Deana’s Fund

CONTACT:

38 Montvale Ave., Suite 245
Woburn, MA 01801
(781) 438-5604
www.deanasfund.org

Sher Quaday, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

One of philanthropy’s most important roles, when a public problem emerges, is to respond rapidly and to develop cost-effective solutions through experimentation. Relationship violence is one of our most insidious public problems because so much of it is invisible, until too late. Research has shown that it is not an isolated episode in either the perpetrator’s or the victim’s life, but has long-term causes and effects. Witnessing domestic violence as a child is the surest predictor of later similar juvenile delinquency and adult criminality in young men. Among its long-term effects are depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, poor grades, dropping out of school, early pregnancy, substance abuse, repeated victimization, suicide, and death.

Violence is a learned behavior. It is three times more likely to occur among teenagers than adults and it is very common, experienced in all socio-economic groups by 1/3 of high-school students in Massachusetts and 1/4 of students nationwide. Prevention, therefore, needs to be very broad-based, and focused on pre-teens and teenagers.

Deana’s Fund was founded in 1994 in response to the mysterious death of a documented victim of dating violence, Deana Brisbois, a young woman from Topsfield. Its mission is to teach young people the causes, symptoms and dangers of relationship violence, and how to prevent and avoid them. DF has developed, as a teaching tool, educational theatre programs–proven to be one of the most effective (attention-getting and behavior-changing) modes of instruction for young people. DF’s presentations are given by trained instructors and with supplementary printed materials to young audiences across the country. It has won numerous local, regional and national awards as one of the most powerful learning experiences on this subject for this broad audience. DF has received hundreds of requests for presentations from schools and youth organizations across the country.

Nationwide dissemination of curriculum is a means here, not an end. The point is that this is one of the most effective ways to combat a national plague of relationship violence that is ruining many thousands of young lives in all levels of society all across the country. Those who have developed this outstanding teaching tool now have a responsibility to maximize its influence and save lives. They will need your help to do that.

(2000: HUMAN SERVICES: Girls and Women: Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse)