Introduction
The country needs a Sheila Wellstone Institute on Violence Prevention Policy.
Domestic violence spreads its tentacles through families, communities, businesses and schools as well as through generations. Its cost, measured in dollars, spirals into the billions in lost workdays, lower productivity, and higher criminal justice, social service and health care costs. Its cost to the human spirit is immeasurable, whether to children who witness the battering of their mothers or to women who cannot find safety in their own homes. There is no homeland security for these families.
No one understood this as well as Sheila Wellstone. No one worked more effectively to coordinate the work being done to end violence against women than Sheila. No one did a better job serving as a link between research, policy and advocacy than Sheila. And no one was more skilled at bringing it all together in effective legislation than the team of Sheila and Paul Wellstone.
A loosely knit group of people, connected to Sheila as friends and through the organizations they represent, has come together to honor her and to try to find a way to fill the enormous void left by her loss. After a series of discussions the group agreed that creating a local institute on violence prevention policy, named for her and designed to carry on her work, would be most appropriate.
The Concept
The Sheila Wellstone Institute on Violence Prevention Policy will reflect Sheila's life in the following ways:
- Sheila was an independent voice within the strong partnership of her marriage. The Institute will be an independent entity, named for Sheila and operated as a program of Wellstone Action.
- Sheila had a Minnesota base from which she made a national impact. The Institute will be locally based, focusing on domestic violence issues in the state of Minnesota, but have a national impact by sponsoring conferences, building coalitions, and advocating for sound policy. It would serve as a replicable model.
- Sheila understood the need for credible data, just as she understood the need for advocates and shelters - and was comfortable in both worlds. The Institute will adhere to the highest standards of research, perhaps with an academic component, but be grounded in the hard-scrabble reality of community work.
- Sheila promoted unity over division. The Institute will reflect that spirit, enhancing existing agencies and groups rather than replicating or replacing them.
Four Primary Functions
The Sheila Wellstone Institute on Violence Prevention Policy will have four primary functions:
1. Unite and enhance statewide efforts to end domestic violence.
Because there are coalitions of advocacy groups already in place, the Sheila Wellstone Institute would work to foster better communication and strategic alliances among a much broader range of professionals who deal with domestic violence, including social workers, criminal justice professionals, mental health workers, health care providers, and other professionals and agencies. The Institute would periodically publish information about these activities and distribute it by e-mail, newsletter or hold informational meetings.
The Institute could also serve as an entity that responds to requests to coordinate particular efforts or facilitate discussion between various agencies. It would not impose itself on such efforts, however. The Institute might contract out for certain services to those already involved in some of this work.
A potential alliance with Wellstone Action would raise the visibility of these coordinating efforts and make the one voice we speak with more noticed and effective.
2. Serve as a clearinghouse for domestic violence-related work in Minnesota.
Sheila Wellstone was a human clearinghouse, a repository of information for domestic violence prevention efforts nationwide. The Institute would serve the same purpose, only with a close focus on Minnesota.
Again, the Institute might subcontract this role to those already providing this service at the national level. But there would be more of an effort to have good information about strategies for use in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, than in Cook County, Illinois.
Because we all operate under the same basic statutes in Minnesota there is a benefit to sharing more detailed information statewide.
3. Sponsor the development of information, new research, and evaluation of various programs and approaches, and disseminate the results.
The Institute would develop information and new research on what's working, and where. It would build collaborative networks of evaluators, researchers, policymakers and practitioners to develop evaluation projects on a project-by-project basis. It might assist in evaluating the efficacy of treatment programs for example, or the best response to the needs of children who witness violence. It could evaluate the impact of new public policies on violence prevention.
The Institute could also hold a range of public meetings, from small study groups and policy roundtables to national conferences bringing policymakers and others to Minnesota to share their expertise. It would commission a series of papers and studies on specific policy-relevant topics.
4. Develop recommendations on appropriate public policy.
The Institute would formulate recommendations for the best public policies to address ending domestic violence. The work of the above three areas would generate that policy.
Our hope is that Wellstone Action will be a major partner with the Institute in this function, to help implement progressive policies on domestic violence prevention.
The clout and experience of Wellstone Action, along with the unified voice and top-level research of the Sheila Wellstone Institute will enhance the likelihood of getting the policy implemented.
Conclusion
Much has been accomplished since the movement to end violence against women began anew in the late `70's. Ironically, the intense desire to make women and children safe from the terror within their walls has occasionally led to confusion or disagreement about the most effective methods for addressing this insidious crime.
In addition, community and government agencies, along with elected officials, sometimes support well-intended new initiatives without the opportunity to learn from similar programs already in existence. This means that some projects are doomed to failure while others use precious resources to create something that is already being done in other parts of the state or country. There is much to be learned from good cross-fertilization.
This is where Sheila played such an important role - crisscrossing the state and nation to form a vital information link - and where she will be so greatly missed. With the horrendous budget shortfalls and ruthless spending cuts, we must make certain that every penny spent on domestic violence services and prevention buys a pound of impact. When it doesn't it's the victims who once again pay the price.
The underlying principle of every function of the Sheila Wellstone Institute will be to emulate Sheila's commitment to meaningful action, not hollow rhetoric, and to honor her extraordinary dedication to improving the lives of women and children by meeting with them, listening to them, and giving them a voice.
Contributors
We developed this Concept Paper over the past four months. Initial ideas were developed through a series of email exchanges. Since mid-November a group of individuals, numbering from 15 to 20 and included on the list below, have met four times with subgroups meeting in-between.
The people who have commented or contributed ideas at various points over the past months are listed below. Their names and affiliations are listed only for identification and do not denote endorsement.
Minnesota
Carol Arthur, Executive Director, Domestic Abuse Project
Beverly Balos, School of Law, University of Minnesota
Maxine Barnett, Executive Director, St. Cloud Women' Shelter
Shirley Baugher, Dean, College of Human Ecology, University of Minnesota
Sandra Beeman, School of Social Work, University of Minnesota
Aviva Breen, retired
Julie Brunzell, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
Sandy Davidson, Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women
Beverly Dusso, Executive Director, Tubman Family Alliance
Jeffrey Edleson, Professor and Director, MINCAVA
Suzanne Elwell, Executive Director, WATCH
Carla Ferrucci, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Denise Gamache, Associate Director, Battered Women's Justice Project
Donald Gault, Violence Prevention Initiative, St. Paul-Ramsey County
Susan Hadley, Founder, WomanKind
Anna Hagemeister, MINCAVA and DAP
Jacquelyn Hauser, Hennepin County Domestic Fatality Review Committee
Eileen Hudon, Mending the Sacred Hoop
Marcie Jefferys, Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare
Judith
Kahn, Director, Konopka Institute for Best Practices in Adolescent
Health and the State Adolescent Health Resource Center, University of
Minnesota
Danielle Kluz, Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women
Ann Kranz, Director, Violence Against Women Online Resources
Susan Lenfestey, Founder, WATCH
Kristine Lizdas, Battered Women's Justice Project
Connie Moore, Executive Director, Alexandra House
Susan Neis, Executive Director, Cornerstone
Pat Prinzevalle, Executive Director, Day One Center
Jean Quam, Director, University of Minnesota School of Social Work
Ember Reichgott-Junge, General Counsel, Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women
Delrita Rudnitski, Interim Executive Director, Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women
Connie Schmoll, Director, Shelter House (Wilmar)
Lonna Stevens, Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women
Cheryl Thomas, Director, Women's Human Rights Program, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
Lolita Ulloa, Director, Domestic Abuse Service Center
Paula Weber, MN Center for Crime Victim Services
Maureen White Eagle, MN Indian Women's Resource Center
Oliver Williams, Director, Institute on Domestic Violence in the African-American Community
National
Ellen Fisher, former founding Director, National Domestic Violence Hotline
Debi Cain, Executive Director, Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board
Vickii Coffey, Vickii Coffey and Associates (Chicago)
Rev. Marie Fortune, Executive Director, Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence
Sandra Graham-Bermann, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan
Christine Hansen, Executive Director, Miles Foundation
Barbara Hart, Legal Director, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Gita Mehrotra, Asian Women's Shelter
Claire Renzetti, Editor, Violence Against Women journal
Lynn Rosenthal, Executive Director, National Network to End Domestic Violence
Lucy Salcido Carter, former Program Officer, David &Lucile Packard Foundation
Susan Schechter, University of Iowa School of Social Work
Marty Schwartz, Professor, Ohio University
Sudha Shetty, Director, Access to Justice Institute, Seattle University Law School
Rita Smith, Executive Director, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Esta Soler, Executive Director, Family Violence Prevention Fund
Evan Stark, Professor, Rutgers University
Joan Zorza, Editor, Domestic Violence Report
(and two U.S. government officials who remain anonymous)
