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Foundation supports agency's advocacy of battered womenThe Illinois Bar Foundation has provided a 2008 grant of $10,000 to the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network in support of the second phase of its Domestic Violence Court Policy and Advocacy Project. The presentation to executive director Dawn Dalton was made May 12 in the ISBA Chicago Regional office by Lori G. Levin, a member of the foundation’s grant review committee and the ISBA Assembly. Objectives of the network’s policy and advocacy initiative include continuation of its order of protection and firearm confiscation task force on review and implementation of existing laws. Another is to delve deeper in structuring a court advocate curriculum that will improve skill sets of personnel and volunteers, and provide high-caliber service to domestic violence survivors. Administration of specialized domestic violence trainings for groups of criminal-legal specialists also is a key objective. The Bar Foundation grant covers a portion of the salary and benefits of a Domestic Violence Court Policy and Advocacy Project coordinator who has responsibilities for structuring, organizing and overseeing each of its aspects. Founded in 1980, the Battered Women’s Network collaborates with a state’s attorney’s task force, the Chicago Police Department, the Illinois Family Violence Coordinating Council and several other advocacy organizations. The Bar Foundation made a 2007 grant to the network for the first phase of the project. For more information, call (312) 750-0730 or access http://www.batteredwomensnetwork.org.
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