On February 18, dancers, and violence prevention educators join together in Roanoke City’s Market Square to raise awareness about domestic and sexual violence as part of the One Billion Rising Campaign. All community members are invited to dance or stand in support. There will be a follow up gathering to meet and share support resources from 1 – 2 p.m. at 16 West Marketplace on Church Ave.
One in three women across the planet will be physically or sexually abused during her lifetime. That’s one billion women and girls. Every February, groups across the planet rise up to show their local communities and the world what one billion looks like and to shine light on violence in the family, in community and in national policies against women; sisters, daughters and mothers.
SARA Roanoke and The Family Violence Coordinating Council will share resource information at the noon dance in the City Market Square and also at 1 pm inside 16 West Marketplace, Church Ave. in partnership with Roanoke artists, friends, and educators who will share wellness information, self-defense demos, art activities, and refreshments.
About One Billion Rising–One Billion Rising is the biggest Global mass action in human history demanding an end to violence against women and children. The campaign, launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, began as a call to action based on the staggering statistics in 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped over multiple times in her lifetime. In 2013, people across the world came together to reveal the abuses; to strike, to dance, and RISE in resistance to the injustices women suffer each year, One Billion Rising focuses on the issue of justice and support for all survivors of gender violence, highlighting the impunity that lives at the intersection of poverty, racism, war, environmental destruction, global economics, capitalism, and patriarchy.
About Family Violence Coordinating Council–The Family Violence Coordinating Council is an interagency coalition of professionals that include human service agencies, attorneys, legal said, judges, police officers and health care providers. The members work together to improve and increase the resources available to deal with domestic and family violence. The FVCC is a component of the Council of Community Services, a comprehensive community-planning agency.
