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Domestic Violence Awareness Campaign Starts In Spokane

Screenshot from "End the Violence"

Spokane community leaders will be working hard next month to bring awareness to domestic violence in the area. October is national Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The city has one of the highest rates of domestic abuse in the state. Local leaders decided that it’s a serious enough problem that it requires a more vocal and unified campaign.

To start that campaign, the advocates commissioned a new half-hour documentary about domestic violence and convinced all but one of Spokane’s television stations to air it tonight at 7.

“We continue to have homicides and violent attacks in our community related to domestic violence. The issues are not going away. The number of victims is growing," said Annie Murphey, chair of the Spokane Regional Domestic Violence Coalition. "I think it’s time that we, as a community, start paying attention. With groups like Priority Spokane identifying family trauma as their next area of focus for three years, as well as other community partners that have been invested in this issue, I think that everyone’s coming together and creating this opportunity.”

After the documentary, local advocates say they’ll begin working on a strategic plan for the community strategy, with plans to raise enough money to hire an executive director to carry it out.

The challenge, they say, is to keep the public’s attention on domestic violence after the month is over.

On October 11, the YWCA will hold its Women of Achievement luncheon with Judge Rosemarie Aquilina. She’s the Michigan judge who sentenced Dr. Larry Nasser in the USA Gymnastics sexual abuse case.

The “End of Violence” documentary will air Monday night at 7 on all of Spokane’s local TV stations, except KHQ.