Men Stopping Violence, Inc. records

Founded in 1982, and incorporated in April 1983, Men Stopping Violence, Inc. (MSV) is a non-profit social change organization dedicated to ending men's violence against women. Its goal is to spur change at individual, institutional, and societal levels. MSV works to help men change their abusive behaviors through group sessions which concentrate on changing patriarchal values and belief systems that oppress women and children. The organization is also committed to keeping women safe, using principles developed by the nationwide network of battered women's shelters, and encourages victims to use the judicial system to seek protection for themselves and their children. In addition to classes, MSV works with community organizations, sponsors workshops, networks with battered women's advocates, trains professionals who deal with batterers, influences public policy decisions, works with employers to create safer workplaces, and advances theory in the field through writing and speaking. Manuals, news journal, training, and consultation are offered nationally, and other programs are local to Atlanta and the region.

Men Stopping Violence was the brainchild of Richard (Dick) Bathrick, a social worker and marriage counselor, and Gus Kaufman, a clinical psychologist. In the early 1980s Bathrick and Kaufman began a batterers' group in Atlanta, and were soon after hired by Kathleen Carlin, a social worker who was directing the Cobb County YWCA Women's Resource Center, to run a group for court mandated batterers. Carlin and advocate Leigh Ann Peterson supervised the work. In 1982, Carlin left the YWCA to become the founding director of Men Stopping Violence. In 1996, after a six-month battle with lung cancer, Carlin passed away. Subsequently, a planning committee, comprised of board members, staff, women's advocate consultants and the community at-large, recommended a new organizational structure to support programmatic and administrative functions. In 1998 Dick Bathrick and Ulester Douglas were appointed Co-Executive Directors; a two-woman consultancy was set up, and a new by-law was established, requiring that women constitute a majority on the Board of Directors. In 2003, Shelley Serdahely became Executive Director, allowing Douglas and Bathrick to return to programatic leadership roles.

Men Stopping Violence, Inc. has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the BOND Community Star's 1990 Community Service Award. In 1994 MSV was awarded a $258,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Violence Against Women Project (one of 4 awarded nationwide as a result of the federal Crime Bill), to conduct a five year study to examine the ways law enforcement deals with men who batter women.