With community support, we can end domestic violence

We’ve endured a summer filled with allegations of domestic violence with a national spotlight on a former Ohio State University football coach and his ex-wife. In July, the ex-boyfriend of Judy Malinowski pleaded guilty to her 2015 murder, and her testimony against him was unsealed, bringing forward terrible reminders of her violent death.

These stories make headlines, and for each one of them there are countless stories of domestic violence each year that never make the news. What our community doesn’t see are the women — and men — who call our hotline and who show up at our shelter each and every day affected by the physical, psychological or emotional abuse of an intimate partner.

Last year alone, nearly 4,000 calls from people facing domestic violence came directly to our 24-hour hotline. Additionally, more than 700 victims and their children sought safety in our shelter, the only one in Franklin County for victims of domestic violence. And earlier this month, The Dispatch reported that while domestic-violence deaths in Ohio dropped from 116 to 91 over a two-year period, Franklin County experienced an uptick and led the state with 16 deaths, up from 11 the prior year (source: Ohio Domestic Violence Network).

As a community, when we understand the broader picture — that every nine seconds, a woman is abused; that three women die each day at the hands of their husband or boyfriend; and that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men will experience domestic violence in their lifetime — we recognize the need for action. When we realize that domestic violence can happen to anyone, anywhere and it cuts across all socioeconomic, racial and religious boundaries, we recognize the need for action. And when we learn that 15.5 million children are exposed to domestic violence annually with 90 percent of those children being eyewitnesses to violence, which we know is a precursor to perpetuating the cycle of violence, we know we must act.

As we mark October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, it can be difficult for central Ohioans to determine how to best engage and address this problem within a sea of troubling statistics.

I’m encouraged by the overwhelming community support we’ve received to ensure victims of domestic violence have a safe haven and necessary support in their time of need. Our new shelter, the culmination of a multiyear project, will open its doors at the end of 2018.

Those 51 beds will increase to 120 with room to grow and the ability to meet specialized needs of victims and their families. It will be a place that upholds dignity and respect and provides safety and privacy, as well as opportunities for engaging with others who also are healing.

Our goal of interrupting the cycle of violence means that we believe hope exists, and only because of and through a community that cares deeply about protecting and healing those who are in danger of being hurt by an intimate partner.

While I’m immensely humbled at the prospect of better serving more women and men who never imagined becoming a victim of domestic violence, I have an audacious vision of someday realizing that our new shelter will serve an even greater purpose. That perhaps we will be out of business, not needing a single bed after all. And that aspiration will only become reality when we bring education and awareness to our community and begin to change the cycle of violence.

Until then, we still have a lot of work to do — together.