In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we’d like to take a moment to get our Calvary Comments readers up-to-date on domestic violence in America, and right here in Washington, DC.

Around this time last year, President Obama launched a new plan to fight domestic violence across the nation. In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, he recently reaffirmed his commitment to the program. While putting effective programs into place are a meaningful first step, there are still startling incidents of violence across the country, and even locally: http://bit.ly/odunQY

Perhaps you’ve heard the disturbing story that’s been circling over the past couple of weeks. A county in Kansas, after being faced with budget cuts, chose to repeal the law that makes domestic violence a crime. This means abusers will no longer be investigated and prosecuted. While this may ease budget constraints for the county, the cost to the lives of victims cannot be quantified. And, as one writer points out, the greater financial impacts of this measure could also be more widespread than lawmakers realize: http://wapo.st/ocu1fE

What about right here in the District? You may remember that earlier this year, cuts to DC’s services for domestic violence victims were imminent as well: http://tbd.ly/f5UbOU.

Locally, there has been a 15% increase in domestic violence cases since 2009. Last year 3,552 District residents sought help at one of the two intake centers for domestic violence in the city. Of those cases, an overwhelming 40% lived in Ward 8.

The good news? Here at Calvary, we’ve had a number of success stories over the past year with women who have come to us after being victims of an abuser.

For further reading:

• An informative Domestic Violence fact sheet: http://www.ncadv.org/files/DC.pdf
• Domestic Violence resources from the Metropolitan Police Department: http://1.usa.gov/qh8ORJ