Latest news with #CVIC
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Recent CVIC retiree honored with national award for commitment to domestic violence prevention and advocacy
May 21—GRAND FORKS — The Community Violence Intervention Center's recently retired director of grants management has received national recognition. Julie Christianson was granted a "Lifetime Achievement Award" as part of the 2025 Purple Ribbon Awards, presented by an online hub for domestic violence survivors and those who support them, according to a press release issued by CVIC. "I am so honored to be awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award and recognized for the passion and commitment I have for ending interpersonal violence," Christianson said in the release. "Working alongside so many others who share that passion made those dreams and accomplishments come to fruition." She first became involved with CVIC more than 20 years ago; her efforts led to a significant increase in funding support for the local nonprofit, by way of grant programming and management, the release said. "We are a stronger agency — and better people — because of Julie's presence over the past two decades," CVIC President and CEO Coiya Tompkins Inman said. "We are deeply grateful for the passion and commitment she brought to advancing our mission." Christianson is one of two CVIC nominees to be honored through the 2025 Purple Ribbon Awards. The second is Gate City Bank, which was recognized as "Business Partner of the Year." Since 2019, the bank has funded and otherwise supported the Green Dot Greater Grand Forks program, a violence prevention initiative that aims to empower bystanders to safely intervene during potentially harmful scenarios, the release said. The Green Dot program reaches the community through education and awareness events, with a mission to permanently reduce incidents of violence and empower residents to proactively engage in healthy relationships, according to the release. "This partnership that we have is such a gift," said Becky Mindeman, CVIC board member and Gate City Bank senior vice president of northeastern North Dakota. "The opportunity that we have to support such a tremendous need in our community really is more rewarding than I could possibly put into words. We are grateful to be a part of such a remarkable vision to end interpersonal violence." This is the third year in a row that CVIC-nominated partners have been recognized with Purple Ribbon Awards. In 2024, the Rydell Angels on Wheels Program was recognized as "Business Partner of the Year," in 2023, former Rep. Mark Sanford, R-Grand Forks, was recognized as an "Outstanding Legislative Partner." The Purple Ribbon Awards are hosted annually by and Alliance for HOPE International. This year's awardees will be recognized during a virtual ceremony Thursday, May 22, where select winners will be eligible to receive grants from a $30,000 funding pool, the release said.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Grand Forks County Sheriff Andy Schneider honored at CVIC's 20th-annual memorial breakfast
May 7—EDITOR'S NOTE — If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, visit CVIC's website at or call the 24-hour crisis line at (701) 746-8900. GRAND FORKS — Fundraising is one goal of CVIC's annual Judd Sondreal Memorial Rise & Shine for Peace Breakfast, but this year's Jim Vigness Peacemaker Award recipient — Grand Forks County Sheriff Andy Schneider — emphasized the importance of contributing to the nonprofit's mission in other ways. "Everybody can be a peacemaker," Schneider said. "If you can impact just one person's life — maybe it's through a conversation with them — then you've definitely made a difference." Schneider was selected as this year's awardee because of the work he does to address violence as a law enforcement official, as well as advocating for funding in the Legislature, according to CVIC Board Chair Catherine Gillach. Approximately 800 people attended the 20th-annual memorial breakfast, which took place Wednesday morning, May 7, at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks. Guests included local lawmakers, current and retired law enforcement, violence survivors and advocates. The organization's fundraising goal was to collect $450,000 worth of pledges, which are made by monthly donations throughout a five-year period. The keynote speaker, Amanda Hendrickson — a violence survivor and CVIC donor — spoke about experiencing sexual violence from a very young age, and spending years in denial of what she had endured. "I spent over 25 years dealing with the secret pain that I couldn't understand — afraid of a memory," Hendrickson said. "I tried to stuff it away and pretend it was a dream. I tried to be good enough to be worthy of love." Fourteen years ago, attending a CVIC memorial breakfast for the first time, her heart broke when she learned just how many people were like her. On the other hand, realizing how many others had faced their traumatic pasts helped Hendrickson feel ready to address her own, she said. "It took until my late 30s to finally realize that I was a victim of someone else's choices," Hendrickson said. "As I look around the room today, I wonder if there are any of you out here like me, lost in a painful past, afraid of a memory. ... Today, I hope to give you the courage to embark on your own healing journey and see what is waiting for you on the other side. Let this be a new beginning for you. You are not alone." CVIC is here, she said, no matter who someone is or how long it has been since they were victimized. Considering this year's theme, "Champions for Change," speakers spoke about people in their lives who embodied that title, including CVIC CEO and President Coiya Tompkins Inman who, for the first time, shared the story of herself, her younger brother and her mother fleeing from her abusive stepfather and seeking help from an organization similar to CVIC. "I think a lot about how hard that must have been for (my mother), how scared she must have been, how long that 10-minute drive must have felt and how truly courageous she was to ask a stranger for help," Tompkins Inman said. "Most of all, I think about (my brother) Matt and I, and how fortunate we were that she took that first step." She and her brother are both now parents, and it's a powerful thing to consider the impact her mother has had on her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Tompkins Inman said. She thinks of her former stepfather, now deceased, who repeated the abusive patterns of his own father and, after separating from Tompkins Inman's mother, repeated the cycle with other people in his life. "Without proper intervention, these devastating patterns compound for families," she said. "What if he or his father would have been able to participate in (CVIC's violence intervention program) New Choices? Or, better yet, what if the rural community where they grew up would have talked about healthy relationships?" After the event, Tompkins Inman told the Herald it has been easy to speak about her mother, brother and the people who helped them in the past. "But the missing piece of all of this, when we talk about violence, is those folks who didn't learn how to have a healthy relationship," Tompkins Inman said. She has slowly started learning to forgive her former stepfather, she said, in hopes of doing right by her daughter and grandchildren by approaching the issue holistically in order to truly end interpersonal violence in the community.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Yahoo
North Dakota AG Drew Wrigley supports increase in funds to prevent human trafficking, assist survivors
Feb. 10—EDITOR'S NOTE — If you or someone you know is experiencing interpersonal violence, visit CVIC's website at or call the 24-hour crisis line at (701) 746-8900. GRAND FORKS — Attorney General Drew Wrigley recently was moved to make a late addition to his budget proposal that would provide additional funding for human trafficking awareness, prevention and support for survivors after speaking with advocates from Youthworks, 31:8 Project and YWCA. "They came in and asked for a meeting, and advocated strongly for additional resources and what they could leverage — both in federal resources, but also the good that they can do in the communities across the state," Wrigley said during a recent meeting with the Grand Forks Herald. "We were moved to say, 'We're going to back that.'" His office's budgetary bill, HB 1003, originally asked that $1,110,614 be appropriated from the general fund to human trafficking victims grants — the same amount appropriated during the last legislative session. As of Wednesday, Feb. 5, an additional $656,900 was being considered, which would bring the total to $1,767,514. "We're definitely excited that the Legislature is looking at increasing the funding for the human trafficking victims grant program," Sheila Morris, vice president of advocacy at CVIC — a Grand Forks-based nonprofit that has benefited from this funding since 2017 — told the Herald. Claire Ness, chief deputy attorney general, said recipients of these grants may use them for anything that assists survivors of human trafficking, from personal needs like housing and medical care to expanding the organization's services and staff. There are six pieces of legislation this session that address human trafficking, whether to provide guidelines for training law enforcement to deal with crimes of exploitation (which failed) or setting mandatory minimum sentences for human trafficking offenders (which passed in the House 70-23 and has now been handed over to the Senate). There are a number of bills related to this issue each session, Wrigley said; this year's number is not necessarily indicative of a worsening issue. Instead, he believes it's because people have broadened their understanding of what trafficking looks like. "It's bad enough when people think of it as simply the trafficking of human beings for sexual purposes," he said. "There's work, there's immigration — there are a whole bunch of different components that combine to human beings being forced to conduct beyond what they would do by people leveraging them for dollars, for threats, for drugs, you name it. So I think we've got a really strong advocate community in the state of North Dakota, and they've got some good, strong legislative backing, too." Morris agreed that there are misconceptions of what trafficking looks like; it isn't always someone being abducted off the street and sold through a large, organized network. "Human trafficking can also occur when a loved one convinces you, or grooms you, into a servitude where the individual is maybe using online platforms to sell sexual services, and then they're giving the money to their partner," Morris said. "There's a wide range of what human trafficking can look like for survivors." Sometimes, survivors don't realize what they're going through until they encounter a resource like CVIC, she said. Putting additional funding forward is a way to help get these people out of very difficult circumstances, and help them move on with their lives, Wrigley said. It can also prevent more victims, according to CVIC's CEO and President Coiya Tompkins Inman. She testified in support of the budget increase, noting that, within the last biennium, CVIC has been able to assist nine survivors and 10 people who were able to flee from a potential human trafficking situation. The work CVIC staff does with human trafficking survivors is very similar to the work they do with other types of survivors, but it can often be more complex, Morris said. Due to their significant trauma, they may require more time and resources. Regardless of what type of trafficking they were subjected to, CVIC offers resources for all trafficking survivors, including safe housing at its 36-bed shelter and advocacy as they learn how to move forward. "We try to provide them that emotional support, the resources and the information," Morris said. "We try to meet the survivors where they're at, and just one step at a time." For anyone in the Grand Forks area experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking or any other form of interpersonal violence — or aware of someone who is — Morris reminds them CVIC is here. The nonprofit accepts walk-ins 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, at 211 S. Fourth St. Its crisis line is open 24/7. "We are available to help," Morris said.
