what are some creative events for domestic violence victims, like a career fair?

Question

I am a victims advocate and I need to come up with events like career fairs and financial planning forums for our past and present victims. It gives us a chance to get into the community and advocate against domestic violence. It also gives us a chance to pass out liturature and information about our agency.

Answer 1

Most local fairs allow businesses and organizations to put up booths. You could even tailor the booth to fit the theme of the fair:

Music fest: Celebrate the courage it takes to change a victim's life.
Community Fest: Domestic violence affects not just one, or some, but the entire community.
Woman's Day: Share in the bonds of unity against all kinds of violence, including domestic.
Career day: "Would you work and care for someone that threatened your life every day? For some women, domestic violence is not something they can give their two-weeks notice to."

If you meant specific Domestic Violence functions, how about an art fair, a display of art by battered women and their children. Art can be both disturbing and educational, and the imagery allows outsiders a way to deal with the impact. It also allows the women and children a way to talk that is more visceral and thus impactive.

Spoken word is still popular, and you could suggest someplace that does it to have a 'theme' night, with flyers and whatnot. Even if not many people show, it gives a public performance space for those who can give voice to what they feel.

Along with the financial planning forum, you could promote a 'general skills' seminar, a place where victims submit questionaires beforehand on the skills they would like to learn, and the seminar works on those skills. Because not everyone will have the same lack thereof, it can be a way of reaching out to the general public while, at the same time, being a showcase for what your agency can accomplish.

How about a historical presentation of violence against women throughout the ages? You could use news programs, like the one about Japan's unwillingness to admit to the coercion and rape of thousands of women by their army during WWII, as a way to present how the issue is not simply local and/or isolated but historical and omnipresent.

I am sure guest speakers visit your area that pertain to your cause. Make it a point to welcome them, or offer them opportunities to speak. Your sponsoring of the event not only offers and invites a public discussion, but gives you a chance to present your material as a natural by-product of the meeting. I am sure many speakers would come simply to promote the event and help raise awareness.

How about volunteer days? By making it a point for your organization (and its current and former members) to reach into the community, maybe through a soup kitchen, block party, or Habitat for Humanity, its putting out into the public that that this group is a part of the community, that its effects (both destructive and constructive) are felt in the community. They can even wear special volunteer t-shirts with a logo of your organization on the back, while having some slogan on the front, like "Helping build a safer world, one house, one family, at a time."

Anything and everything is an opportunity that you can use to reach out to both your victims and the larger community as well. Simply have a 't-shirt' day, with each woman promising to wear a t-shirt throughout the day with your message on it. It doesn't have to be anything famous, it can be something you make up yourself, like:

"For some women, red isn't the color of love, it's black and blue. A message from...."

That would have made a great t-shirt for Valentine's Day.

Answer 2

I'm sorry, but I really wish that "victims" would not try to recruit.

I think that's half of the problem... it's the same with cancer, hiv, incest, hate crimes and just about every other topic on our agendas... all of which are very important issues.

I think that there is a fine line between people being there to help eachother and taking up space at a convention that has nothing to do with their cause.

No - I do not think it is ok to set up a booth at a career fair.
People are looking for a job at those fairs and unless you have one to offer them... it's rude to take up the space.

If I were you - I would look into educational seminars at colleges - it would be much more appropriate to talk to a social studies class or in a high school health class.

Good Luck - I am rooting for you - just NOT at the career fair.