2009 Unity Sunshine Summer Camp 2009 summer ... - Unity House

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International Discussion of Domestic Violence
Karla Digirolamo, Chief Operating Officer of Unity House and
widely recognized expert on domestic violence, presented at two
conferences in the United Kingdom in May, and met with a
national domestic violence advocate in Oslo, Norway. The first, a
Roundtable on Domestic Violence was held in Dublin, Ireland,
sponsored by the Irish Women’s Aid Organisation. The second,
“Domestic Abuse – Responses from the U.S.A.,” was hosted by
the Women’s Support Project in Glasgow, Scotland. The goal of
both conferences, and the meeting in Oslo, was to exchange
information about how domestic violence services and public
policy differ or share commonalities in the United States and
Europe.
Of particular interest to the experts from the United States was
the impact of the more socialist economies of northern Europe and
the market based, strongly capitalistic culture in the U.S. Karla
marvels, "It's just amazing, in these major European cities you just
don't see poverty, or homeless citizens, to the same extent that
you see in the states.”
Karla Digiolamo, COO
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In the crush of administering Unity House programs and responding to frequent crises, Karla says, “It’s
easy to lose sight of the big picture. It’s very helpful to get away and recharge with other experts in the
field.” Karla cited a recent blog by Casey Gwinn that she and her colleagues discussed during her
international meetings. Gwinn wrote, “As of May 2, there have been 167 confirmed cases of the swine flu
in the United States and one death. But there has been little news about the mass killings of 68 people
across America in the last 52 days, with men doing all the killing and virtually all related to men with a
history of violence against women.” “Which is the real epidemic?” Karla asks, echoing Gwinn’s point. “We
all need to be reminded to get these hard questions out into the public policy arena so that one day, we
can start reducing the amount of needed services.”
{ On Our Minds, In Our Hearts}
On July 15th, public officials, staff of Unity House, and
families of domestic violence victims met to honor two
women and one child, all murdered at the hands of violent
men. One in every six homicide victims who dies, does so at
the hands of someone with whom they were in a relationship.
The ceremony, and a plaque bearing the names of the victims,
were the idea of Milinda Reed, Director of the Domestic
Violence Program at Unity House. “Liza, Amanda and
Matthew were people who were loved deeply. Their loss is
immeasurable to their families, and we want them to know
that their loved ones are not forgotten,”
says Reed.
The three names that are
engraved on the plaque are:
• Liza Warner, who died
October 1, 2004, age 29
• Amanda Jean Burns, who died
October 25, 2005, age 21
• Matthew Dante Thomas, who
died September 24, 2008, age
four months
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