118 religiously identified circles. Christians were a distant second with seven total circles;
* The study estimates that giving circles have engaged at least 150,000 individuals. The average number of people per circle is 116, while the median is 50 individuals, and the most common number is 100 members; and,
* Giving circles are condensed to the east, with California representing the only state to have more than 50 circles west of the Mississippi River. Other states with at least 50 giving circles are Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Virginia.</div>

Women-Led Giving Circles On Rise

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China’s first national law against domestic violence came into effect on 1 March 2016. The law marks a significant step forward from the country’s existing legislation by legally defining domestic violence and extending legal protection to victims. Yet a fundamental cure for the epidemic of domestic abuse — which disproportionately affects women — requires further efforts to change persisting misperceptions about women’s moral responsibilities and domestic violence itself.
The new law’s immediate effect was seen in a wave of media coverage spotlighting domestic violence cases, including the deaths of two women around the time it came into force. A consistent thread in these women’s stories was an inability to leave the abusive relationships or to disclose their suffering. A victim’s decision not to make a complaint to the police — willingly or unwillingly — can easily undermine the ability of the new law to uphold justice.
In China, domestic violence cases are processed under the principle of ‘no trial without complaint’. The new law allows close relatives to file a complaint on behalf of victims who may not be able to do so on their own. This would then allow police or women’s federations to request restraining orders from the courts.
Public education surrounding the law should equip citizens not only with the knowledge of how to help themselves, but also of how to assist domestic violence survivors around them to seek justice. But would citizens really stand up and provide this assistance, even if they were better educated about the law?
In China, defending marriage is typically considered a primary moral responsibility for women. The shame of failing to do so has confined many victims in abusive relationships and constrained people around them from offering appropriate help. Despite the rising divorce rate, Chinese women still face enormous pressure to get married and stay married. Many victims are told to bear the pain of domestic violence, which is often confused with lovers’ quarrels and normalised by the claim that ‘most women have endured it’. Victims are usually advised not to divorce for the sake of the family’s reputation and their children’s wellbeing, due to the pervasive belief that children need to grow up in a ‘complete’ family.
Two months before her death, 25-year-old <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/world/2016/05/02/china-domestic/" target="_blank">Li Hongxia</a> posted on social media that she felt her life was in danger from her husband. Most of her friends, and her own mother, discouraged her from seeking a divorce. She was soon hospitalised after another abusive attack and was then strangled to death by her husband at the hospital.
Common misperceptions about the nature of domestic violence also creates challenges for effective intervention. Violence is often ascribed to women’s misbehaviour or rebellion from their ‘proper’ gendered roles. The reality is that domestic violence is about unequal power relations between partners and the abuser’s control over the victim, rather than any wrongdoing on the victim’s part. Yet this goes generally unrecognised in China.
Unequal power dynamics between the abuser and the abused is not always determined by relative financial security. Perhaps more fundamentally, these power dynamics are often based on gender norms. Contrary to the popular myth that victims of domestic violence are usually less educated or financially dependent, many women who are university-educated and even providers for their households are also victims of domestic violence.
Violence can occur when traditional masculine authority is challenged. Zhang Xiaoyan, a 34-year-old female doctor, was abused for years and died of poisoning in March, <a href="http://www.jiemian.com/article/607073.html" target="_blank">allegedly murdered by her former husband</a>. Zhang owned a clinic and a pharmacy, and was the only breadwinner for the family. Even after they divorced, her ex-husband continued to control her, preventing her from moving out by threatening her daughter and her parents.
It would surprise many modern and independent Chinese women how deeply rooted regressive perceptions on domestic violence are in certain segments of Chinese society. Zhang Xiaoyan’s neighbours and co-workers didn’t intervene when they saw her with bruises or a broken leg, or even when they witnessed the abuse happening. The same media that publicises the new anti-domestic-violence law also offers tips to women on changing themselves in order to ‘win back’ their husbands, and romanticises <a href="http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2015-03-22/005931631316.shtml" target="_blank">the ‘love’ between self-centred, dictatorial men and their ‘princesses’</a>.
The importance of family integrity is further reinforced by modern political discourse in China, which defines social stability as the foundation of governance and development. The family, which is based on a marriage contract between a man and a woman as defined by Chinese law, is seen as the fundamental institution of society. It’s no surprise, then, that preventative measures and other responses to domestic violence, in all but the most extreme cases, are generally constructed for the ultimate goal of fixing the marital relationship, rather than defending the rights of the abused. Mediation is still the primary method used to resolve domestic violence cases.
The new law — a result of almost two decades of campaigning driven by China’s civil society groups — is a manifestation of the state’s commitment to addressing domestic violence. But it will take a more insightful public education campaign, and a firm commitment to upholding human rights, to transform the underlying mindset that currently constrains further progress. Until then, the path to ending domestic violence will be a long one for China, as elsewhere.
Chen Tingting is The Asia Foundation’s program officer for women’s empowerment in China.
This article appeared in the most recent edition of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.eastasiaforum.org/quarterly/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.eastasiaforum.org/quarterly/&source=gmail&ust=1467078782266000&usg=AFQjCNGzRhPq8ubeZBwRCvyhYOFh64yO2Q">East Asia Forum Quarterly</a>, ‘<a href="http://press.anu.edu.au/publications/east-asia-forum-quarterly-volume-8-number-2-2016" target="_blank">Gender and sexuality’</a>.

Battling Domestic Violence in China

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Obtaining a restraining order may not be enough to prevent domestic violence, but when state laws require the removal of firearms, risk of those violent crimes goes down, a new study says.
In states that require people with restraining orders against them to surrender their firearms, the intimate partner murder rate dropped by 10 percent. In states that don't require surrender, the rate went down less than 7 percent, the study found.
And the rate of these firearm-related crimes fell 15 percent in states that require surrender, researchers said.
But, just as laws restricting firearm surrender vary from state to state -- some have "possession" laws while others have "surrender" laws -- the protection for victims isn't always the same.
"Most of the prior research on this topic that have looked at gun laws looks just at whether states have or don't have a particular law," explained study author Dr. Michael Siegel, professor of community health sciences at Boston University School of Public Health.
"But we wanted to do a much more detailed coding of the laws so that we could get into the fine details, such as not only is there a law that prohibits firearm possession, but whether they are actually required to surrender the guns," he said.
Currently, more than 1,800 people die from domestic violence in the United States every year. About half of these homicides are committed with firearms. Approximately 85 percent of victims are women.
In 1994, a federal law barred firearm possession if someone was accused of intimate partner violence. But the federal government is limited in its ability to enforce the law. States had to develop their own laws based on these federal guidelines, the study noted.
"We found that simply passing a law saying that people who are subject to domestic violence restraining orders cannot possess a firearm really didn't have an impact on rates of intimate partner homicide," Siegel explained.
"However, if the state also required that people subject to those requirements surrender the weapons that they already have, then we found a very large and significant impact on decreasing intimate partner homicide rates," he said.
The study concluded that of the states with surrender laws, the rates of intimate partner homicide dropped significantly compared to states where no law was passed.
But, according to Siegel, it's not simply about passing a law, it's also about enforcement.
"We shouldn't just rely on people proactively walking into a police department and saying, 'Oh, here, I was just issued a restraining order and I wanted to be proactive and give you all of my guns,'" Siegel said.
He suggested that enforcement mechanisms must be put in place to guarantee that firearms are removed.
Some states, Siegel said, do this better than others.
Police Chief David Ryan from Pound Ridge, N.Y., said, "Even though there are loopholes in the federal guidelines, with every order of protection that we receive, we insist on a surrender of all weapons.
"We don't care what the circumstances are, whatever the violation is, whether it's federal court, civil court or criminal court, I insist on the surrender. And, because there are loopholes in the federal law, once I have them, I'm not giving them back."
In states that have surrender laws, the researcher's models for 2015 suggest that there were 75 fewer homicides linked to domestic violence than were expected.
If all states had these laws in place, there would have been an additional 120 fewer intimate partner homicides across the nation in 2015, the researchers said.
Ryan explained that it's important to have a lethality assessment for getting a restraining order with firearm surrender.
"You can do that if you can show the violent behavior at whatever level it is -- physical, psychological or verbal, along with what I call contributing factors, such as mental health issues, substance abuse, losing a job or a prior conviction of a crime," he said.
Siegel hopes that this study will encourage other states' policymakers and law enforcement to pass and enforce these laws in a similar manner.
The study was published Sept. 18 in the Annals of Internal Medicine .
More information
Visit WomensLaw.org to learn about how to <a href="http://www.womenslaw.org/laws_state_type.php?id=13422&state_code=PG" target="_blank">leave a domestic abuser</a>.
SOURCES: Michael Siegel, M.D., professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health; David Ryan, police chief, Pound Ridge, N.Y.; Sept. 18, 2017, Annals of Internal Medicine 

Last Updated:<time itemprop="dateModified" datetime="Sep 20, 2017">Sep 20, 2017</time>

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Gun Surrender Laws Help Women Threatened by Domestic Violence

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