LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION memorializing Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to
proclaim April 28, 2015, as Domestic Violence Awareness Day in the State
of New York

WHEREAS, As part of executing its mission, the New York State Coalition
Against Domestic Violence seeks to eradicate domestic violence and to
ensure the provision of effective and appropriate services to victims of
domestic violence through community outreach, education, training, tech-
nical assistance and policy development; and
WHEREAS, The Coalition's principles and practices prioritize the safe-
ty and concerns of victims who are abused, provide support and encour-
agement for the participation of victims who are abused in the struggle
to eradicate personal and institutional violence against them, and
provide for a non-competitive atmosphere that fosters open communi-
cation, respect, and cooperation among advocates and victims who are
abused; and
WHEREAS, Approximately one in four women in the United States will
experience physical domestic violence at some point in her life; and
WHEREAS, Females who are 20-24 years of age are at the greatest risk
of nonfatal intimate partner violence; and
WHEREAS, Domestic violence victims experience a host of health and
mental health-related consequences at far greater rates than their coun-
terparts who have not been abused; and
WHEREAS, The NYS Office of Children and Family Services reported that
over 57,000 survivors of domestic violence and their children received
services from residential and non-residential programs licensed by OCFS,
and nearly 195,000 hotline calls were received by domestic violence
programs across the state in 2013; and
WHEREAS, The economic burden of domestic violence in the United States
is over $8 billion per year in direct medical costs and loss of produc-
tivity; and
WHEREAS, 15.5 million children in the United States live in families
in which domestic violence occurred at least once in the past year, and
7 million children live in families in which severe domestic violence
occurred; and
WHEREAS, According to the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services,
there were 144 domestic homicides in NYS in 2013; and
WHEREAS, Only approximately one-quarter of all physical assaults,
one-fifth of all rapes, and one-half of all stalking incidents perpe-
trated against women by intimate partners are reported to the police;
and
WHEREAS, The damage caused by domestic violence is not limited by
gender, age, ethnicity or sexual orientation; and
WHEREAS, Education and awareness campaigns have the potential to not
only increase identification of domestic violence and the appropriate
response from helping professionals and the public, but when used in a
primary prevention framework, can also act as a catalyst to change
social and community norms that can prevent it from happening in the
first place; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim April 28, 2015, as
Domestic Violence Awareness Day in the State of New York; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of New
York, and the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence.