Mary Byron Project Awards Vanguard Alum and Global Center for Women & Justice with “Celebrating Solutions” Award

Congratulations to Vanguard alumnus, Olivia Klaus and the Global Center for Women & Justice for being a recipient of the Mary Byron Project “Celebrating Solutions” award!

Vanguard is proud to announce that Olivia Klaus ’99 and the Sin By Silence campaign

“Stop the Violence” was selected as a winner for the extremely competitive Mary Byron Project’s Celebrating Solutions Award. Each year the Mary Byron Foundation showcases innovations that demonstrate promise in breaking the cycle of violence that can serve as models for the nation of their pioneering efforts. This year “Stop the Violence” has been honored to be in the running to win this prestigious award.

One viewer states, “Sin by Silence grips every man and woman with the knowledge that this could happen in my own community. Then it takes the next step and the viewer understands that it IS happening in our own community. We have to break the silence.”

Olivia directed and produced Sin by Silence as the company’s first documentary endeavor. This film, about the first inmate led battered women’s group in the US prison system, went on to win numerous film festival and advocacy awards, as well as be featured in People Magazine and CNN. It has been said, “in 50 minutes you gain a PhD on domestic violence.” The “Stop the Violence” campaign, was created to enhance the film’s movement and impact, and was a catalyst that significantly furthered the fight against domestic violence through a national community tour and innovative online initiative.

While under the tutelage of Elizabeth Leonard, a founding director of the Global Center for Women and Justice at Vanguard University, Olivia gained a profound understanding of the violent situation many women find themselves in. This spurred Olivia on to produce projects that have dealt with such issues as human rights, incarceration, poverty, and domestic violence. Her work has been seen on various networks like CNN, HLN, Showtime, and The History Channel.

The Mary Byron Project’s Celebrating Solutions Awards program annually honors innovative U.S. programs that demonstrate promise in ending the generational cycle of domestic violence.

The awards are designed to honor programs that can serve as models for the nation, and provide $10,000 in recognition of these pioneering efforts. These are awards for accomplishments. To be eligible for an award, a program’s primary focus must address the issue of domestic violence and must be replicable, or if it is national in scope, the program must have applications for individual communities.

We are proud of Olivia’s efforts and for the efforts of other programs that work together with the Global Center for Women and Justice to ensure justice for women and children.

For more information on the Stop the Violence Campaign and to see how you can get involved, visit sinbysilence.com/stoptheviolence