Contact: Jenny Efimova, Outreach and Communications ManagerFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(617) 521-0126, ctober 9, 2014
Governor Deval L. Patrick Helps Casa Myrna
Release Annual Transit Ad Campaign
Boston – Casa Myrna, Boston’s leading provider of shelter and comprehensive services to survivors of domestic violence,will release its eleventhstatewide ad campaign on mass transit systems. The ads focus readers on supporting a loved one experiencing domestic or dating violence, or whom they suspect is being abused.
Beginning in the next two weeks, the ad campaign will run for a month. The ads will be displayed in English and Spanish on the MBTAred, orange, and silver lines in theBostonarea,and on buses in Haverhill, North Andover, Lawrence, New Bedford, Fall River, Pittsfield, Springfield, and Brockton. The MBTA has donated space for 200 ads.
The campaign will launch with a press conference with Governor DevalL. Patrick on Thursday, October 9 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Grand Staircase of the State House.
Speakers include: Governor Deval L. Patrick; Stephanie Brown, CEO, Casa Myrna; Debra Robbin, Interim Executive Director, Jane Doe Inc.
"This Administration has sought to raise public awareness on the issue of domestic violence and to ensure that there are supportive programs in place when a survivor reaches out for help,” said Governor Patrick. “We continue to ask for all of our citizens to see combating domestic violence as part of our shared responsibility for each other.Working together, we can make a difference in preventing domestic violence and stopping a tragedy before it happens.”
Talking about domestic violence can be challenging.Says Stephanie Brown, Casa Myrna CEO, “We often see the signs of abuse, feel that something is wrong, but just don’t know how to start the conversation. Yet that is exactly what we need to do, because domestic violence thrives in silence and isolation.”
This campaign provides friends, family, co-workers, and community members with information and resources on how to support loved ones experiencing abuse in their intimate relationships. The ad spotlights Casa Myrna’s SafeLink Hotline (877-785-2020), Massachusetts’ statewide domestic violence hotline, and encourages people to call for free and confidential information, support, and referrals.
“Casa Myrna’s transit campaign this year poignantly illustrates that when 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men in Massachusetts report experiencing some form of stalking, physical, sexual, or emotional abuse by an intimate partner in their lifetime, we are all affected and have a role to play in supporting victims and survivors,” said Debra J. Robbin,Ed.M., Interim Executive Director of Jane Doe Inc. She added, “As the statewide hotline, SafeLink serves a crucial role as the domestic violence hotline for Casa Myrna as well as the connector to other trained domestic violence advocates in programs and services throughout the Commonwealth.”
Casa Myrna is the only nonprofit in Massachusetts running public awareness campaigns on mass transit statewide to raise awareness aboutthe critical issues of domestic and dating violence.The ad campaigns have two goals: to connect survivors and their supporters to the SafeLink Hotline and to build a community of conscience where all members of our community are able take part in preventing and ending domestic and dating violence. Previous campaigns have focused onmen’s role in preventing domestic violence, effects of domestic violence on children, and engaging teens to think about teen dating violence.
Fall 2014 Ad Campaign
Founded in 1977, Casa Myrna is Boston’s leader in delivering solutions to end domestic and dating violence through intervention, awarness and prevention. The agency operates the 24/7 confidential statewide domestic violence hotline SafeLink (877-785-2020) and residential programs for women and children made homeless by domestic violence. Supportive and prevention services include community based advocacy, legal advocacy, individual and group counseling, children’s services, housing assistance and advocacy, financial literacy and job readiness skills building, domestic and dating violence awareness iniatives, and domestic violence and teen dating violence prevention.
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