Message from Director Carbon: April 2010

Dear Friends, It is my pleasure to continue the Director’s monthly messages and share with you the latest news from the Office on Violence Against Women.  To say that I am honored to have been appointed by President Barack Obama as Director of this Office is an understatement.  It is the most exciting and humbling experience of my life.  When I began working with OVW 15 years ago on a technical assistance project to train judges around the country, I never thought I would have such an extraordinary opportunity to be here, doing work I love so much. All of us in the field have taken different journeys that have brought us to this important work.  Mine began in March of 1993 when my state’s Chief Justice asked me to be part of the five-member team that traveled to San Francisco for the Courts and Communities:  Confronting Violence in the Family Conference.  Those four days in San Francisco quite literally changed my life. At that conference, I was exposed, for the first time, to the pervasiveness of violence against women.   I learned about issues I’d never dreamt existed and horrors no person ought ever to be subjected.  I left the conference completely exhausted, but left it a changed person.  I left it having learned that judges could be a part of the solution – indeed, that judges had to be a part of the solution, and I wanted to be one of those making the necessary change happen. Over the next 15 years, I spent much of my professional life working with judges, advocates, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, legislators, teachers, medical and mental health professionals, public and private attorneys, including members of the defense bar, child protective services, elder services, the faith community, and other community leaders to educate our state about domestic and sexual violence, and to institute necessary changes in our laws and court rules.  I had the privilege of working not only in New Hampshire, but around the country with many of our Technical Assistance Providers and around the world. I would like to take a moment of personal privilege in this first monthly message to thank so many for their support.  First, I am honored beyond words to have been selected by President Obama.  But I know that without the support of Vice President Biden, I would not be here.  I cannot thank them enough for their trust and confidence.  Upon my arrival, Attorney General Holder and Associate Attorney General Perrelli have so warmly welcomed me to the Department of Justice, as have so many others within the Department.  Their leadership and support of our work is extraordinary.  And my colleagues here at the Office – an immensely talented and dedicated group of professionals with whom I now have the pleasure of working.  We have all benefited from their vision and commitment. There are two individuals in particular from New Hampshire for whom I wish to publically acknowledge, my Administrative Judge, the Honorable Edwin W. Kelly, and our state’s Chief Justice, the Honorable John T. Broderick, Jr.  Both have been exemplary mentors and visionary leaders who have supported me in my work within New Hampshire and elsewhere for so many years. My family and dearest friends are too numerous to identify by name, but know who they are.  To all of you, I am deeply indebted. To everyone in the field, know that I appreciate the magnitude of responsibility of this position.  I am humbled by the support that I have been given, and will endeavor to do my level best to serve the needs of victims and survivors, young and old, and from every corner. In the months ahead, I hope to use these monthly messages to highlight exciting and promising programs inspired both within this Office and Department of Justice, and from all of you in the field.  I envision this work as a genuine partnership with all of you, and am excited to both begin my new role, and to continue the tradition of leadership this Office has demonstrated for 15 years. In my first three weeks as Director, Attorney General Eric Holder and Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli hosted the first-ever Department of Justice Sexual Assault Awareness Month program on April 12th in the Great Hall of Justice here in Washington, DC.  I also traveled to Jacksonville, Florida to visit a national model for coordinated military-civilian community responses to sexual assault and domestic violence, a project sponsored by the Battered Women’s Justice Project.  Read more from the Attorney General and the Associate Attorney General, and more on my trip to Jacksonville. Now, 15 years after its original passage, we have an historic opportunity to bring to fruition to the dream that inspired the Violence Against Women Act.  None of us is immune from sexual or domestic violence, but all of us are needed to end it.  Let us forge new and stronger partnerships, put our issues on the front burner of everyone's agenda, and give life and light to this dream.  I thank you for all you have done, and look forward to all we will do together. With deep respect and gratitude, Susan B. Carbon OVW Director U.S. Department of Justice