“Shine the Light on Domestic Violence” aka Turn the State Purple 2012

How can we work together to raise awareness of domestic violence? By “Shining a Light” on the subject and bringing it out of the darkness! “Shine the Light on Domestic Violence” is a campaign that connects communities across New York by turning the state purple during October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

This is the fifth year of the campaign, coordinated by the NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. From skyscrapers to bridges, storefronts to shopping centers, purple lights illuminate the nights of October. People wear purple clothing while police cars and municipal vehicles display purple magnetic ribbons. This low or no-cost campaign has grown from several dozen participants in 2008 to more than 425 in 2011. See a list and photos from previous years.

This year we have added NEW resources available for free download, presented in a handy toolkit, below. Please take a look at the suggested ways you can go purple, posters, brochures and wallet cards you can print and give out, sample press releases and much more. If there are any tools you would like us to consider developing for next year, please let us know! And note this year’s “Wear Purple Day” is Wednesday, October 17.

OPDV’s “Shine the Light” Toolkit

Every year, OPDV provides free tools and resources that can be used by domestic violence service providers, public and private businesses, government agencies, college campuses, community organizations and individuals to help them “Shine the Light on Domestic Violence” by turning something purple in October and talking about it. We have several new items this year. OPDV’s free downloadable 2012 “Shine the Light Toolkit” includes:

Downloads

• How to Go Purple Flyer (printer-friendly/pdf):Two-sided flyer offers many suggestions on how to “go purple,” from lighting local landmarks to making purple ribbons or hosting awareness days.
• Poster: “Why is everything purple?” (printer-friendly/pdf): Download, print and display this 8-1/2”x11” poster at places that are “going purple.” Good for storefronts, bulletin boards, and lobbies.
• “Shine the Light on Domestic Violence” Brochure (printer-friendly/pdf): Hand out this brochure to help make the connection between purple and domestic violence. It has statistics, hotline numbers and suggestions for steps anyone can take.
• “Shine the Light on Domestic Violence” Wallet Cards (printer-friendly/pdf): Print these 2”x3-1/2” cards on business card paper and leave piles in public places or hand out to people.
• “Shine the Light on Domestic Violence” Talking Points (printer-friendly/pdf): Key points about the campaign. Good for background knowledge or sharing with media.
• 2012 Web Banner: Download this web banner and put it on your website or at the end of your e-mail signature during the month of October.
• How to Light a Structure Purple (printer-friendly/pdf): Provides specific details on how most buildings and structures can be illuminated in purple for little or no money.
• Attention Book Clubs! (printer-friendly/pdf): Read and discuss a book from our suggested list.
• Sample Press Release: Use this as a starting point for your own press release, to publicize your activities that Shine the Light on Domestic Violence.
• “Shine the Light on Domestic Violence: How to Go Purple” webinar: Features four past participants describing how they helped turn their communities purple.

Additional Resources

• Purple New York, October 2011: See a brief summary of the 2011 campaign, a photo gallery and a list of participants. Will you be included for 2012??
• Year-by-Year Summaries: Includes lists of participants, photo galleries and press releases for each year since the campaign began in 2008.

Make sure you’re counted! Anything you do counts as participation. Please take 5 minutes to tell us who you are and what you’re doing. We’ll include you on our list of participants and if you send photos to opdvpurple@opdv.ny.gov, we’ll put them on our Facebook page.

See the year-by-year summaries: