CAFC Continued Operations Update and more
Greetings to All!
We are pleased to announce that we are able to continue our operations for 2009. Some of you may remember that in our 2008 Mid-Year Report we announced that we would have to suspend just about all of our activities due to lack of funding.
The worst news from the report was that Michael Robinson, our Executive Director was going to have to take full time employment that would have left him little to no time for CAFC. Not only is Michael the Co- Founder of CAFC, he has been the driving force behind CAFC. His vision, experience, contacts and ability to collaborate and maneuver with decision makers has been key to our unparalleled success.
Very few know that Michael was willing to walk away from his very successful business and high income in early 2004 to devote his full time efforts to start CAFC. He even poured all of the assets that he had built up from his business into CAFC to keep us going in the first two years or so.
We are also pleased to announce that Michael is going to be able to remain with us for a couple reasons. First, only because of the selfless generousity of a few who have provided some recent financial support and second, Michael is taking a part time position that will allow him the ability to make sure he can take care of his family while we work on bringing about change that will help you.
We also want to inform you that very little will be done in the California Legislature this year. Members and others are going to wait until the years end to see what kind of legislative recommendations are made by the Elkins Task Force. Also due to California’s budget woes, bills that have appropriations to them would most likely die in the appropriations committees even if they get introduced. We will update you on bills and also a couple that we are getting introduced.
We know that the economy has hit everyone very hard and, in addition to working towards improving policy for you and your children, we will also have all of you in our thoughts and prayers. Please pray for us also.
We would encourage you to spread the word about our work to everyone you know and, if possible, make a small donation if and when you can.
There are other ways you can help, even if you are totally broke: by spreading the word about our Domestic Violence Training DVDs from last year’s conference for starters. We also have a short video clip that you can use to get the word out, and an online catalog. But it gets even better! Eleven of the presenters featured in the DVDs – considered to be “Titans in the Field” – are from the peer-reviewed journal Partner Abuse, published by Springer Publishing Company. These DVDs are a very powerful way of educating practitioners in the field, law enforcement, judges and decision makers; in your state or country, please encourage any of these decision makers to buy the DVDs.
Another major event that needs to be spread to the four corners of the world is our next conference, From Ideology to Inclusion 2009: New Directions in Domestic Violence Research and Intervention. This conference is going to be the “Domestic Violence Conference of the Decade.” We will start to take registrations for the conference on March 11, 2009, with a full brochure, a schedule with course abstracts, and the price. Additionally, we ask that you help us get the word out to businesses, corporations, private practitioners, foundations and organizations about our Special Contributors Registration packages. This will substantially help us offset our conference costs.
Most of the presenters for this conference are from the peer-reviewed journal, Partner Abuse, published by Springer Publishing Company. Also at the conference there will be a special guest appearance by Erin Pizzey, founder of the domestic violence shelter movement. Springer Publishing Company advertised the conference a little over a week ago, along with their announcement about the creation of the journal. Springer will be doing several more ads. We also will be doing several more e-mail notices, sent to our large database of judges, DAs, law enforcement, government agencies, service and treatment providers, and others.
This will be the third conference that we have done starting with our first conference in 2007. The Family Violence Treatment and Education Association (FAVTEA) has been our cosponsor for all three, and we want to express our gratitude and appreciation for their help with volunteers and their assistance as experts in the field.
While we certainly welcome advocates to register and attend the 2009 conference, the best audience that we could hope for is government agencies, treatment providers, court personnel, law enforcement and decision makers. This is because this kind of conference helps to better educate such decision makers about the realities of domestic violence through evidence-based research, rather than the ideology that has been taught to them now for over 25 years.
To give you an idea of just a few major impacts that our conferences have already had, especially our last one, we are working with two states that had judicial officers attend. As a result, they went back to their states with what they learned, equipped with all of the presentation materials, and are in the process of radically changing some of their state’s policies. They are both currently in the drafting stage, and one state is now only weeks away from a final draft and closing in on an approved version.
On top of that, eight people from Taiwan attended our last conference. Three of them were university professors, one of which is with the Department and Graduate Institute of Criminology. Three of these attendees are from Taiwanese government agencies, such as Social Works and Domestic Violence in Kaoshign County, and Sexual Assault Prevention in Taipei. They were all very impressed with the accuracy of the evidence-based presentations and materials. They were also some of the very first attendees to download the conference presentation materials, which were made available online to all attendees shortly after the conference. As a result of that 2008 conference, we received an e-mail on February 5, 2009 from one of them letting us know that being at our conference, and using the materials from it, helped them to return back to their country and help change Taiwan's policy to be gender inclusive. They also let us know that they are planning to attend our June 2009 conference in Los Angeles.
Some here in the U.S. have already reported this story. Among those who reported it, some also attended the 2008 conference knowing that we had attendees from Taiwan. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they also failed to mention CAFC and the impact that our conference had on changing policy in Taiwan.
These conferences cost us a tremendous amount of money to produce. They end up helping you, your family, your children and friends who are affected by these issues. So please do everything you can – in any way you can – to help us keep improving our fundraising abilities and continue these successes. Promoting the DVDs and the 2009 Conference will help us increase funding, leading to continued positive cultural and policy changes.
If you support our efforts, please sign up for a free CAFC membership here, through which donations can also be made:
http://www.cafcusa.org/members/
Best Wishes to all,
Paul Stroub
Vice President and Co-Founder
We are pleased to announce that we are able to continue our operations for 2009. Some of you may remember that in our 2008 Mid-Year Report we announced that we would have to suspend just about all of our activities due to lack of funding.
The worst news from the report was that Michael Robinson, our Executive Director was going to have to take full time employment that would have left him little to no time for CAFC. Not only is Michael the Co- Founder of CAFC, he has been the driving force behind CAFC. His vision, experience, contacts and ability to collaborate and maneuver with decision makers has been key to our unparalleled success.
Very few know that Michael was willing to walk away from his very successful business and high income in early 2004 to devote his full time efforts to start CAFC. He even poured all of the assets that he had built up from his business into CAFC to keep us going in the first two years or so.
We are also pleased to announce that Michael is going to be able to remain with us for a couple reasons. First, only because of the selfless generousity of a few who have provided some recent financial support and second, Michael is taking a part time position that will allow him the ability to make sure he can take care of his family while we work on bringing about change that will help you.
We also want to inform you that very little will be done in the California Legislature this year. Members and others are going to wait until the years end to see what kind of legislative recommendations are made by the Elkins Task Force. Also due to California’s budget woes, bills that have appropriations to them would most likely die in the appropriations committees even if they get introduced. We will update you on bills and also a couple that we are getting introduced.
We know that the economy has hit everyone very hard and, in addition to working towards improving policy for you and your children, we will also have all of you in our thoughts and prayers. Please pray for us also.
We would encourage you to spread the word about our work to everyone you know and, if possible, make a small donation if and when you can.
There are other ways you can help, even if you are totally broke: by spreading the word about our Domestic Violence Training DVDs from last year’s conference for starters. We also have a short video clip that you can use to get the word out, and an online catalog. But it gets even better! Eleven of the presenters featured in the DVDs – considered to be “Titans in the Field” – are from the peer-reviewed journal Partner Abuse, published by Springer Publishing Company. These DVDs are a very powerful way of educating practitioners in the field, law enforcement, judges and decision makers; in your state or country, please encourage any of these decision makers to buy the DVDs.
Another major event that needs to be spread to the four corners of the world is our next conference, From Ideology to Inclusion 2009: New Directions in Domestic Violence Research and Intervention. This conference is going to be the “Domestic Violence Conference of the Decade.” We will start to take registrations for the conference on March 11, 2009, with a full brochure, a schedule with course abstracts, and the price. Additionally, we ask that you help us get the word out to businesses, corporations, private practitioners, foundations and organizations about our Special Contributors Registration packages. This will substantially help us offset our conference costs.
Most of the presenters for this conference are from the peer-reviewed journal, Partner Abuse, published by Springer Publishing Company. Also at the conference there will be a special guest appearance by Erin Pizzey, founder of the domestic violence shelter movement. Springer Publishing Company advertised the conference a little over a week ago, along with their announcement about the creation of the journal. Springer will be doing several more ads. We also will be doing several more e-mail notices, sent to our large database of judges, DAs, law enforcement, government agencies, service and treatment providers, and others.
This will be the third conference that we have done starting with our first conference in 2007. The Family Violence Treatment and Education Association (FAVTEA) has been our cosponsor for all three, and we want to express our gratitude and appreciation for their help with volunteers and their assistance as experts in the field.
While we certainly welcome advocates to register and attend the 2009 conference, the best audience that we could hope for is government agencies, treatment providers, court personnel, law enforcement and decision makers. This is because this kind of conference helps to better educate such decision makers about the realities of domestic violence through evidence-based research, rather than the ideology that has been taught to them now for over 25 years.
To give you an idea of just a few major impacts that our conferences have already had, especially our last one, we are working with two states that had judicial officers attend. As a result, they went back to their states with what they learned, equipped with all of the presentation materials, and are in the process of radically changing some of their state’s policies. They are both currently in the drafting stage, and one state is now only weeks away from a final draft and closing in on an approved version.
On top of that, eight people from Taiwan attended our last conference. Three of them were university professors, one of which is with the Department and Graduate Institute of Criminology. Three of these attendees are from Taiwanese government agencies, such as Social Works and Domestic Violence in Kaoshign County, and Sexual Assault Prevention in Taipei. They were all very impressed with the accuracy of the evidence-based presentations and materials. They were also some of the very first attendees to download the conference presentation materials, which were made available online to all attendees shortly after the conference. As a result of that 2008 conference, we received an e-mail on February 5, 2009 from one of them letting us know that being at our conference, and using the materials from it, helped them to return back to their country and help change Taiwan's policy to be gender inclusive. They also let us know that they are planning to attend our June 2009 conference in Los Angeles.
Some here in the U.S. have already reported this story. Among those who reported it, some also attended the 2008 conference knowing that we had attendees from Taiwan. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they also failed to mention CAFC and the impact that our conference had on changing policy in Taiwan.
These conferences cost us a tremendous amount of money to produce. They end up helping you, your family, your children and friends who are affected by these issues. So please do everything you can – in any way you can – to help us keep improving our fundraising abilities and continue these successes. Promoting the DVDs and the 2009 Conference will help us increase funding, leading to continued positive cultural and policy changes.
If you support our efforts, please sign up for a free CAFC membership here, through which donations can also be made:
http://www.cafcusa.org/members/
Best Wishes to all,
Paul Stroub
Vice President and Co-Founder
Labels: operations
posted by CAFC Admin at
10:04 AM
