Lipman Family Prize

Women Against Abuse was thrilled and grateful to receive the 2017 Barry and Marie Lipman Family Prize during an awards ceremony on Friday, April 28, 2017, at the University of Pennsylvania, for its vision and leadership in pioneering Shared Safety: Philadelphia's Response to Relational Violence.

Watch this brief video for an overview of Shared Safety and its impact on Philadelphia.

Since 2012, the Lipman Family Prize has honored organizations that use innovative strategies to address social problems. For this year's award, the Lipman Family Prize received applications from over 115 organizations dedicated to making an impact in pressing global issues including education, poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability, and gender equality.

Shared Safety - a collective impact model that is harnessing the collaborative energies of more than 60 health and human service providers and city systems - offers a citywide blueprint for effective identification, intervention, and prevention of domestic and sexual violence, human trafficking, and reproductive coercion. Once fully implemented, Shared Safety will ensure that, regardless of where a victim enters the City's systems, they will be linked to the appropriate resources and receive an immediate, supportive response.

“As soon as we read their application, there was no doubt in our minds that Women Against Abuse had helped launch an inspiring, inclusive and innovative approach to ending domestic violence,” said Umi Howard, Director of the Lipman Family Prize at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Shared Safety’s ability—and further potential—to accelerate change through collaboration is something that really caught our eye,” says Barry Lipman, founder of the Lipman Family Prize. “In a relatively short time, Shared Safety has become a case study in the power of collaboration across issues, ideas and sectors—a model that holds promise not just for Philadelphia, but for cities around the country and the world.”

“Women Against Abuse is incredibly honored to be named as the 2017 Lipman Prize winner amidst such amazing organizations,” said Jeannine L. Lisitski, Executive Director and President of Women Against Abuse. “This recognition underscores the profound impact of relational violence as a major public health and safety crisis that creates vast negative ripple effects throughout our society. It is also a testament to the bravery of tens of thousands of survivors of domestic violence in our community, who had the courage to break free from intergenerational cycles of violence.”