In a surprise vote Tuesday night, the Covington Board of Commissioners unanimously agreed to grant $10,000 to the ION Center for Violence Prevention, a nonprofit that specializes in power-based violence prevention, training and resources. The agency has offices in Covington and elsewhere in Kentucky.
Vice Mayor Shannon Smith, the only woman on the Board, made an unscheduled motion toward the end of the meeting to issue the grant in honor of Women’s History Month, which is observed in March. Smith briefly discussed some grim statistics related to violence against women.
Nearly half of all American women have experienced sexual violence of some kind in their lifetimes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One in two women (and one in three men) in Kentucky specifically have experienced domestic violence, according to the 2023 Kentucky Domestic Violence Data Report. Kentucky has the second-highest rate of domestic violence, behind Oklahoma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I’m the only gal on this board, and I appreciate all of you, but I bring a different lens and because I bring a different lens, I’m going to bring a different sort of ask before the Board,” Smith said before making the motion.
The grant would expressly go towards the ION Center’s Green Dot initiative, which provides training to businesses, organizations and people to spot and intervene when power-based violence (which includes not only spousal abuse but also child abuse, sexual violence, stalking, bullying and harassment) is committed. The initiative was first developed for use in schools, but several Covington businesses have put their people through the training.
A 2017 study from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine evaluated the program’s impact by surveying nearly 90,000 students in 26 Kentucky high schools over five years.
Sexual violence victimization rates in years three and four were 12%-13% lower in the schools where the Green Dot program was implemented, according to the study. Research also shows that in year three alone, sexual violence victimization rates were significantly lower among both male and female students in schools with the program.
This was not the first time that Smith had broached the issue. She brought it up during the board’s recent prioritization meeting, saying the board members had all agreed at one point to grant the $10,000, but it never came about. Smith had argued for continued funding of such programs at that meeting, but it didn’t make the cut.
Still, the other commissioners were in support of the measure on Tuesday.
“I’d like to thank you for the time that you served and appreciate what you’ve done for the city,” said Commissioner Tim Acri.
Smith is the only commissioner (besides the mayor) who is not running for reelection.
“It’s one of those things (that) speaks to Commissioner Smith’s character,” said Commissioner Tim Downing, “Where it’s ‘hey, we’re not just going to do something,’ but ‘hey, I’m going to follow up and make sure that we’re holding ourselves accountable.'”
Mayor Ron Washington, who formerly worked as a police officer, reflected on how laws and practices around partner violence had changed, even during his lifetime. When he was a young officer, he said, “the law did not allow the police to arrest the perpetrator” of partner violence if police were called to a household.
“I remember when that changed, and they allowed probable cause of a misdemeanor to arrest a person that assaulted their significant other,” Washington said.
The vote to approve the $10,000 grant was unanimous.