Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse provides domestic abuse crisis intervention and housing, prevention and education, and support and advocacy services to women and children. Emerge! is the largest domestic abuse shelter and provider of domestic abuse prevention and abuse programs in Southern Arizona.
24-Hour Bilingual Crisis Line and Shelter:
(520) 795-4266
(888) 428-0101 Toll-free

Pima County Board of Supervisors just voted yesterday to allocate $100,000 from their Contingency fund to keep Emerge! operating. Since October is DV Awareness month and this is the only emergency shelter left in Tucson for victims of DV (mostly women & children), please help if you can as well.

Website: http://www.emergecenter.org/

As the former Interim Director of the DV Commission (before it went bankrupt due to unpaid federal payroll taxes by the previous Executive Director) and a former practicing attorney for an Americorps DV Victims Project, I would like to emphasize the importance of education & prevention & intervention in DV situations. I still remember a case I had back in Hawaii where I and another woman attorney were representing a young wife, who had been brutally hit on the head by her husband with a metal bucket. Right in front of us, as we were talking with her, their 2 year old son picked up a toy bucket and hit it on the head of another child. It was disturbing to see this abusive, copying behavior learned at a very young age.

List of activities for DV Awareness month from Emerge’s website:

http://www.emergecenter.org/about-us/domestic-violence-awareness-month/

October 3-6: Clothesline Project at University of Arizona Mall. Anyone (not limited to UA students) can participate in this activity by designing a t-shirt depicting the impact domestic abuse has had on them, their family, and/or their community.

October 8: Binational Health Fair presented by the Mexican Consulate (9am-2pm- El Pueblo Community Center, Room 1A)

October 10-12: Purple Flag Display (UA Mall, ongoing). Oasis Health Services at the University of Arizona will display 1 flag for each domestic abuse-related death in the last year. This is a time of memorial and observance of those who have lost their lives to domestic abuse.

October 12th: Candlelight Vigil at San Xavier District (4pm-7pm- San Xavier District Conference Room). This is an informational fair to be followed by a candlelight vigil.

October 13th: 10th Annual Community Celebration and Crime Prevention Fair, presented by the 29th Street Coalition (5:30pm-7:30pm- Freedom Park, 5000 E. 29th Street). This annual event brings together nonprofit, government, business and community organizations to provide fun and activities! Fun for all ages – email annual29thcelebration@yahoo.com for more information.

October 14th: Tucson Meet Yourself (11am-5pm, Outside Pima County Administration Building). Emerge! and the Pima County Attorney’s Office will be providing information to Tucson Meet Yourself attendees and will have fun activities for children. Stop by our tables!

October 15th: Delta Chi Lambda Basketball Tournament (9am-3pm, Bear Down Gymnasium). Delta Chi Lambda is sponsoring a basketball tournament, and all proceeds will benefit Emerge!.

October 15th: Tucson Meet Yourself (10am-5pm, Outside Pima County Administration Building). Emerge! and the Pima County Attorney’s Office will be providing information to Tucson Meet Yourself attendees and will have fun activities for children. Stop by our tables!

October 15th: heART Show (11am-4pm, Offices of Dr. Carol McGonigle- 1802 E. Prince Road). A local art show/sale to benefit Emerge!, Featuring art from past Emerge! participants, children in Emerge! programs, and local artists who are donating their time/artwork.

October 15th: Tucson Pride (10am-8pm, Kino Sports Complex). Emerge! and the Pima County Attorney’s Office will be present to provide fun games for children and tons of information for adults.

October 16th: Tucson Meet Yourself (11am-4pm, Outside Pima County Administration Building). Emerge! and the Pima County Attorney’s Office will be providing information to Tucson Meet Yourself attendees and will have fun activities for children. Stop by our tables!

October 17th-19th: Clothesline Project at University of Arizona Mall. Anyone (not limited to UA students) can participate in this activity by designing a t-shirt depicting the impact domestic abuse has had on them, their family, and/or their community.

October 22nd: Show @ Eclipse Bar (9pm-11:30pm- 1601 North Oracle Rd). A local performance artist and volunteer artists will participate in a show to benefit Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse. Must be 21+ to enter.

October 29th: Marana Founder’s Day Festival (9am-4pm, Ora Mar Harn Park)- Emerge! and the Pima County Attorney’s Office will be present with information for adults, fun and games for children. Family friendly event- great for all ages!

October 30th: Marana Founder’s Day Festival (10am-4pm, Ora Mar Harn Park)- Emerge! and the Pima County Attorney’s Office will be present with information for adults, fun and games for children. Family friendly event- great for all ages!

movie poster

“Telling Amy’s Story” will be shown on Thursday October 21, 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, 3800 E. River Rd, in the Heritage Center room.

This Penn State Public Broadcasting film relates the timeline leading to a domestic violence (DV) homicide of Amy McGee by her husband Vincent that occurred on November 8, 2001, in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Amy’s coworkers did not suspect the abuse she was living with and she was killed at home.

Sponsored by Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse and Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall, in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness month (October).

“In April 2008, two outstanding and respected organizations – Brewster Center Domestic Violence Services (founded in 1963) and Tucson Centers for Women and Children (established in 1975) – came together to form Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse. Emerge!, the largest domestic abuse shelter and provider of domestic abuse prevention services and programs in Southern Arizona, includes:

* Two emergency shelters
* Two housing programs
* Two outreach and advocacy centers
* An accredited community-based childcare center that is open to the public
* Prevention, education, and volunteer programs”. (from the Emerge! website)

DV is a serious crime and occurs much too often even here in Pima County. I’ve worked as a staff attorney for an Americorps D.V. Victims’ Advocacy project and was also the Interim Director & Commissioner of the now-defunct Tucson Domestic Violence Commission. And I know that judging an abuser’s lethality is not usually possible, and the victim is often too frightened to report any abuse. And it takes the victim on the average of 5 times to leave her abuser. In Amy’s case she could not/did not leave.

“One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime”, according to the National Institute of Justice and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

This is a free showing to bring awareness to domestic violence as too often family/friends don’t know how to help a suspected victim.
Light refreshments will be served.

For more info contact the Pima County’s Office Victim Services Division at 520-740-5525.
Emerge! Crisis Line/Linea de Crisis – 1(888) 428-0101.

* THE NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE at 1-800-799-7233
* THE NATIONAL SEXUAL ASSAULT HOTLINE AT 1-800-656-4673
* THE NATIONAL TEEN DATING ABUSE HOTLINE AT 1-866-331-9474