Hundreds of blue and purple construction paper teardrops hung on the walls of the Evanston Public Library on Friday.
The tears represented cases of domestic violence related to crimes such as battery and assault, as well as cases of domestic violence that do not necessarily constitute criminal offenses. Detailed stories of survivors hung beside them.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and is recognized by several Evanston groups. The Victim Services Unit of the Evanston Police Department, the Zonta Club and the Evanston-North Shore Young Women’s Christian Association are collaborating to launch the Tears Project in recognition of the annual event. More than 1,000 paper tears will be posted at four different locations across the city: Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave.; Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.; the YWCA, 1215 Church St.; and the Evanston Police Department, 1454 Elmwood Ave. Each tear signifies one of the 538 nonviolent and the 500-plus crime-related cases that took place last year, according to the police department.
The Tears Project’s primary goal is to start conversations about domestic violence and communicate to Evanston residents that “domestic violence is close to home,” Zonta Club President Jan Besser said.
Though Domestic Violence Awareness Month officially runs through October, the campaign against domestic violence will not disappear after the month ends, said Wendy Dickson, director of domestic violence services at the YWCA.
The YWCA is currently planning the Silent Victims Project, an effort similar to the Tears Project that replaces tears with silhouettes representing the women and children who have been killed in intimate partner violence, she said.
Dickson said she has been working with Northwestern for the past year and a half on a grant proposal for on-campus services, which was approved.
“It’s a three-year grant for the Violence Against Women Act to develop services on campus about dating violence and sexual assault,” Dickson said.
The YWCA also runs a financial literacy program, funded partly by the Zonta Club, to help victims of domestic violence become financially independent. Besser said the Zonta Club will meet soon to discuss the best possible way to involve students in raising awareness of domestic violence.
“We’re surrounded by this University with all these people,” Besser said. “I’m sure there are many women studies and students eager to do something.”
She added expanding services for victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse is key to restoring dignity to survivors. Rape is a factor in many cases of domestic violence, she said, and the police process of gathering evidence of such crimes can sometimes be inadvertently “humiliating.”
Besser said the Zonta Club gives money to the Victims Support Unit of the police department to buy outfits for rape survivors in light of the testimony of some of the women who experienced the process.
