COLLIERVILLE, Tenn.– Mayor Stan Joyner declared October as “Domestic Violence Awareness Month” in Collierville during Monday night’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting.
Domestic Violence Awareness Month was established nationwide in 1987 as a way to connect to organizations dedicated to ending abuse, helping victims, and raising awareness that domestic violence is in every neighborhood regardless of economic, racial, or other societal barriers.
This proclamation reflected 2020 statistics of domestic violence in Tennessee:
• 69,385 domestic violence reports
• Women are the victims in 71.5% of domestic violence cases
• Children were victims in 6,755 cases
• 90 victims were killed by an intimate partner in Tennessee in 2020
Representatives from local victim advocacy organizations, like founding president and CEO of the Women’s Advocacy Center Romona Jackson, were present to receive the proclamation.
“Thank you for your courage to step out and make this proclamation,” said Jackson. “It means a lot to the clients and the victims that we serve.”
The Collierville Police Department has a list of such organizations in the area and other information on their website.
If you are in danger, call CPD’s Domestic Violence Unit at (901) 457-2520.
You can also call the Family Violence Council at (901) 870-2990 and The Women’s Advocacy Center at (901) 896-9055 for other resources and assistance.