Founder and current NCALL Director, Bonnie Brandl, is retiring after 30 years of leadership at End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin. Brandl has worked in the gender-based violence movement since 1982, and as a recognized leader within the elder abuse field and domestic violence movement, Brandl’s career holds many notable accomplishments.

“My goal as Executive Director of End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin and more generally as a leader in anti-violence work is to facilitate the dismantling of white supremacy in the anti-violence movement and create a movement that serves all individuals who seek support and liberation.”

In the words of Mariame Kaba and Andrea Ritchie: “Ma’Khia Bryant matters not because the timing of her killing allows for a neat juxtaposition, but because her life does.”

“Gender-based violence, which takes many forms including harassment, workplace violence, stalking, and domestic violence, must be understood for what it is: a community issue that requires community-based solutions. It is too often dismissed as a personal or private matter, and known patterns that predict future violence are ignored by those with power to prevent harm. This recent tragedy demonstrates the far-reaching ramifications of not addressing root causes of violence."

Few things were highlighted more throughout 2020 than interconnection and the need to shift when something is broken. We were shown on a global scale that it is in the interconnectedness of people, of issues, and of support systems that we may find not only the source of our struggles, but also the solutions. To see how the coalition responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, view our 2019-20 Annual Report here.

Legislative advocacy is a unique and essential way we work to ensure the public policy landscape in WI is one that centers survivors and member programs across the state. This two-year agenda summarizes our advocacy stance on priorities like housing and homelessness, economic justice, the criminal legal system, prevention, transformative justice, racial equity, and dismantling white supremacy.

In the wake of recent violent acts against Black and Brown bodies, families, and communities, we recognize this horrendous displays of white supremacy and systemic racism. We say again – resoundingly, unequivocally, and until lives are no longer violently ended by systemic white supremacist violence – Black Lives Matter.

As we witness nationwide, violent attacks on Asian and Asian American individuals, we recognize the pain of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and condemn continued patterns of racist violence.

In the fall of 2020, End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin and its initiatives, The Asha Project, Inc. and the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (NCALL), were awarded grant funding from the Office for Victims of Crime to address the service needs of older victims of abuse and financial exploitation in Milwaukee, WI.

We are saddened to share the news that our friend and former colleague, Linda Dawson, passed on March 14, 2021. Linda was a lifelong social justice activist who dedicated herself to the service of others. We join Linda’s family and loved ones in mourning and extend our heartfelt condolences to them.