We have big news to share.

Our effort to fight domestic violence on a coordinated local level has won national support. Shelby County (and the Memphis Area Women's Council) have been selected as one of just three sites in the country to participate in a demonstration project that will build on our local coordinated community response to domestic violence (CCRDV).

The selection means expert and monetary help with details to come. Funding will support the Women's Council in our role as the designated local advocacy program.

The Blueprint Project is a joint effort of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women and Praxis International, a nonprofit research and training organization that works toward the elimination of violence in the lives of women and children.

"The selection means special technical and financial assistance," said Dottie Jones, Director of the Shelby County Division of Community Services. She added, "The Memphis Area Women's Council will serve as the designated local advocacy program, assisting with the implementation of the project."

The Memphis metropolitan area (along with New Orleans and Duluth, Minnesota) will be led in creation of customized versions of the Blueprint for Safety: An Interagency Response to Domestic Violence Crimes. That is a document that outlines policies and protocols for agencies and links them together with common goals of safety and accountability, with a working method of intervention in each community's criminal justice system.

"This is going to bring us excellent support and will tremendously benefit our whole community as it enhances our coordinated community response to DV," said Deborah M. Clubb, MAWC executive director. "The Blueprint is a prototype that can be used by any community hoping to link its criminal justice agencies together in a coherent, philosophically sound DV intervention model," she added.

Clubb and Jones applied in February to be considered one of the demonstration sites.

Men - and boys - will walk a mile or so in support of women - and girls - and ending violence against them on Friday, April 15 in the Broad Avenue Arts District.

The march - our second annual Walk A Mile In Her Shoes™ event - is sponsored by Memphis Men for Memphis Women. This year the walk will be a sanctioned event at the upcoming Broad Avenue Spring Art Walk.

Join us. Get the men in your circles to come and stroll. Those able or gutsy-silly enough, will even put on women's high-heel shoes as a testament to how far they are willing to go to protest violence against women. These walks take place each year around the nation and have become a Memphis fixture.

Registration begins at 5 p.m. in the parking lot beside the building at 2497 Broad Street, at the corner with Merton. That building will be the home of several pop-up art galleries during the art walk.

The walk around the art district will start promptly at 5:30, after a few remarks by our honorary chairs (watch for an announcement soon about them). Walkers pay $20 ($10 for students), and many are collecting those amounts in sponsorships from friends, employers and third cousins once removed!

Proceeds go to the domestic violence programs of the Memphis Area Women's Council.

After the march, you are encouraged to enjoy the booming Broad Avenue Arts District, where 10 art galleries, numerous pop-up retailers, and six restaurants will be open.

See photos and video of last year's march.