RUSSELL – “85 percent of hilltown residents surveyed agree: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS NEVER THE FAULT OF THE PERSON BEING ABUSED.”
This slogan has been a rallying cry for the Southern Hilltown Domestic Violence Task Force, and will be proclaimed loud and clear in a series of public service announcements, the first of which will be produced this weekend.
Tomorrow, approximately 30 hilltown residents will be photographed and trained in a private session being put on by the task force, with photos of community members used as the background for the PSAs. The PSAs will be distributed as a series throughout the year.
According to Task Force Coordinator Monica Moran, the new ads will promote important messages about domestic violence based on the results of a recent hilltown survey on domestic abuse.
“It’s going to be a two-year campaign, so we expect to run about three (PSAs) over the next year, and about five or six over the next two years,” Moran said.
Moran said that the group of residents participating in the shoot are composed of several task force members and community residents who are “well regarded” by the organization.
The task force services the southern hilltowns which are also serviced by the Russell State Police Barracks, though as Moran can attest, domestic violence has little concern for geography.
“Twenty percent of those who participated in the survey were from the northern hilltowns,” she said. “We don’t all of a sudden not care about abuse going on in other areas. We aren’t rigid about location.”
The PSAs will be posted on local community bulletin boards, in media outlets, and in town halls throughout the hilltown region, and Moran believes these will be effective outlets to convey the group’s message.
According to task force member Diane Meehan, the photoshoot will also double as a training seminar for the 30 participants.
“(The training) is on how to respond as a by-stander to domestic violence,” she said. “We’re gearing it twoards the survey we did this past year, and we’re working with people (on posters) who are trusted community leaders, who’ve helped the program and have been supportive.”
Meehan said that funding for the PSAs will come from state community block grants.
“Every year the hilltowns make proposals for grants, which go to things like infrastructure help,” she said. “But they have to put 20 percent of the grant toward social services.”
Meehan, who works for the Hilltown Community Health Centers, said the HCHC receives funding through that 20 percent, along with organizations such as the Hilltown Social Services, Gateway Family Center, the Huntington Food Pantry, and Southern Hilltown Adult Education Center.
She said that task force and community members will be available to discuss the project at 1:30 p.m. at the Russell Town Hall with any hilltown residents who are curious about the organization.
