Preventing Family Violence

Statistically 25% of the women and 7% of the men in any company are dealing with the issue of family violence. For most victims, the eight hours they spend at work are the safest hours of their day. Yet, many risks to the employee, to coworkers and to customers are associated with this problem. New Mexico has one of the highest incidents per capita of family violence in the United States. It is a root problem that results in many other kinds of trouble for employees and their families. American businesses pay $36 billion each year for health care, absenteeism, and other costs associated with family violence alone.

Family violence in the workplace is a serious problem which requires the best information and training available. The family violence information linked from this page is intended to provide information and resources specifically geared to employers related to this issue.

United Way of Central New Mexico, seeking to create systemic change in the issue of family violence in our community, decided in 2002 to establish the Initiative Against Family Violence, which has evolved into Empowering Victims of Violence. The mission of the Initiative is to change the culture to eliminate tolerance for family violence in central New Mexico. The Initiative is funded by Corporate Cornerstone Companies and is in addition to program funding for direct service providers.

United Way believes that it will take all parts of the community, working in collaboration with one another, to effect real and significant change. No one organization can do this alone. United Way is best suited, because of our relationships, to serve in a leadership capacity to specific portions of this community-wide process.

United Way has chosen to focus its current Initiative efforts on the following areas:

• Community Education
• The Impact of Family Violence in the Workplace

We hope your company will join us in this effort by businesses to appropriately address this important issue.

Michael Stanford, Chairman & CEO, First State BankView Our CEO Video on Family Violence

This video is saved in a variety of resolutions so that it will play smoothly on all Internet connections. If you do not have software on your machine that is capable of playing Windows Media Files, just click here to download Windows Media Player for FREE

• Dial-Up Version (for 56Kbps connections or faster)
• DSL/Cable Version (for 256 Kbps connections or faster)