Pace Women’s Justice Center
Creating a Supportive Workplace for People Impacted by Domestic Violence
Summer Lunch & Learn Series
Violence and abuse do not discriminate by race, ethnicity or economic means; anyone can become a victim of abuse. As we emerge from the pandemic and return to congregate office settings, the need to advance an organizational culture that promotes an understanding of domestic violence and employee safety may be more important now than ever before. Please join us as we learn from the experts at Pace Women's Justice Center about the building blocks needed to create a workplace environment that supports employees who may be dealing with abuse.
Key Take-Aways
- Resources that every nonprofit and business should have available and include in their employee handbook
- How to support and speak to a co-worker or friend you are concerned about
- How to access legal services and other related assistance
About Pace Women’s Justice Center
Pace Women’s Justice Center (PWJC) provides free legal services to victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and elder abuse. A nonprofit legal center serving Westchester and Putnam Counties, PWJC helps individuals navigate the legal system and obtain services related to divorce, custody, support, financial exploitation, public benefits, and housing. Through outreach events and training programs we raise awareness, educate the community, and train judges, police officers, attorneys, and social service providers on best practices when working with victims of abuse. https://law.pace.edu/wjc
Presenters:
Cindy J. Kanusher, Esq., Executive Director
Cindy Kanusher has focused her career on domestic violence and legal services for the underrepresented. Twenty-three years ago, she joined PWJC, a legal services provider for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and elder abuse, serving Westchester and Putnam Counties.
During her tenure, PWJC has grown into a highly respected, multi-faceted legal services and training center serving over 3500 victims and survivors of interpersonal violence annually. After becoming Executive Director in 2015, she identified a need for a flexible legal service model for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and elder abuse. In response, she developed a walk-in clinic concept to provide free, bilingual legal services in a safe and accessible location; the new clinic and office space was inaugurated in June 2018. Since its opening, the clinic has been serving 70-80 victims of abuse monthly, increasing services by 20%. Prior to becoming Executive Director, Cindy was responsible for oversight of PWJC's Legal Helpline, Moderate Means Panel of lawyers, Elder Justice Unit, and PWJC’s rural sexual assault and domestic violence training programs, through which she has trained lawyers, judges, advocates, and law enforcement agents.
Before PWJC, she worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the N.Y. County District Attorney's office for 10 years, specializing in the prosecution of child abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence cases. She is a graduate of Brandeis University and received her Law Degree from Brooklyn Law School. Cindy has strong relationships with partner agencies and community members at large, serving on various boards and councils. She was appointed to serve on Westchester County’s Women’s Advisory Board in 2018, is on the Board of the Westchester Women's Agenda, and serves on the Westchester County Domestic Violence Council, Westchester County Anti-trafficking Task Force, and Westchester County Families Task Force.
Susan Carroll, Esq., Director, Training, Outreach and Education. Pace Women’s Justice Center
Susan Carroll has worked at PWJC since 2007 and has been Director of Training, Outreach and Education since 2015. Through outreach and training programs, Carroll raises awareness, shares information, and trains judges police officers, attorneys, social service providers, law students, and the community on domestic violence, sexual assault, including issues involving campus sexual assault, and elder abuse issues, reaching over 12,000 individuals across Westchester and New York State each year. Ms. Carroll is a certified police trainer and regularly trains at the Westchester County Police Academy developing training materials, curriculum and collaborative presentations to Westchester Police Agencies as well as across New York State pursuant to a statewide rural sexual assault and training violence program.
Ms. Carroll also supervises PWJC’s Elder Justice Training Program. Ms. Carroll was the project coordinator of an Abuse in Later Life grant which created training, enhanced services and a collaborative community response to elder abuse. Ms. Carroll is the training coordinator and attorney liaison for sexual assault victims and domestic violence victims in a grant involving several colleges in Westchester County. During her tenure at PWJC, Ms. Carroll has also represented petitioners in Family Court in Yonkers and White Plains in the Family Court Legal Program, supervised volunteers in PWJC’s free Legal Helpline and represented domestic violence clients in PWJC’s Family Justice Unit. Before joining PWJC, Ms. Carroll worked with the Bronx District Attorney's office for 10 years handling a wide mix of felonies including homicides, assaults, sexual assault cases, and other cases, including domestic violence related offenses. Ms. Carroll is a graduate of Boston College and Boston College Law School.
Sponsored by:
NPW fosters awareness about the critical services uniquely provided by Westchester’s nonprofit agencies. These resources benefit the clients, customers and employees of other nonprofits, the business community, government and other sectors, our communities, friends and neighbors. Learn more at NPW’s Summer Lunch and Learn Series. These sessions will be interactive with plenty of opportunity for questions and answers. Registration will be limited to 30 participants. Information on presenters, highlighted topics and key take-aways will be provided.
