Council Recognizes Domestic Violence Awareness Month as Local Calls for Help Dip

Mayor Victor Gordo presented a proclamation at the Oct. 13 City Council meeting recognizing October as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and representatives of Shepherd’s Door and Peace Over Violence accepted it, according to the City of Pasadena.

The Pasadena Police Department reported 347 domestic violence-related calls for assistance to the California Department of Justice in 2025, down from 404 in 2024 and 431 in 2023. Of the 2025 calls, 241 involved a weapon — 210 of them hands, fists or feet — and 21 involved indications of strangulation or suffocation. State law requires every law enforcement agency to record such calls and report monthly totals to the attorney general.

Representatives of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department and the City Attorney/Prosecutor’s Office took part, and members of the Pasadena Police Department’s Special Victims Unit attended, according to the city. The proclamation encourages residents to increase awareness of domestic violence, acknowledge its impact on individuals and families, and support those affected. Under the City Prosecutor’s Domestic Violence Program, police refer every family violence report they take to the City Attorney’s office.

The 2026 national theme, “With Survivors, Always,” was developed by the Domestic Violence Awareness Project for 2025 and carried into this year with what the project calls a deepened focus on action. “Now more than ever, we must stand with survivors, always,” the project’s campaign statement says. More than 1 in 3 U.S. women and more than 1 in 6 men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey published in February.

Peace Over Violence, founded in 1971, serves Los Angeles and 22 West San Gabriel Valley cities and runs a center at 892 N. Fair Oaks Ave. in Pasadena. Executive Director Patti Giggans retired Sept. 30, and the board named Yvette Lozano interim executive director, saying the group’s mission “remains as urgent and as challenging as ever.” Shepherd’s Door co-director Tunisia Offray serves on the Commission on the Status of Women, whose 2026-27 work plan calls for preparing recommendations to strengthen the city’s domestic violence response.

California’s 2026-27 budget includes $50 million in one-time funding to maintain victim-services funding, in dollar terms, for another year; advocates had sought $100 million. Federal Victims of Crime Act funding for California victim services fell 43% to $87 million in federal fiscal year 2024.

Peace Over Violence serves people affected by sexual assault, intimate partner violence and stalking, and West San Gabriel Valley residents can reach it at 626-793-3385, according to the city; the organization lists that number, along with 310-392-8381 and 213-626-3393, for its 24-hour LA Rape & Battering Hotline. Shepherd’s Door is at 626-765-9967 or sd@shepherddoor.org, Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 800-799-SAFE (7233), by texting START to 88788, or at https://www.thehotline.org/; anyone in immediate physical danger should call 911.