Credits

Public Awareness on RAINN Day

Sept. 27th was Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network Day, a time that the nation was to turn a light on these special issues, and offer help, information and education on what we can all do to support victims.  Statitics show that 1 out of 3 women, and 1 out of 6 men will sometime in their life be sexually assaulted. So this was a topic that the students at Columbus Central Community College were involved in discussing, along with students on other campuses across the state yesterday. Start a conversation, you may save a life.

Drive by the Center and check out our pinwheels! For Child Abuse Prevention Month, we have placed 658 pinwheels in front of our office to honor the children we served in 2011.

Position Opening: Adult Services Director

The Center for Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Survivors in Columbus, NE is currently hiring for the Adult Services Director position. This is a salaried, 30 hr/week position. This position is responsible for the supervision of adult services personnel and adult program planning; grant writing and grant management; providing back-up crisis services; providing community education and outreach; coordination of the Batterers’ Intervention Program and participation in Coordinated Response Team (CRT) meetings. The Center for Survivors serves the six county area of Boone, Butler, Colfax, Nance, Platte and Polk counties.

 

Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree and 2 years experience in Human Service field.

 

Interested parties should submit a cover letter, resume, writing sample and references to Jonathan Niles, Executive Director, by mail, fax or e-mail.

Writing sample should answer the question: Please comment on the Center’s Mission Statement:  To advocate for  non-violence through intervention, education and prevention in order to create a safe environment for all individuals, families and communities. Also include an answer to the following…Briefly describe what values and priorities are reflected in this Mission Statement, or in your own words, what do you think it means?

Center for Survivors

3103 13th St.

P.O. Box 42

Columbus, NE 68602

Phone: 402-564-2155

Fax: 402-563-1719

E-mail: jonathan@centerforsurvivors.net

For more details on the job description, please see the Employment Opportunities page.

The Center for Survivors Annual Meeting Held March 29,2012

We at the Center for Survivors we able to spend a wonderful evening dining and celebrating another wonderful year, supporting a violent free society. Of course we could not of accomplished what we did without the wonderful support from all our volunteers. We were able to honor the friends of the Center, those who were behind the scenes, those who went above and beyond and those who truly have made an exceptional commitment to us. The beautiful room was provided at the Holiday Inn Express, Petals and Pearls helped in decorating, great food was from provided by Rick and his wife from HyVee. HyVee floral also donated beautiful roses for each of our volunteers. We had a blast. Thank you everyone for making our night a success!

April is Child Abuse Prevention/Sexual Assault Awareness Month

In the time it takes you to read  this message, 3 women somewhere in the United States will have become the lastest victims of sexual violence. 78 women are forcibly raped each hour in America. This crime is of epidemic proportions and does affect everyone, regardless of race, economic, social, or age barrier. 1 in 3 females and 1 in 6 males will experience some sort of sexual abuse before the age of 24. These people need support to get past this event and help to make peace with this trauma. That’s where our services come in, we have a child advocate, adolesant advocates and adult advocates who are trained especially to help. Sometimes justice doesn’t come in the form of convictions, since 15 out of 16 rapist will never spend time in jail.

We all have a responsibility to end sexual assault. Actions we may take can be as simple as getting educated and informed, and talking about it. The Child Abuse Prevention Council of Columbus will sponsor  a free training for parents and grandparents, Called “Darkness to Light, Stewards of Children.” It will be held on April 17th. Please Call Connect Columbus to register at 402-562-6539.  We take pride in the work we do to help those who have been victimized by abuse. We were able to help 658 children last year with services provided by the Center for Survivors. Call us 24 hrs a day at 402-564-2155.

Ellen Pence, Shall be Missed

Obituary Notice

January 6, 2012, saw the passing of a great spirit. The day was bright, warm and sunny day, with a divine sunrise, but in the early morning a great shadow was cast over the hearts of so, so many who were touched and transformed by the genius, capacity for love, and tireless activism of Ellen Pence.

Like many who have had a huge impact on the world, Ellen made no distinction between the personal and the professional. She brought her whole heart to her work and with it a remarkable ability to intimately connect with and influence even those whose views were most divergent from her own. She gave her family and friends the joy of ever-creative social gatherings that generated strategies and nurtured relationships, leading to many levels of social change.

 During the 1960s, Ellen was an activist in the housing, antiwar, civil rights and feminist movements. In 1975, she became active in the battered women’s movement, which was the primary focus of her work for the remainder of her life. After a time of advocating for funding for battered women’s shelters, Ellen moved from Minneapolis to Duluth, MN, where in 1980, she and a small group of activists organized the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project, commonly referred to as the “Duluth Model.” The model, which has been adapted for use throughout the world, employs an interagency approach to shift responsibility for confronting domestic violence from the victims of the violence to the community, based on the idea that women (and their children) have as much right to be safe at home as all people have to be safe on the street.

 Ellen continued to seek an end to violence against women through many other endeavors. Starting in 1990, she worked with a team of experts to redesign the U.S. Marine Corps’ response to family violence. She was the founder and director of Praxis International, a non-profit dedicated to helping institutions meet the needs of the people they serve. In 2009 she began work with professionals in the Saint Paul criminal justice system to develop a “Blueprint for Safety” for battered women. Her unfinished projects include the response of family court in cases of battering and racial disparity in the child welfare system.

 Ellen effectively integrated academic research with grassroots community work. Like Paulo Friere, who inspired her social activism, she was both scholar and organizer. She earned a B.A. from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. She published numerous articles on institutional responses to the issue of violence against women and designed the Praxis Safety and Accountability Audit, an ethnological process used extensively to assess the response of community agencies to violence against women and child abuse.

 Above all, Ellen will be remembered by thousands of people nationally and internationally for her remarkable gift of public speaking. Her sense of humor, extensive knowledge and experience, passion for justice, and belief in the potential for change in both individuals and institutions leave us with treasured moments and offer us a torch to carry on the work in her name.

 Ellen was preceded in death by her father, Robert Pence; sister Diane VanValkenburg; and nephew Jake VanValkenburg. She is survived by her mother, Audrie Anne Marshall Pence of Shoreview, MN; partner, Amanda McCormick, and son, Liam McCormick, of Saint Paul, MN; Godson, Forrest Funmaker, Merrilan, WI; sisters Carole (Don) Miller of Fridley, MN, and Fran (Rick) Myran of Stillwater, MN; brother David (Candice) Pence of Mankato, MN; and many loving nieces and nephews.

CHS’s Diversity Leadership Club…

Diversity Leadership Club members and advisor, Alyssa Krogstrand presented a donation to the Center for Survivors. Thank you to all who participated in this fundraiser!

4H participates in “Pillow with a Purpose”…

Local youth involved in 4H participated in the UNL Extension Office’s Discovery Days 4 Kids. On June 22nd, the “Pillow with a Purpose” activity brought kids together who wanted to make a difference for other children whose lives are affected by violence. Several really cool pillows were donated for the children we work with and we are VERY thankful!!!

Christmas Gift Drive

This year’s Christmas Gift Drive was a great success!!! We gathered gifts for 32 families! And the Revolution members volunteered their time to wrap the gifts. It is such a rewarding experience knowing that you are making someone else’s Christmas a little bit brighter. Thanks to all those who donated their time, money, and gifts! We couldn’t have done it without you!

THANK YOU WALMART!!!

We would like to send out a huge thank you to the employees of Walmart for generously donating $700 in toys for our Christmas Gift Drive! The toys were given as part of our Adopt-a-Family Programand helped 32 families! Thank you!

We also received a donation of $1,000 as part of their annual gift to us. This will be used for financial assistance to our clients who often need help with groceries and transportation needs.

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