The Verizon Foundation has long supported projects that address vital community issues, including domestic violence.  This month, Verizon increased its support of the Institute for Family Violence Studies (IFVS) at the College of Social Work, awarding the IFVS a grant of $140,000 to create the first stage of a national Prevention Toolkit on Officer-Involved Domestic Violence.  Recognizing that domestic violence can occur in all occupations and is present in all socio-economic groups, the toolkit is designed to help criminal justice officers keep their own families healthy. The IFVS and Verizon have selected this project as a way to give back to officers and agencies that do so much to protect our communities.

“We are grateful for Verizon’s partnership on this crucial project,” IFVS Director and FSU Distinguished University Scholar Karen Oehme said. “We want to contribute to the knowledge base about domestic violence and be sure that officers across the country have the tools they need to stay healthy and keep their families safe. The Verizon grant will make that possible.”

Since 2010, Verizon has funded the IFVS’s efforts to educate Florida’s officers about domestic violence.  Because of the criminal justice community’s support of the Florida project, Verizon decided to fund the national project, which is also web-based.  The first segment of the national Prevention Toolkit will be released in mid-2013 to states in the Southeastern United States.   It will include free materials on the dynamics of officer-involved domestic violence, user-friendly supervisory and administrative tools for prevention, downloadable multimedia materials, and a resource site for agencies and officers.

To learn more about the Toolkit or the Institute for Family Violence Studies visit familyvio.csw.fsu.edu.