Patti Giggans, Executive Director of Peace Over Violence receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Executive Director of PEACE OVER VIOLENCE, Patti Giggans, to receive Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence

CPEDV presents one Lifetime Achievement Award at their Annual Membership Meeting; this year, the prestigious honor goes to Patti Giggans for her work in the field of domestic violence over the last thirty years. The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence is a coaltion of domestic violence programs and people committed to the prevention of domestic violence and is a catalyst for social change.

Patti Giggans has been the Executive Director of Peace Over Violence— formerly the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW) —since 1985. As E.D., she is responsible for the overall management, fundraising, policy and volunteer activities of this non-profit organization. Peace Over Violence, founded in 1971, is a sexual, domestic and interpersonal violence prevention center. The organization focuses not only on crisis intervention and healing from violence, but actively engages in primary prevention and social change through community activism.

Ms. Giggans has held numerous leadership and advisory positions in the sexual assault and domestic violence arena both statewide and nationally and has served as President of the Board of Directors of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA). As President of the Statewide California Coalition For Battered Women (SCCBW) she was instrumental in the creation of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (CPEDV) a merger of two long-standing domestic violence coalitions. Giggans founded the Los Angeles Sexual Assault Coordinating Council (LACSAC) in 1996. Giggans initiated Denim Day in LA which has grown to be a national rape prevention and education campaign. She has been active in violence against women and violence prevention issues for over 25 years and is considered a national expert on sexual and domestic violence.

The full list of 2008 CPEDV Partnership Awards: Corporate Leader of the Year: The Clorox Company Presley Legislator of the Year: Senator Leland Yee Advocate of the Year: Encarny Aguado-Amsems, Advocate, Marin Abused Women’s Services Lifetime Achievement Award: Patti Giggans, Executive Director, Peace Over Violence

California Partnership to End Domestic Violence Annual Membership Meeting & Training Institute September 8-9, 2008 Crowne Plaza, Los Angeles Harbor, San Pedro, CA www.cpedv.org