Grammy-winning Indie Rock Band Bon Iver Honors Women’s Council as DV Outreach Partner
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The musicians of Bon Iver chose the Women’s Council as local partner in their 2 A BILLION campaign during their sold-out performance in the Orpheum on April 1.
2 A Billion is a domestic violence prevention and gender equity initiative that has reached over 10 million individuals and raised over $300,000 for nonprofits across the U.S. and Europe.
In Memphis, the band auctioned two signed merchandise packages online, shared proceeds from sales of their 2AB-specific tees and from the stage urged fans to support the Council’s work to end gender violence and empower women’s voices. In the lobby before and during the concert, Women’s Council volunteers shared Memphis Says NO MORE materials and information on local efforts to end domestic violence and rape and to help survivors.
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Auction award winner Matt Huey and his wife
were proud to support the Women's Council
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Deborah Clubb stands at the Women's Council and Memphis Says NO MORE table at Bon Iver concert
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Molly Beahen from Bon Iver’s management team said, “Your dedication to raising a collective voice to make change in local policies and practices that limit success of women and girls is incredibly meaningful and important, now more than ever. We’ve felt very inspired and energized by your work and are eager to engage our fans around it in meaningful ways.”
The Women’s Council is proud to be a nonprofit partner in the
2 A Billion network
and affirms 2AB’s stated purpose: The global ramifications of ongoing gender inequity take away women’s voices; reinforcing systemic violence, producing substandard health practices, and deny women education and leadership opportunities across all sectors. We encourage community-driven, creative action to provide unique perspectives about complex topics. We believe every individual can take steps big or small, courageous or delicate, to have an impact- and collectively- we can close the book on gender inequality.
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Community Violence Summit Spotlighted Deadly Costs
of Gun Violence
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Organized by the Memphis Area Women’s Council, Moms Demand Action Against Gun
Violence and partners at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and UTHSC, a large group of community partners, including health care and academic institutions, advocacy organizations,
and victim’s rights groups, joined to host a public discussion about the physical, emotional, and monetary cost of violence to the community.
Sixteen leaders from government, media, social services, medicine and advocacy served on
panels to explore the cost and impact of community violence and what each of us can do to help create a safe community. Panelists covered homicide, suicide, domestic violence, trauma, government service responses, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), LGBTQ issues, DV and sexual assault outreach and impact on survivors of violence.
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Among the data discussed:
- Violent crimes by juveniles saw an increase from 2017 to 2018. The county number went from 609 in 2017 to 661 crimes in 2019.
- Shelby County has the highest number of domestic violence reports, child abuse reports, and domestic violence assaults and homicides in the state.
- Violent crimes and gun crimes did decrease in Memphis and Shelby County in 2018 compared to 2017, but the rates are still very high.
- Le Bonheur has seen twice as many firearm injuries as any other children’s trauma center in the United States
- According to a study from Regional One Health, the number of people with gunshot wounds admitted to Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center increased 59 percent from 2010-2011 to 2014-2015
The audience of more than 170 asked repeatedly “what’s next?” Organizers are looking at ways to network effectively to share advocacy opportunities and when to stage future discussions. If you have ideas, concerns or a violence-prevention activity to share, please contact Deborah Clubb by email: dclubb@memphiswomen.org.
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Women of Achievement 35 – Celebrating Memphis Women
Who Make History
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Award recipients: Gabriela Salinas, Rachel Coats Greer, Carol Danehower, Jane Hooker, Maxine Starling Strawder, Mary E. Mitchell. Not Pictured: Mildred Richard-Edwards.
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WMC-TV co-anchor Kontji Anthony led an impressive array of award presenters on March
24 during the 35
th
annual Women of Achievement awards reception.
Some 250-plus attendees cheered the achievements of 35 years and of nine new honorees who join the WA ranks now numbering 257 plus the Shelby County Suffragists and the Heroines and Martyrs of the Yellow Fever.
A special highlight of the evening was debut of the Memphis Women’s Legacy Trail guide
booklet – a salute to WA’s 35 years and the bicentennial of Memphis and Shelby County. The sleek brochure spotlights more than 50 women who led change and contributed to growth and development of communities, commerce, the arts, sciences, the law, education and politics throughout local history.
It was compiled by Dr. Beverly Bond, Dr. Margaret Caffrey, Judy Card, Deborah Clubb, Dr. Gail Murray, Jimmy Ogle and Laura Todd.
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Legacy trail booklet team: Ogle, Murray, Caffrey, Card,
Clubb, Bond. Not Pictured: Todd.
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“Roll Red Roll” Carries Strong Messages
about Consent
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Dozens of area youth shared a gripping story and intense warnings about the toxic mix of
alcohol, teenagers and football team culture as "Roll Red Roll" screened at four area campuses.
Memphis Area Women’s Council, Memphis Says NO MORE and the University of Memphis partnered to bring the documentary about the 2012 Steubenville, Ohio, rape case and exploration of rape culture to Memphis. The film was screened at the Lambuth and Memphis UofM campuses, at LeMoyne-Owen College and the Benjamin F. Hooks Job Corps Center as part of April's Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Panelists at the Memphis screenings included Kenneth Anderson, UofM Title IX director;
Kaleb Newell, student athlete and sexual assault outreach educator with the Shelby County Crime Victim & Rape Crisis Center (CVRCC); Patricia Thomas, UofM Title IX Prevention Center; Tori Anderson, crime victim advocate and Tiffany Armstrong, youth victim advocate from the CVRCC.
Abby Kindervater, Title IX prevention specialist at UofM, moderated at the UofM campus and Deborah Clubb, Women’s Council executive director, moderated at LeMoyne and Hooks.
Also, recently, Deborah spoke to more than 160 students at Rhodes College and with leadership of Kappa Sigma Fraternity from seven area campuses about sexual assault, consent and support for survivors of sex crimes on campus.
The relationship with Kappa Sigma is growing, with plans for a three-campus outreach in Fall 2019 to raise awareness about the danger of mixing alcohol and sexual contact.
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Healthy Relationships with UofM students
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Women's Council intern Adrianna Buchanan and volunteer Dunavant Crump guided students thru a healthy relationships game
at the Memphis Says NO MORE table during UofM's Healthy Relationships Fair in April.
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The U.S. threatened to veto a United Nations resolution on combating the use of rape as a weapon of war because of its language on reproductive and sexual health.
British newspaper The Guardian reported:
“The draft resolution has already been stripped of one of its most important elements, the establishment of a formal mechanism to monitor and report atrocities, because of opposition from the U.S., Russia and China, which opposed creating a new monitoring body. Even after the formal monitoring mechanism was stripped from the resolution, the U.S. was still threatening to veto the watered-down version, because it include[d] language on victims’ support from family planning clinics…
“The resolution passed by the security council on Tuesday (April 23) after a three-hour debate and a weekend of fierce negotiations on the language among member states that threatened to derail the process.
“The vote was carried 13 votes in favour. China and Russia abstained…
“The UK backed the resolution, but expressed regret about the omission on reproductive healthcare. Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, the UK prime minister’s special representative on preventing sexual violence in conflict, said: “We deeply regret the language on services for survivors of sexual violence, recognising the acute need for those services to include comprehensive reproductive and separate sexual healthcare.
“In recent months, the Trump administration has
taken a hard line
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refusing to agree to any UN documents that refer to sexual or reproductive health, on grounds that such language implies support for abortions. It has also opposed the use of the
word “gender”
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seeing it as a cover for liberal promotion of transgender rights.”
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