The 25th Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) Statewide Conference held on September 25 and 26 at the Westin Park Central in Dallas, Texas was declared a tremendous success by TCFV CEO Sheryl Cates and TCFV President Gloria Terry. Cates stated, “The conference achieved one of its major goals-providing attendees with relevant and valuable information on enhancing quality services to survivors of family violence, best practice initiatives, and innovative strategies for addressing family violence in their respective communities.” Joining Cates in proclaiming the Conference a resounding success was Gloria Terry who stated, “The Conference was the perfect opportunity to reflect on the many creative initiatives undertaken by the Council in its 30-year history, and provided attendees the venue to develop imaginative solutions which they in turn can share with survivors to enable them to arrive at decisions allowing them to move forward in a healthy relationship.”

Well received by attendees, keynote speakers, Don McPherson, Donna Garske, Lisalyn Jacobs and Cindy Dyer, shared their own unique perspective and insight into emerging domestic violence strategies, innovations and practices.

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By Chris Cobb
The Herald-Zeitung

A couple of local nonprofit agencies are among the beneficiaries of $5 million in grants being handed out by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to battle homelessness.

The funding is provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and is funnelled to local organizations through the TDHCA’s 2008 Emergency Shelter Grants Program.
Herald-Zeitung

GRANITEVILLE, S.C. — A new study says South Carolina is 2nd in the nation for the highest rate of homicides when men kill women. In just about every case, the victim knew the killer.

A family who lost a loved one talked to News 12 about their struggles and give a message that could save someones life.

Almost three years after Rosetta Newsome lost her niece Nicole McKie, the hurt lingers and she’s shocked South Carolina is in so much trouble.

Rosetta is at home on Friday, but about three years ago, she was at the scene of her nieces death.

“It’s been filled with a lot of memories, tears and sadness,” says Rosetta.

Nicole was killed in February of 2006 and the killer was her ex-boyfriend.

“Her father, he just left us with a broken heart. He never got over it,” says Rosetta. “We all miss her. We know we can’t bring her back, but it was a shocking thing.”

This shocking her too: South Carolina ranking second only behind Nevada for the highest rate of homicides per 100,000.

“It is awful. It is terrible. It is terrible,” says Rosetta.

WRDW.com

By Brooke Adams

Representatives of Utah’s polygamous communities are in Texas to give domestic violence service providers tips on how to deal with plural families effectively.
    Anne Wilde, Mary Batchelor, David Dye and Allie Matthews, a pseudonym, are giving presentations at the Texas Council on Family Violence’s annual conference. Also participating is Pat Merkley, director of the Utah Safety Net Committee.
    The two-day conference, which begins today in Dallas, is expected to draw more than 300 participants.
    Gloria Terry, council president, said Texas providers were not “culturally competent” to deal with women and children removed in April from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
    “We recognized their belief system and structure was different, but all we knew was it was different,” she said, which created challenges in dealing with the families.
    Terry said she received help from the Utah Domestic Violence Council in the days after the raid but “everything happened so quickly that we did not have the opportunity to be as responsive as we would have liked.”
TheSaltLakeTribune

A tough Cowboy with a message from the heart

Sure, Jason Witten catches passes. Many of them. And we all cheer when the Cowboys tight end takes one to the end zone. But this is one athlete who seems equally serious about making a difference far from the playing field. Working through his SCORE Foundation, with money from Allstate and the Texas Council on Family Violence, he made a public service announcement this week to help stop domestic violence. He saw it firsthand as a child in his family and is determined to raise awareness today. He particularly thinks men should speak out against it. There’s nothing like a football player end to make that point.

DallasNews.com

The Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV), Allstate Foundation and Dallas Cowboy football star Jason Witten unveiled a new domestic violence public service announcement (PSA) on Tuesday, September 23, 2008, at a press conference which launched the first-ever TCFV Foundations of Change Summit: Strategies for the Future.
In the new PSA, Witten encourages men and the media across the state to join him in the effort to prevent and eliminate domestic violence.  Witten was honored by TCFV as one of 30 Stars over Texas for his important work against domestic violence. In acknowledging his award from TCFV, Witten stated, “TCFV has done so very much for victims of abuse over the last 30 years. To be selected as someone who has helped make a positive impact in the lives of those who have suffered abuse is very humbling and I am truly honored”.

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After local killings inspired state law, attorney general office to help pay for awareness campaign.

By Molly Bloom
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, September 19, 2008

Ortralla Mosley was 15 when her former boyfriend stabbed her to death in a Reagan High School hallway in 2003. Bowie High School senior Jennifer Crecente was 18 when her boyfriend fatally shot her in the head three years later.

Their deaths spurred passage in 2007 of a state law that requires school districts to help protect students from being physically or emotionally abused by their significant others.

Thursday, Attorney General Greg Abbott announced that his office is helping fund a National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline campaign to raise awareness of unhealthy dating behaviors and signs of emotional and physical abuse. Other money comes from private donations.

As part of the campaign, Abbott’s office will provide money for posters, wallet cards and other educational materials to schools and will help pay for public service announcements on social networking sites, such as MySpace, and on school television broadcast networks.

Statesman.com

Austin, Texas-September 10, 2008—The Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) has announced the hosting of  two major statewide domestic violence focused meetings from September 23 to 26, 2008, in Dallas, Texas, at the Westin Park Central Hotel.
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