DENVER — Tuesday marks the start of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and city leaders and community members are kicking off the month of action with a mile walk through Denver.
The theme is "One Mile Closer to Hope."
“October is identified as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and really was developed as a way to create a lot more awareness about the significance of domestic violence as an issue in our community and a way to acknowledge and mourn victims who have been killed as a result of domestic violence, and also celebrate victims who have survived domestic violence," said Margaret Abrams, executive director of Rose Andom Center.
The walk starts at the center on 14th Avenue at 11:30 Tuesday morning. Participants will walk around Civic Center Park and end at the front of the City and County Building for a news conference where people will hear from a survivor of domestic violence and learn ways to take action and access resources.
Denver police report a 4% uptick in domestic violence-related cases this year.
In mid-August police said there had been more than 4,500 domestic violence offenses compared to the same point in 2023 when there were just over 4,300.
Denver7 recently reported on the decrease in violent crime trends. You can see the trends in crime year-over-year in the graph below or here.
"We're doing [the walk] in collaboration with the Rose Andom Center, the Denver Police Department, Violence Free Colorado, and Safe House Denver, and anyone who wants to join the walk is welcome to do that," Abrams said.
Safehouse — an agency that helps people in these situations — shares numbers from last year on their website that shows they answered over 6,000 calls on their crisis line, helped more than 800 survivors and provided more than 7,700 nights of shelter.
"I think the walk is just a really important opportunity to be able to gather with other people in the community that have interest in being able to raise awareness and support survivors who are experiencing domestic violence, and really let folks know that they're not alone and no one should be alone when they're experiencing domestic violence," Abrams said.
This will be the walk's fourth year.
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