Six powerful Voices and Faces Project stories. One key goal met: the Violence Against Women Act has passed.

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In a world that too often ignores the scope and scale of sexual violence and trafficking, a single story can sometimes be one of our most effective tools for creating change. At The Voices and Faces Project, our job is to create a safe place for survivors to share their names, faces and stories. Through our creative, documentary and outreach programs, we then connect those stories to policymakers and the public.

In that spirit, The Voices and Faces Project partnered with the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, the voice in Washington for those working to end sexual violence, to secure the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). VAWA will provide new resources for victims of crime, while expanding current rape prevention and education programs. By helping the alliance identify sexual violence survivors willing to share their stories in service to social change, and creating a series of online survivor portraits that speak to the need for VAWA, The Voices and Faces Project seeks to remind those in Washington that the political is also deeply personal.

In the words of Terri Poore, Vice President of the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence:
"These Voices and Faces Project survivor stories have been an essential tool as we've worked on the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act. They help us to communicate urgency to policy makers, breaking through our collective numbness. After 20 years of doing this work, survivor stories like this re-invigorate me to continue pressing forward for justice."

We are grateful to Voices and Faces Project members Missy Carson, Jenny Bush, Nobuko Nagaoka, Gabe Wright, Sasha Walters, and Michelle Lugalia, for sharing their stories in order to create change. And thank you to every advocate, activist and policymaker whose support of VAWA is helping to create a safer and more just world for women and girls. You are our heroes.

The Voices and Faces Project, recently named one of "America's Best Charities" by the board of directors of Independent Charities of America, has been recognized by the United States Department of Justice as part of the "new generation" of anti-violence leaders. We're working to change minds, hearts and social policy by helping survivors to tell their stories and by introducing those stories into the public square. We need your support to continue our work.

Creating Change at Northwestern University (all year round).
"Creating Programs That Create Change" - an interactive workshop that considers how The Voices and Faces Project uses the stories of survivors to impact public attitudes about gender-based violence - recently returned for its third semester at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy. Thanks to a private donor, the workshop will be a regular feature of Professor Danny Cohen's class during 2013. Kudos to our "Creating Change" workshop team of Christa Desir, Kate Hnida, Patricia Evans and Anne K. Ream.

Get up, stand up: One Billion Rising Chicago.
Hats - and red scarves - off to One Billion Rising Chicago! One February 14 - the 15th anniversary of V-Day - hundreds of Chicago women joined the billions worldwide who were walking, dancing, and demanding an end to violence. Special thanks to the Chicago One Billion Rising team for spreading the word about a local event with global dimensions (and a great beat): Kristen Kaza, Laura Waleryszak, Sharmili Majmudar, Rachel Durchslag, Ernest Covington, Anne Ream, Scheherazade Tillet, Sangeetha Ravichandran. Thanks also to the Chicago Foundation for Women for its support of the day’s events. Find out more.

On the road again: Check The Voices and Faces Project out at these events.
Our Voices and Faces Project lecture and workshop series has taken our team to 40 US states and 3 continents. During March and April we're hitting the road again, bringing a keynote address to Augustana College in Sioux Falls, North Dakota, speaking as part of the "Untold Stories" Social Justice Series at Mt. Mary College and headlining The Women's Center's Annual Luncheon in Milwaukee, WI. To bring a Voices and Faces Project speaker to your next event email us.

Janet Goldblatt-Holms

Oh, Canada! The Voices and Faces Project heads north.
The Voices and Faces Project will be hosting a series of Voices and Faces Project workshops in Canada during 2013, including "The Stories We Tell," our two-day writing workshop. We are grateful to our allies Janet Goldblatt Holmes, Ruth Montgomery, Karen Smith and Stephanie Hanson for their help as we've expanded our Voices and Faces Project work into Canada. Read the Edmonton Journal article about our 2012 Voices and Faces Project writing workshop.
To find out more about bringing our writing workshop or lecture series to your community email us.

david clohessy

Faith in Change: The Voices and Faces Project and Faith Trust Institute.
On March 12, theologians David Clohessy and Dr. Sharon Ellis Davis, Faith Trust Institute Founder Marie Fortune and Voices and Faces Project founder Anne K. Ream will join a panel of activists, theologians, and ethicists in leading a national webinar discussion focused on survivors of sexual violence who are leaders in the movement to end violence against women. Register for the webinar here.

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