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Vera House Protest

Worker Institute Unveils Report on Engaging Men as Allies at Vera House, Inc.

On Monday, September 20, the Worker Institute unveiled its report on a domestic violence prevention program at Vera House Inc. in a press conference in Syracuse. The report analyzes Vera House Inc.’s 12 Men Model, a program designed to engage men as allies in preventing domestic and sexual violence in their networks and communities. Researchers surveyed past program participants and found that after completing the program, men rethought their attitudes toward gender and masculinity and took action towards preventing abuse. The report concludes that the 12 Men Model has the capability to grow and could potentially aid in reducing violence in communities.

Click here to download the full report.

The 12 Men model is a program administered by Vera House Inc., a comprehensive domestic and sexual violence service agency providing shelter, advocacy, counseling services, education and training programs and community coordination that is located in Syracuse, New York. The 12 Men Model gathers small groups of men together to discuss and learn about issues of gender and domestic violence. It has engaged over two hundred participants over the last nine years. At the press conference, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon and Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh spoke and announced their participation in the 12 Men Model program.

The Worker Institute unveils a number of key findings from their survey of the program in its report:

  • 89.3% applied of program participants applied strategies they learned from the model in their own life
  • 85.2% of participants felt more equipped to intervene in a domestic violence situation because of the 12 men Model
  • 66.7% of participants personally used a domestic violence prevention technique from the model in their own life, such as walking away from a heated exchange with a spouse
  • 84.0% of past participants agree that strategies they learned were very or somewhat impactful in their community or network
  • 48.2% of program participants intervened in a non-aggressive way when they observed abusive language, potential domestic violence, or threats of violence after completion of the model
  • 85.2% of participants will or have recommended the program to others

In the report, researchers also included several recommendations for how Vera House Inc. could move its program forward and expand it to other spaces, such as the workplace. The report was written by Hunter Moskowitz and KC Wagner of the Worker Institute, along with Yasamin Miller of the Yasamin Miller Group.