Violence Free Minnesota

Since 1989, Violence Free Minnesota (VFMN) has collected information on victims killed due to relationship violence in our annual Homicide Report: Relationship Abuse In Minnesota (formerly known as the Femicide Report). This report began as a way to remember and honor the lives lost due to intimate partner violence, and to this day, Violence Free Minnesota is still the only entity in the state that tracks and compiles this data and information. The report expanded in the last 10 years, not just in name, but also to include robust policy recommendations that the coalition believes will reduce homicides in the state if implemented.Violence Free Minnesota also curates the Clothesline Project, an interactive visual memorial to Minnesota's victims of intimate partner homicide. The project, which began in 1992, is created each year by member programs and sometimes family members of the victims. It consists of a t-shirt for each victim killed in a given year, accompanied by a description of that victim's death. Member programs, and other organizations, request to display this project throughout the year at events.

VFMN holds regional meetings throughout the year with member programs from each region of the State. These meetings were previously held in-person, at a program located in said region, but have since moved to virtual starting in March 2020. Through these gatherings, VFMN can closely engage with member programs about the issues that impact survivors in their specific geographic areas. Membership is divided into six regions (Central, Southeast, Southwest, Metro area, Northeast, Northwest), and each VFMN staff member is assigned a region, to which they attend meetings and keep in contact with members in their region. Member programs from each of those regions convene three times a year for VFMN regional meetings. At the meetings member programs gather together along with the VFMN Executive Director and representatives from VFMN staff. The purpose of the gatherings are to foster community, relationship building, communication, peer-to-peer learning, and coordination among programs within each region. The meetings are also a time when member programs can connect in a smaller group setting with VFMN staff to share insights into what is happening in their communities and receive updates from VFMN.

Public Policy/Housing & Economic Justice: Economic justice work through the Allstate Foundation grant took the financial empowerment training and converted it to a five-week, self-directed, on-line course for advocates around the State to access. A companion on-line housing advocacy course was developed in partnership with legal services. The number of domestic violence advocacy programs doing economic empowerment work with survivors has expanded both through increased individual advocacy skills and with dedicated educational groups for survivors. The Survivor Fund provides low barrier access to one-time money to assist with housing stability and credit building has grown. Funded by Allstate Foundation, Pohlad Family Foundation, and Coalition grants. In Spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted all of the gaps and problems that already existed around housing, making them much more visible. 100% of survivors used money granted from the Survivor Fund to secure or maintain housing through generous support from the Pohlad and Allstate Foundations, especially in October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.