Vera House Receives $350,000 Engaging Men Grant Award from U.S. Department of Justice

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK (December 21, 2022) – This year, Vera House was named as an award recipient of one of 25 grants from the U.S. Department of Justice through the Consolidated Youth and Engaging Men Grant Program (CYEM). Of those 25 grants, nine were solely created for Engaging Men initiatives, in which Vera House received one of only two awarded to organizations in New York State. The organization now procures $350,000 to further its goal of creating a world free of violence and abuse.

Together, the 25 grants make up $11,031,653 of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently announced $22 million of total funding to address and prevent sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking on college campuses, provide services to youth victims and children exposed to such violence and engage men and boys as allies.

In 2009, Vera House created the 12 Men Model, a domestic and sexual violence prevention program that organizes small group discussions among men that focuses on rethinking gender norms and preventing domestic violence and sexual assault. With this new funding, Vera House can continue implementing this program among other outreach initiatives in a greater capacity by expanding its tools to other communities to equip their own.

George Kilpatrick, co-director of prevention education at Vera House, shared how the new grant will allow the organization to create more impact outside of the communities they currently support through its program and outreach initiatives.

“We have been the sole trainers of the 12 Men Model, and now with funding we can train and empower others to be facilitators of the program. This will enable us to create community-wide change, and have a much bigger impact,” said Kilpatrick.

In addition, Kilpatrick described new development plans of working directly with fathers in the community as “male-identifying individuals traditionally and typically aren’t having conversations” around gender-based violence.

“We have an opportunity to engage fathers and help relationships, whether it’s a partnership through marriage, co-parenting, or custodial,” expressed Kilpatrick. “We are going to help men in particular identify ways they can unlearn language, action, and stereotypes that contribute to an environment of violence, and think of new ways of communicating and engaging.”

Vera House is honored to receive this grant and looks forward to continuing to provide education on ways to prevent and end gender-based violence. The agency will partner with PEACE Inc., and the 100 Black Men of Syracuse to implement the grant.


For additional information on Vera House’s efforts in men’s outreach and development, visit: https://www.verahouse.org/prevention-and-education/12-men

For more info about the U.S. Department of Justice's $22 million funding, visit: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-2172-million-reduce-sexual-and-domestic-violence-campus-support

About Vera House, Inc.

Vera House is a non-profit organization in Syracuse, New York, dedicated to responding to and preventing sexual and domestic violence and other forms of abuse. The organization shelters survivors of domestic violence, offers prevention education programs, operates a 24-hour crisis line, organizes nurse treatment for victims of sexual assault, and performs outreach and advocacy. For more information, visit VeraHouse.org or follow Vera House on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About The Children and Youth & Engaging Men

The Children and Youth & Engaging Men (CYEM) Program supports comprehensive, community-based efforts that develop and expand prevention, intervention, treatment, and response strategies to address the needs of children and youth impacted by domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.