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Help Women Together Help Women

By Gail Powers

"The end of battering is death, either of the body or of the soul." -Anonymous Victim

According to the recent Report from the Attorney General's Task Force on Domestic Violence, approximately 28,000,000 (or one-half the total) wives in the United States are physically abused by their husbands. This statistic, however, does not include unmarried women living with men and depends on reported cases of abuse, so the incidence is probably much higher.

Our present legal, police and social systems do not respond adequately to the problems of domestic violence. Fortunately, due to increased public awareness in the past few years, a small number of shelter houses have arisen across the country to offer protection and alternatives to the victims and their children.

One such shelter is Women Together, Inc. in Cleveland. It was begun by a group of women in 1975 who, through their contact with victims at the Frec Clinic, Witness/Victim Service Center, and Rape Crisis Center, were aware of the desperate need for an emergency shelter for battered women. In 1976, WomenSpace opened a hotline to provide support and information, and Women Together, after a vigorous fund-raising campaign, rented a house to offer refuge to a limited number of women and children. In December of that year, Women Together

received its first foundation grant, which allowed them to pay a small staff and buy basic supplies for the house. As this month marks the third anniversary of Women Together's official funding, What She Wants would like to provide an update on their activities and encourage your support.

The staff of Women Together, Inc. presently consists of twelve full-time workers (five of whom are funded by CETA) and five part-time workers. In addition to the administrative staff which has its office at the YWCA, 3201 Euclid Avenue, the shelter house staff consists of three full-time advocates, one fulltime children's advocate, one paralegal (who services hotline callers and residents at the shelter) and five part-time advocates.

While the shelter is presently occupying temporary quarters, they will be moving into a 10-bedroom, 4-bathroom house the latter part of December. The new house will provide shelter for ten to twelve women and twenty children at a time. It has adequate office space for the advocacy staff and an adequate play area for children. By the end of this year, Women Together will have provided temporary shelter for approximately 240 battered women and 360 children during 1979.

The Battered Women's Hotline (961-4422) is operated twenty-four hours a day. It receives 600 to 1,000 calls per month, approximately one-half for information (e.g., medical, legal and financial referrals/resources) and one-half for shelter. Because of the overwhelming demand for crisis housing, the

LERN March-Labor Supports ERA

The American labor movement is getting solidly behind the campaign to ratify the ERA. The current focus of this campaign is Virginia, where an organization called LERN (Labor for the Equal Rights Amendment Now) is sponsoring a march on Richmond, Virginia on January 13, 1980. In order for the ERA to be ratified nationally, three more states must vote for it. The Virginia Legislature will make its decision in January.

LERN is a coalition of the Virginia labor movement which includes the Virginia State AFL-CIO, Virginia Education Association, United Auto Workers-Region 8, Teamsters Joint Councils 55 and 83, and United Mine Workers.

The call for the march came out of a conference called by the labor movement to discuss the ERA. Over 600 trade unionists and other supporters of the ERA met in August in Virginia and approved a resolution calling upon the entire labor movement to support efforts to get the ERA passed, declaring, "The ERA is a national issue and we welcome your participation in our campaign. By mobilizing your ranks and bringing them to Richmond in massive numbers on January 13, you will be demonstrating the kind of solidarity that is urgently needed in the fight for ratification."

Virginia is also a right-to-work state. The newly formed USWA Local 8888 in Newport News, Virginia will head up the LERN march. These 15,000 shipyard workers fought a long, hard two-year battle for the right to be organized. This local feels that getting the ERA passed in Virginia will help them win a decent contract. A state legislature such as Virginia's, anti-union and anti-women's rights, needs a concerted effort of a united labor and women's movement to pass the ERA. Ohioans can show their support by going to Virginia and marching.

Lane Kirkland, newly elected head of the AFL-

CIO, has endorsed LERN, saying "The AFL-CIO welcomes the activity of the Virginia labor movement

in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. We strongly support LERN's campaign for ratification of the ERA and we will do everything possible to assist you in making the campaign a success." Other national endorsements include the National Organization for Women (NOW), Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU).

The speakers list for the march is impressive. It includes Eleanor Smeal, President of the National Organization for Women, Addie Wyatt, Exécutive Vice President of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and Vice President of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Paulette Shine, President of Local 4172, United Mine Workers of America (the first woman president of a mine workers' local union), Alice Puerala, President of Local 65, United Steelworkers of America (first woman president of a local union in basic steel), and Ada Sanchez, Coordinator of Supporters of Silkwood and organizer of the April 26, 1980 March on Washington for a NonNuclear World.

Locally, there is a January 13 Support LERN Committee, co-chaired by Alberta Johnson, Meat Cutters Local 427 and Chair of the Women's Committee,

Cleveland AFL-CIO, and Marjorie MacEwan, Service Employees Union Local 47 and Coordinator of the Cleveland NOW Labor Task Force. The Cleveland AFL-CIO Federation of Labor has unanimously endorsed the LERN march and contributed funds.

If you would like to help or want information about going to the march, contact the local commit-

tee:

LERN Support Committee c/o Marjorie MacEwan S.E.I.U. Local 47

1765 East 18th Street Cleveland, Ohio 44114

or call 781-6547, 881-7200, or 621-0995.

LOCAL NEWS

hotline must find other alternatives for nine out of ten callers who are in need of shelter. For the one woman in ten whom Women Together can shelter, the following procedure applies: If the hotline worker's initial assessment determines that the battered woman has no safe place to go, the woman

ply areal INS

meets with an advocate at the administrative offices at the YWCA. After this initial intake interview, the woman, if she can, goes directly to the shelter house.

The average length of stay at the shelter house is twelve days. Beverly G. Webster, Executive Director of Women Together, estimates that seventy percent of the women who receive their counseling and advocacy do not return to a battering environment. For follow-up counseling, legal help, and medical care, Women Together refers women to agencies such as the West Side Community Health Center, the Center for Human Services, and the Free Clinic's mental health, legal, and medical clinics.

Women Together, Inc. is currently funded by the Cleveland Foundation, the Gund Foundation, the Gerson Family Fund and United Way Services. However, they have reached the three to five-year period of their existence (a financially critical time for any agency dependent upon private foundations) and are launching a fund-raising campaign to raise much-needed individual cash contributions from the community. They ask those interested in providing a safe refuge for battered women and their children to become members of their organization-"to invest in the lives of victims of family violence" and "in the safety and self respect of women and children...in Cuyahoga County." They cite several examples of how tax deductible contributions can help: $1,000 pays for meals for approximately 5 different families; $500 pays for the 24-hour hotline for more than 650 calls; $100 provides counseling for a woman's entire stay; $50 provides infants with a 3-month supply of pampers; $25 buys bus tickets for 5 women to make new living arrangements; $10 buys learning toys for pre-schoolers.

In addition to seeking necessary financial support, Women Together is in the process of building up a bank of potential volunteers from those who carc enough to get involved. A primary goal after the first of the year is to expand their community education program. They need volunteers who are willing to learn more about domestic violence issues and, in turn, make the total community aware of the problems resulting from the unbroken cycle of domestic violence. What She Wants plans to have a follow-up article on this volunteer project. (See this month's "What's Happening" for other ways you can help.)

For further information, contact Beverly G. Webster, Executive Director, Jan C. Ogline, Resource Development Specialist, or Ann Hunter, Program Manager of Women Together, at 431-6267.

December; 1979/What She Wants/Page 3