IT'S EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS

In 2004 Women's Place and Niagara Regional Police met to discuss a “Made-in-Niagara education and prevention plan” to address the issue of Family Violence in our community. Thus began the idea of “It's Everybody's Business”, which later developed into the Leadership Summit on Family Violence, held in April 2005.

The focus of this summit was to provide business, political, community and education leaders with information on the effects of family violence. The goal of the summit was to provide an example of what a community can do to increase awareness of family violence and work towards prevention. Two hundred business, community, education and political leaders came together to discuss the impact of family violence in our communities.

Following the summit, a Regional Task Force Against Family Violence was formed with representation from Government, Health, Education, Legal/Justice, Media and Business and Labour. The Task Force members work within their specific sectors to increase awareness about family violence and its impact in the workplace. Workplace toolkits have been developed to help employers address the issue of family violence in the workplace.