Public Policy Leadership and Legislative Education
Systems Change Advocacy
Creation of Educational and Informational Materials
Public Awareness Organizing & Media Advocacy
Leadership by Battered/Formerly Battered Women from Diverse Communities
Anti-Oppression Organizing
Public Policy Leadership and Legislative Education
MCBW's Legislative Committee and Staff develop an annual legislative agenda through a process
which includes input from MCBW member programs statewide. The agenda includes State funding priorities
for advocacy services and recommended changes in Minnesota law to increase protection for battered women and their children.
It also identifies legislation to support, monitor, or research for future consideration. Annual efforts also include on-going
organizing with our National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Domestic Violence Coalition On Public Policy to monitor
and support federal funding and policy legislation considered by the U.S. Congress. Effective grassroots organizing by
battered women and advocates in local communities is an on-going strength of MCBW's legislative efforts and has created a
positive reputation for MCBW and battered women's leadership among state legislators.
After legislative changes are enacted, advocacy efforts by MCBW's Legal Systems Advocacy Committee, Youth
and Child Advocacy Committee, ans Staff focus on implementation of the changes created with MCBW's leadership.
In recent years, these efforts have resulted in model arrest policies and model prosecution plans which are being implemented statewide.
Other systems change advocacy efforts have focused on education and training of expert witnesses,
law enforcement officers, attorneys, judges, housing managers, medical professionals, child protection workers, advocates, and other
professionals. MCBW staff and committees also provide support to MCBW member programs in implementing
local systems change strategies. This advocacy has crested positive changes for battered women and their children within
local jurisdictions in the areas of prosecution, self-defense, child protection, family court services, and other
systems which impact on battered women.
MCBW Program and Project Staff have worked with committees to create a variety of materials for use
by battered women's programs in local advocacy efforts, including:
My Family and Me: Violence Free, a school curriculum for grades K-3 and 4-6
MCBW Committees organize both on-going and special event public awareness activities to promote greater
community awareness and prevention of domestic violence. Annual organizing for Domestic Violence Awareness Month involves the
creation of campaign materials, such as the Hands Are Not For Hitting campaign which includes posters, buttons,
stickers, handouts, radio PSA's and activity suggestions for local organizing. An annual fact sheet of Minnesota Statistics and an annual
Femicide Report are used extensively, statewide, to promote awareness of the severity and lethality of woman abuse
and child abuse. Special event organizing, such as vigils for battered women murdered, an annual Battered Women's Action Day At The Capitol,
a Purple Heart Memorial Day Ceremony, a Clothesline Project traveling art exhibit, press conferences and other events, combined with on-going
media advocacy efforts have resulted in significant news media coverage, features, and documentaries. Battered women and advocates statewide are promoted as
experts in providing responses, interviews, and opinions. All of these efforts ensure that battered/formerly battered women and MCBW member programs
maintain a legitimate grassroots leadership role on the issue of domestic violence with the news media and general public.
In addition, we collaborate with other statewide organizations to promote prevention strategies, such as the MN Nurses Association and the
MN Medical Association in a campaign to educate medical professionals and promote the screening of every patient for abuse.
The MCBW board, staff, and member programs reflect the diverse communities within Minnesota. All of our organizing efforts
are enhanced through a commitment to the inclusion of, and leadership by, battered/formerly battered women and women who have been traditionally
silenced within the dominant society. These efforts have resulted in significant leadership within the battered women's movement by women
with diverse perspectives. The commitment remains strong to listen to the voices of rural, Asian, African American, American Indian,
Hispanic/Latina, Jewish, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender women, elders and old women, yound women, disabled women, poor women, and women used in
pornography and prostitution.
From our beginning, MCBW has recognized that the battering of women in our culture is caused by sexism, or the
systematic oppression of women as a class. When batterers use violence to control intimate partners, they are exercising a belief in their
"right" to dominate and have authority over women. This individual belief is perpetuated and supported by cultural beliefs and social,
political, and economic systems which grant men in our culture greater power and control than women. Ending domestic violence requires
social change which promotes equality for women through individual, institutional, and cultural changes. MCBW also recognizes other forms of
oppression in out culture which afford greater power and control to groups of people based on race, age, sexual orientation, income status,
and ability, among others. All of these forms of oppression (sexism, racism, ageism, heterosexism, classism, ableism, etc.) reinforce each other,
as each is based on the belief that it is legitimate for one group of people in our culture to dominate another group of people. We believe
that ending violence against women requires not only social change to end sexism, but includes social change to end all forms of oppression.
MCBW practices anti-oppression organizing through trainings on racism, ageism, and homophobia and by offering meetings for networking
and support for women of color, old women, and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women.
Systems Change Advocacy
Creation of Educational and Informational Materials
Kids Workbook on Family Violence
Minnesota Teachers Guide for Skills for Violence-Free Relationships, a secondary
curriculum
Who Will Speak For Me? a children's advocacy manual
Safety First: Battered Women Surviving Violence When Alcohol And Drugs
Are Involved, a guide for counselors and advocates and a booklet for women.
Confronting Homophobia manual and Confronting Lesbian Battering manual
Disability Awareness manual and Breaking Free, a video on disabled battered women.
MN Laws Handbook, select statutes affecting battered women and their children
Healing Your Body & Spirit: It's OK To Talk About Family Violence Here, a poster
and brochure for outreach to battered women in medical sites.
Bring Lesbian Battering Out Of The Shadows, a four-poster series (English and
Spanish)
Hands Are Not For Hitting, posters, buttons, stickers, handouts and campaign guide, and
Hands Are Not For Hitting, rural outreach posters.
Raise A Family Not A Fist, outreach posters for African American communities
Stop Violence Against American Indian Women, outreach posters for American Indian
communities
Domestic Violence Is Not Part Of Our Culture, bilingual outreach posters for
Hispanic/Latino communities
Domestic Violence In Southeast Asian Homes, an outreach video in Hmong,
Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, and English
Agents For Change, a legal advocacy manual
Femicide Report, an annual reort on women and children murdered
Child Custody Information Packets
Public Awareness Organizing & Media Advocacy
Leadership by Battered/Formerly Battered Women From Diverse Communities
Anti-Oppression Organizing
Femicide Reports/Our Newsletter/Our Membership