The Lauren McCluskey Foundation’s mission is to change the culture that responds poorly to relationship violence and stalking. We tell Lauren’s story to bring awareness to the seriousness and urgency of this problem. To that end, we have spoken and/or provided materials for events at resource fairs, races, memorial walks, and campus safety months. We have helped to sponsor track meets at both the high school and college levels where we tell Lauren’s story to student athletes. Our races for campus safety continue to expand in both Pullman, WA and Salt Lake City, UT.
Our Lauren’s Promise initiative has been incredibly successful. Lauren’s Promise is a simple, yet powerful statement: “I will listen and believe you if someone is threatening you.” It was originally intended for inclusion by professors on their course syllabi. The intention is to invite students to let their professors know if they are being threatened. Often professors’ voices are heard. Professors at more than 400 universities worldwide have made Lauren’s Promise. It has expanded so that anyone can make Lauren’s Promise. Linda Mittelhammer continually receives requests for Lauren’s Promise stickers.
We are also working with experts, university staff and law enforcement to identify best practices and guide training for effective response to victims. One of our best collaborators in this initiative is SASS-Go. We collaborate with them on trauma-informed police training.
We are also working with college fraternities and sororities. The sorority Alpha Chi Omega has led the effort with training sessions and awareness events relating to Lauren’s Promise at the University of Utah, University of Washington, and Washington State University, reaching more than 700 students in the Greek system. The WSU Interfraternity, Panhellenic and Multicultural Greek Councils has donated $8,295 year to the LMF! It means so much to see students stepping up as leaders, showing that this generation is committed to creating safer communities and honoring Lauren’s legacy.
Many other non-profit organizations experience difficulties in gaining access to university leadership. We appreciate and value our relationships with university leaders. In fall 2024, our Safety at Sunset awareness dinners convened higher education leaders from Salt Lake Community College, University of Idaho, University of Utah, Utah State University, Utah Valley University, Weber State University, Washington State University, and Westminster College with a focus on campus safety.
We have developed an initial draft campus safety score for universities and are now working on completing an implementable version of the rubric . The motivation for a campus safety score is to both bring awareness to the current level of campus safety at universities throughout the country as well as to create incentives for universities to adopt best practices and enhance campus safety where warranted. The next steps are to obtain feedback from scholars and practitioners, revise the score on the basis of that feedback, and then encourage adoption of the score. We are also applying for a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women, to use Washington State University as a case study for our campus safety score effort. WSU President Elizabeth Cantwell has signed on to support us in this effort.
Finally, we share resources that can help victims and responders. On this front, I am very pleased to announce that BetterHelp is offering to provide 100 victims with three months of free therapy each year. Relationship violence victims often contact us, and now we have therapy resources to share at no cost to them. Another resource that we support are self-defense classes for women. With Lauren’s former teammate and SASS-Go instructor, Mesa Weidle, we have hosted and continue to host free self-defense classes in Washington, Utah, and Idaho.
We are also pleased to announce a partnership with OEO Energy Solutions to upgrade lighting completely for free on more than 40 campuses around the country. A well-lit campus is a safer campus.
Through your generous donations, we are able to fulfill our mission to change the culture so that students are not lost to relationship violence during their college years. Thank you to those who have supported us in a variety of ways. We wish you a happy and healthy summer!
With gratitude,
Jill McCluskey
