Lifetime Achievement Award

2023

Ruth Glenn – President of Public Policy for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Ruth Glenn previously served as the CEO and President of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence before its merger with the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Prior to her leadership at the National Coalition of Domestic Violence, Ruth was employed by the Colorado Department of Human Services for 28 years and served as the Director of the Domestic Violence Program (DVP) for the last nine of those years, retiring in 2013. Ruth has worked and volunteered in the domestic violence field for nearly 30 years and holds a master’s in public administration (MPA) from the University of Colorado Denver, Program on Domestic Violence. As a survivor, Ruth also often shares her experience to bring awareness about the dynamics of domestic violence. Her new book is entitled, “Everything I Never Dreamed: My Life Surviving and Standing Up to Domestic Violence” (Simon & Schuster, 2023).

2022

Jerry Fineman – Retired Assistant District Attorney of Riverside County, CA

Jerry Fineman is a triathlete as well as the retired Assistant District Attorney of Riverside County. His career has involved many types of prosecution, but his focus has been on family violence. He has prosecuted domestic violence cases including stalking, domestic violence rapes, homicides, and has handled high-profile cases involving law enforcement officers as victims and defendants. A justice seeker with an unending drive to hold abusers accountable by teaching criminal justice partners the techniques necessary for success. He has trained other professionals locally and nationally and continues to train and work with world leaders on the issues surrounding strangulation. Jerry also serves as a Board Member for Alliance for HOPE International.

2021

Cherri N. Allison – Executive Director/Legal Advisor, Alameda County Family Justice Center (ACFJC)

She has for decades been a statewide and nationally recognized leader in the field of domestic violence. Her expertise, which included legal services to victims of domestic and interpersonal violence, including elder abuse, human trafficking, and sexual assault made a mark on thousands of professionals and unquestionably changed the lives of thousands of survivors. Throughout her career, she has been a pioneer in the domestic violence field. Because of her pioneering work, she was inducted in 2009 into the Alameda County Commission on the Status of Women’s Hall of Fame in the Justice category, which honors women who have reformed and expanded legal advocacy in our justice system. In 2010, she was honored by the Santa Clara Law School Center for Social Justice and Public Service, and in 2011 Cherri was recognized by the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence as one of 20 Visionaries in the field since the passage of the Violence Against Women’s Act.

2020

Deborah D Tucker – Executive Director, National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence

Deborah D. Tucker, known to all her friends as Debby, received Alliance for HOPE International’s 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award for a stunning set of accomplishments over the course of her career. Debby is known and respected for groundbreaking efforts to end violence against women for four decades. Debby has worked closely with every state in the nation as well as 12 other countries. Debby began her work as a volunteer at Austin’s Rape Crisis Center. In 1974, she took a job at the Center. With her signature energy, Debby also co-founded and then directed the Austin Center for Battered Women during its first five years. The shelter was one of the first in the nation and received national acclaim as an exceptional program offering safety and other needed services for abused women and their children while seeking to prevent domestic violence. Later, Debby facilitated the merger of both organizations into SafePlace, a national leader for its innovative and effective programs.

2019

Mary Claire Landry, Founding Executive Director, New Orleans Family Justice Center Alliance

Mary Claire Landry is one of the most transformational leaders in the history of the domestic and sexual assault movements in Louisiana but her reach goes far beyond her own state. Mary Claire has inspired Family Justice Centers across the United States and around the world,” said Casey Gwinn, President of Alliance for HOPE International. Gael Strack, the CEO of Alliance for HOPE International added: “When we arrived in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to help support Mary Claire’s vision for creating a Family Justice Center, we did not realize that she would end up inspiring and helping us develop the movement around the world. She is relentless, determined, passionate, and totally inspirational.

2018

Dr. Oliver Williams,

Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community

Oliver J. Williams, Ph.D., Professor of School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota, in St. Paul. Past Executive Director of the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community (IDVAAC) and former Project Director of the African Immigrant and Domestic Violence Initiative and the Safe Return Initiative. Dr. Williams is currently a consultant with the Education for Critical Thinking and an advisor with DomesticViolenceShelters.org.

2017

Nancy O’Malley, Alameda County District Attorney

Nancy O’Malley is a nationally recognized expert in human trafficking, sexual assault, and domestic violence and the Founder of the Alameda County Family Justice Center and HEAT Watch Program.

2016