Safe Horizon is the nation’s leading victim assistance organization and touches the lives of more than 250,000 affected by crime and abuse each year. Whether we are responding to child abuse, domestic violence, or other violent crimes, we help victims and their families heal and rebuild their lives.

Safe Horizon takes action by providing practical services like a new lock, 24-hour hotlines, safe shelter, and food as well as supportive services like mental health counseling. Our dedicated staff offers compassionate, expert support, helping victims find hope by offering a chance to tell their story in their own words, a guide through the criminal justice system, and a safe place to sleep.

Our services are models for programs across the country and around the world, and our staff provides critical technical assistance, education and training to service providers, government organizations, corporations and the media worldwide. Our experience for over a quarter of a century gives us a credible voice for leading change in systems, policies, and legislation. We are recognized as national leaders and are sought out as experts on violence and victimization.

Safe Horizon also raises awareness of issues of violence and abuse, and its impact on the home, the workplace, and communities. Through speaking engagements, media and online outreach, integrated public awareness campaigns, and distribution of public service materials, Safe Horizon reaches millions of people each year, educating the public and inspiring them to take action to help move victims of violence from crisis to confidence.

For more information, visit Safe Horizon.

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Happy Food Revolution Day! Food Revolution Day on 17 May is a global day of action for people to make a stand for good food and essential cooking skills. It’s a chance for people to come together within their homes, schools, workplaces and communities to cook and share their kitchen skills, food knowledge and resources. Food Revolution Day aims to raise awareness about the importance of good food and better food education for everyone by focusing on three simple actions – cook it, share it, live it. The first Food Revolution Day took place on 19 May 2012 with more than 1,000 events in 664 cities across 62 countries.

100% of net funds raised for Jamie’s charities, after deduction of third party transaction charges, will go to food-education projects in the UK, US and Australia. In the UK, every £1 will fund one child to do a class through the Food Education Box programme in schools, on behalf of Jamie’s School Kitchen Garden Project. In the US, every US$1 will fund one child to do a class through the Learn Your Fruits and Vegetables programme in schools and after-school programmes, on behalf of the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation. In Australia, every $1 raised will help to fund the delivery of a practical hands-on cooking course for non-cooks as part of the Jamie’s Ministry of Food Programme, on behalf of our partners, The Good Foundation. 100% of net funds raised for local charities, after deduction of third party transaction charges, will go directly to their programmes.

For more information, visit Food Revolution Day online.

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Sentebale is a charity founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. It helps the most vulnerable children in Lesotho get the support they need to lead healthy and productive lives.

Sentebale works with local grassroots organisations to help these children – the victims of extreme poverty and Lesotho’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. Together, they are making a big difference to these children’s lives.

The success of the Mamohato programme, which provides life-skills and psychosocial support to children living with HIV/AIDS at week-long camps and monthly club meetings, has refined the organization’s guiding vision and mission.

Having proved the effectiveness of this concept in Lesotho, their vision is to give a new generation in Southern Africa the support they need to shape a prosperous future for themselves.

The charity aims to replicate the success of the Mamohato programme across a network of countries in Southern Africa. Our mission is to become the leading organisation in the provision of psychosocial support for children living with HIV in Southern Africa.

For more information, visit Sentebale.

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Gavin DeGraw GY6 Reel v16-1920 from GotYour6 on Vimeo.

Got Your 6 is a campaign that unites the entertainment industry with top veteran-focused nonprofit organizations. The goal of the campaign is to bridge the civilian-military divide by creating a new conversation in America, so that veterans and military families are perceived as leaders and civic assets.

Got Your 6 ensures that our military veterans return home to be seen as leaders and assets.
Got Your 6 creates opportunities for veterans and civilians to join together to reinvigorate our communities.
Got Your 6 inspires Americans to understand the unique challenges and opportunities our veterans face upon their return.
Got Your 6 provides tools, platforms, and resources that Americans can use to better understand veteran and military culture.
Got Your 6 embodies—for all Americans—the values of duty, selfless service, and mutual respect upheld by those who have served in our military.

For more information, visit Got Your 6.

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The Wellbeing Foundation is a pan-African organisation seeking to create real and sustainable change for African families by working with communities across the continent to build capacities and empower women. Through projects such as the Personal Health Record, they give people across Africa the ability to seek better lives for themselves and for their communities.

WBF Africa is focused on reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals, in particular goals three, four and five:

3 – Promote gender equality and empower women
4 – Reduce child mortality
5 – Improve maternal health

Currently, sub-Saharan Africa is failing to meet these goals. The region still has the highest levels of under-five mortality – one in eight children die before the age of five, nearly twice the average in developing regions overall and nearly 18 times the average in developed regions. Due to rapid progress in other regions, the disparity between sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world is growing.

Maternal death rates have declined just 26% since 1990 and currently stand at 640 per 100,000 births, well short of the 218 per 100,000 2015 target. Together, sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia accounted for 87% of all such deaths globally in 2008.

The UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2011 concluded that the 2015 targets will only be achieved through sustained and accelerated action. WBF Africa undertakes a grassroots approach by partnering community groups with the private sector to introduce the best global practices while taking account of local variants.

WBF Africa has a mission to make people’s lives better; to encourage, enable, empower and inspire; to comfort those in sorrow and distress and to triumph over sickness, poverty and lack of opportunity.

For more information, visit the Wellbeing Foundation Africa.

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GRAMMY award-winning singer-songwriter, record producer and actor and UNICEF supporter Lenny Kravitz talks about the importance of reaching every child with life-saving immunizations.

UNICEF works with governments, partners and communities to increase demand for immunization establish better cold chain and logistic systems; design approaches to “Reach the Unreached”; and increase national ownership for immunization. In addition, UNICEF, which currently supplies vaccines reaching 36% of the world’s children, works with partners and manufacturers to obtain vaccines at affordable prices while maintaining a healthy market.

For more information, visit UNICEF.

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Happy Military Spouses Appreciation Day!

Invisible Wound is an organization created by Warriors, for Warriors suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A grassroots organization, Invisible Wound focuses on PTSD advocacy, community and support for Warriors and their families. The secondary mission of the organization is educating the public about the issues surrounding PTSD.

The Battle Buddies program of Invisible Wound is designed to assist and enhance the lives of veterans with PTSD. They do this by training dogs and matching them to our individual veterans’ needs. Estimates are that between one in eight and one in five of all Iraq War veterans have some degree of PTSD. Two-thirds of those who screened positive for PTSD are not receiving treatment. People who suffer from PTSD experience anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, flashbacks, and extreme wariness. It may manifest right away or show up months or even years later. Some of those who suffer from PTSD commit suicide. Battle Buddies has developed a program focused on addressing these issues. They bring together dogs and veterans who want a canine companion for a better quality of life.

Battle Buddies is based on a community support approach with veterans acting as mentors, trainers and in other support roles in maintaining contact with clients. They aim to give hands-on, ongoing support in new skill development and problem solving. Invisible Wound is dedicated to positive training as part of the treatment program of PTSD.

For more information, visit Invisible Wound.

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International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to secure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to ensure that public justice systems – police, courts and laws – effectively protect the poor.

IJM’s justice professionals work in their communities in 16 field offices in Asia, Africa and Latin America to secure tangible and sustainable protection of national laws through local court systems.

IJM investigators, lawyers and social workers intervene in individual cases of abuse in partnership with state and local authorities to ensure proper support for the victim and appropriate action against the perpetrator. Such collaboration is essential to obtain convictions against individual perpetrators and to bring meaning to local laws that are meaningless if not enforced.

For more information, visit IJM online.

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Photos by Annie Watt

Tuesday, April 23, the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) celebrated its third annual Hall of Fame Benefit at Espace in Manhattan.

The evening featured artwork by: Joe Brittain, Jose Carlos Casado, James Case Leal, Martha Colburn, Lisa Crafts, Zachary Fabri, John Gordan Gauld, Michael Greathouse, Michelle Jaffe, Jason Mitcham, Tristan Perich, and Sterz. Curated by Joey Lico and David C. Terry and co-chaired by Marjorie W. Martay, Elizabeth Yee, and Joe Reece, the event honored patron of the arts and Director or Acquavella Gallery Michael Findlay; composer Elliot Goldenthal; filmmaker Mira Nair; and visual artist Fred Wilson. Special remarks were made by: Carin Kuoni, Jessye Norman, D.A. Pennebaker, and Billy Sullivan.

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is a nonprofit organization serving artists at critical stages in their creative lives.

photos by www.AnnieWatt.com

On Thursday, April 25, the New England Society (NES) in the City of New York celebrated the winners of its 2013 New England Society Book Award at the historic Grolier Club in midtown. The Award, which honors books of merit that celebrate New England and its culture, is presented annually to the authors of books published in the previous 12 months, in any of four major categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Art & Photography and Special Titles.

The winning authors were all in attendance to accept their respective awards in front of an audience made up of NES members, guests, and publishing insiders. The 2013 NES Book Award winners are as follows:

Fiction: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro (Algonquin Press)

Nonfiction: Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul by John Barry (Viking)

Art & Photography: Maine Moderns: Art in Seguinland 1900-1940 by Susan Danly and Libby Bischof (Yale University Press)

Specialty Title: Science & Nature: A Field Guide to the Ants of New England by Aaron M. Ellison, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Elizabeth J. Farnsworth and Gary D. Alpert (Yale University Press)