Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84It Takes a Village COMMUNITIES WORK TOGETHER TO COMBAT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE by AliciaWanek Years ago, I was in attendance at a community meeting when the speaker passed out a lipstick tube to everyone in the audience. Thinking it was a free sample, I was surprised to see that when I turned the base, rather than finding a shocking pink or colorful coral shade, I wound up a folded piece of paper. On it were important things to consider for any woman in an abusive relationship and a list of items she should take with her when she made the decision to leave her abuser, along with phone numbers for the National Domestic Violence hotline and local agencies. The speaker instructed us tokeepthetubetopassalongtoanyonewesuspectedmightbe in a relationship where they were being hurt. A woman could keep the tube in her purse without drawing any suspicion. I never really thought I would need it until I heard the statistics. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, on average nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men. Considering that fact, it isn’t surprising that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime. Additionally, intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime. It’s got to stop. Thankfully, the North Texas area has a bevy of resources and non-profit agencies working together to put an end to it. These organizations are making tremendous strides in the fight against domestic violence. Through education, a crisis hotline, mental health treatment, emergency and transitional housing, counseling and legal advocacy, Hope’s Door in Plano is a local agency making a huge impact. In 2015 alone, they answered over 3000 hotline calls and provided counseling to over 700 women. Plano Police Department legal advisor and Hope’s Door board member Curtis Howard says, “We are working together with the non-profits in our local