One Dress, One Vision, Five Days

The Junior League of Knoxville will hold its seventh annual Little Black Dress Initiative (LBDI), which is an awareness and fundraising campaign surrounding the issue of domestic violence. LBDI is a week-long endeavor from October 23rd through 27th, 2023, during which time participants wear one black dress (or outfit) for 5 consecutive days, illustrating the impact of limited resources, time, and opportunities on many victim of domestic violence. The dress represents leaving ones home due to domestic violence with “nothing but the clothes on her back.”

The campaign sparks conversations about domestic violence prevention, spreads awareness, and raises funds to support partnering organizations that directly assist victims of such crimes. In the United States, roughly 20 people per minute experience physical violence inflicted by their intimate partner. That amounts to 10 million victims of domestic violence per year. One in four women and one in nine men experience severe intimate partner physical violence. As of 2017, Tennessee was ranked 4^th in the country for the rate at which men kill women in domestic-related homicides. The statistics for Knox County are staggering as well, with over 2,000 orders of protection filed in 2018.  Also in 2017, 70% of the almost 20,000 calls made to 911 were related to domestic violence.

Our goal is to raise $20,000.  The funds raised in the LBDI campaign enable the JLK to deliver on its mission of promoting voluntary service, developing the potential of women and improving the community. The Junior League of Knoxville’s nonprofit partners on the issue of domestic violence include: the Helen Ross McNabb Center, the Family Justice Center, the Joy D. Baker Center, and the YWCA.

You can contribute to this year’s campaign here or you may mail a check payable to the Junior League of Knoxville to JLK PO Box 1428, Knoxville, TN 37901.  For more information, please contact us at hq@jlknoxville.org or fundraising@jlknoxville.org.

Check back soon for info on upcoming events for this initiative!