2024 Cabell Brand Hope Award Winner: Mayor Sherman Lea
Posted on
TAP is pleased to announce that the 2024 Cabell Brand Hope Award was presented to Mayor Sherman P. Lea, Sr. on Tuesday, November 12th at the 59th Annual Meeting, held at the Dumas Center. We extend special congratulations to the Mayor as we recognize his profound contribution to serving the communities in Southwest Virginia, Roanoke City, and the state.
The Cabell Brand Hope Award is presented each year in honor of TAP’s founder, who was a tireless advocate for the well-being of his neighbors throughout the entire region. Mr. Brand generously gave his time and efforts to enhance the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities, and we are proud to honor his legacy by giving the Cabell Brand Hope Award to a community member who embodies the spirit of its namesake in Mayor Sherman P. Lea, Sr.
Mayor Lea has demonstrated his exemplary mettle as a leading civil servant. Not only as the current Mayor of Roanoke City, but throughout his career, Lea has represented and advocated for the underserved and unempowered women, men, and children in Southwest Virginia.
Lea served 36 years with the Virginia Department of Corrections, in Goochland, Danville and Pittsylvania Counties, respectively, as a Probation and Parole officer. This work paved the way for his role as the first African American to hold the position of Virginia’s Chief Probation and Parole Officer in 1984. Eight years later, he was promoted to Western Regional Director of Community Corrections. His understanding and advocacy for individuals who experienced incarceration gained him invitations from Governor Terry McAuliffe in 2014, and Governor Ralph Northam in 2017, to serve on consecutive Virginia Parole Boards.
Lea’s career as a statesman began with his election to the Roanoke City Council in 2004. In 2005, he formed the Domestic Violence Task Force, clearly setting an agenda for advocacy.
He has since served as the Vice Mayor from 2008 to 2010, and was elected Mayor of Roanoke City on May 3, 2016, a position he currently holds.
Mayor Lea has previously served as the Chairman of the Board for TAP, the Roanoke City School Board, and the State Board of Directors, Virginia CARES, Inc. His honors also include a 2010 William L. Hastie Award from the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice (NABCJ). After receiving news of this honor, Mayor Sherman P. Lea, Sr. responded:
“As a former TAP Board member and Mayor of the City of Roanoke, I am deeply humbled to have been nominated for the Cabell Brand Hope Award. It is an incredible honor to be this year’s recipient of an award that celebrates Cabell Brand’s relentless pursuit of social change and his commitment to working for the common good.”
Angela Penn, TAP President & CEO, says: “Mayor Lea is a true servant leader who cares about Roanoke’s citizens and the region. He has worked tirelessly to support innovative projects that improve the lives of citizens and contribute to Roanoke’s continued recognition as an All American City.”
Bring Holiday Cheer to Local Families
Posted on
As the holiday season approaches, Total Action for Progress (TAP) is asking local businesses, schools, civic groups, and community members to help make the holidays brighter for children enrolled in TAP’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs. TAP is requesting contributions for approximately 125 children across Southwest Virginia to ensure every child receives a special gift this season.
Each child will receive gifts totaling approximately $50, that may include age-appropriate toys and essential clothing items such as coats, hats, gloves, and shoes. TAP is currently looking for assistance with 16 classrooms, each with 8 to 15 children.
“This is an opportunity to truly make a difference for families who are already stretched thin financially,” said Ramona Wray, Interim Director of TAP Early Head Start and Head Start. “For many of these families, the cost of holiday gifts is simply out of reach. By providing a full class with gifts or offering financial support at any level, organizations and individuals relieve some of the financial burden on low-income families while ensuring that each child experiences the excitement of receiving holiday gifts.”
How You Can Help
Option 1 – Donate funds of any level to sponsor a full or partial class, allowing staff to handle the shopping.
Donations of any amount may be made online on the TAP donation webpage by selecting the designation category of “Education and Employment” and typing “Head Start Holiday Gifts” in the comment box below. As an alternative, checks with “Head Start Holiday Gifts” on the memo line may be mailed or delivered to TAP – HS Holiday Gifts at 302 2nd Street, SW, Roanoke,
Option 2 – Purchase gifts for a full or partial classroom.
Organizations or individuals interested in this option will be matched with a specific classroom of 8-15 children and supplied with details such as clothing sizes and toy preferences.
All gifts should be unwrapped and delivered to TAP no later than December 16, 2024.
To learn more about this option, contact Crystal Fernatt, Supervisor of Monitoring and Compliance, at (540) 309-5016 or crystal.fernatt@nulltapintohope.org.
Why Your Sponsorship Matters
Families served by TAP’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs have incomes which are below the poverty line and often face challenges to meet basic needs such as rent, utilities, and food. Holiday expenses create an unmanageable financial burden many cannot afford.
“By stepping in to sponsor these gifts, you’re not just giving toys or clothing. You are also giving hope to families in your community,” said Fernatt. “These gifts bring joy to children and ease financial stress, ensuring that every family can celebrate the holidays with dignity.”
Audre Lorde once called us to “consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes a habit.” There is, on this front, still much work to do.
Modern life has granted us an astoundingly high standard of living, from smart washing machines to virtual teleconferencing in real time with people halfway across the globe using a computer small enough to fit in our pockets. However, we clearly haven’t figured out how to end domestic violence, which continues to terrorize individuals and families in the privacy of homes all across the nation.
Almost one half of all women and 2 of every 5 men have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime.1
An average of 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States — more than 16 million women and men annually.2
Every minutethere is an individual living through a moment of fear, possibly terror, pain, and trauma, with the person they once and perhaps still love. It feels invisible, but there are always signs.
We know those moments are often preceded by patterns of controlling behavior and psychological abuse. Abusers will do anything, like isolate their partners, shift blame onto economic circumstances, or claim it was only alcohol or drugs that made them violent. They will control bank accounts, forbid their partners from working, gaslight, and even claim to have acted in self-defense to avoid accountability. However, the pattern is almost always there—whether we are looking for it or not.
“last time he swung the bat, laying flat I wondered, what a way to spend a dime, what a way to spend the time… scared all the time, one more reason why the world is dangerous.”
It may not be love—but even in today’s society, this level of violence is alarmingly common.
1 in 4 women, and 1 in 7 men (over 18) in the US have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime3
Each year, about 2.3 million people are raped or physically assaulted by a current or former partner.4
Flannery O’Connor wrote, “The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” It feels almost impossible to see the numbers as anything close to normal. But despite the clear prevalence of domestic and intimate partner violence, we do not, in fact, have to accept that violence as inevitable. We can—and must—decide what environments we allow our children to be raised within. It matters because the scars of those moments impact a person for an entire lifetime if left untreated.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Among the smells of pumpkins and familiar spice blends, fresh hay bales, and the autumnal arboreal fireworks, we know the splendor of the season can mask untold horrors all around us. It’s a bittersweet time of year.
While, teenagers and children around us are suffering from and witnessing the violence of abusers.
Annually an estimated 3.3 million and 10 million children are exposed to adult domestic violence.51 in 4 female and 1 in 5 male survivors first experienced DV as a child.
As we celebrate survivors, we mourn as well.
Domestic violence may be the leading cause of Child abuse fatalities in the US.7
1/3 of female murders are perpetrated by intimate partners. A gun increases the risk by 500%.8
85% of children’s (under 13) gun deaths occur in the home, 1/3 of those deaths are connected to Domestic Violence.9
Between 2015 and 2022, nearly 2 in 3 child and teen victims of mass shootings died in domestic violence incidents.10
The Impact of Violence
Locally in Virginia11, and Roanoke12, aggravated assaults due to domestic violence are rising. TAP-DVS continues to see record numbers of requests for service year after year since 2020. As the violence, rises, however, so does our commitment to act. We remember, again, the words of Audre Lorde:
“I write for those (women) who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence would save us, but it won’t.”
Domestic violence is famously able to leverage other forms of discrimination to hide—with terrible consequences. Women of color and primarily African American womenexperience Domestic Violence in the greatest numbers a cross the races.
4 out of 10 non-Hispanic Black women, American Indian, or Alaskan Native women, and ½ of multi-racial non-Hispanic women experienced DV in their lifetimes. This rate is 30 to 50% higher than White non-Hispanic, Hispanic, and Asian women.13
In a recent paper published in the Lancet compiling CDC data from 1999-2020, African American women were six times more likely to be murdered than White women, and 51% of those homicides were DV related.14
Of further concern is the vulnerability of our LGBTQ community. Research shows LGBTQ, adults and youth experience DV assaults, and sexual abuse at higher rates than their CIS gendered peers.Specifically, 44% of lesbian women and 61% of bisexual women experience DV at higher rates.15 *
How This Ends
We continue to strive to be informed and vigilant for ourselves, for our own loved ones, and our neighbors, our coworkers, the people we see each and every day as we go about our lives.
The numbers show us the violence is all around us. Someone you wave hello to today will have been directly affected by domestic violence in the course of their lives. Let’s make sure they know we do not accept that level of violence as normal. Let’s make sure they feel safe asking for our help. Let’s let them know we are working to make a world in which domestic and intimate partner violence don’t have a place—where instead, we find healing and tenderness thriving everywhere we look. It starts today.
This month we acknowledge the courage, and fortitude of Domestic Violence survivors everywhere: those who made it to the phone, walked through TAP’s door, called a friend, or found help any other way. We honor all of you, and we remember our silent survivors, as well. Let us gently remind you we are here. You are not alone.
If you want to get involved in ending domestic violence, your voice and your courage are urgently needed—and can start making a difference today. If you don’t know where to start, please consider learning about how we: END DV victim blaming, and educate yourself on ways to help as a bystander, witness, or confidant. Volunteering, donating to your local advocacy agencies, collecting household goods for families who are fleeing domestic violence and starting over are also ways to help. There is so much we can do, and it starts with being informed.
READ MORE, LEARN MORE:
The more you know about the signs and dynamics of domestic violence, the better you are at seeing the warning signs early—in your life, and in others’ lives. The following resources are a brief survey of some of the relevant trends, facts, and provide a picture of what’s happening in our country. It is, however, just a starting place.
