A conference to bring together over 300 men to learn, discuss and plan how they can actively play a positive role in the elimination of violence will occur on Thursday, Nov. 19. The conference is an invitation for men who are fed up with violence in the communities, especially violence against women and girls, to step forward in an effort to embrace solutions.

Led by national experts in the fields of prevention and rehabilitation, the event’s workshops will explore the root causes of violent behavior and the responsibility that men have in stopping it. Included in the conference is Oliver J. Williams, Ph.D., executive co-director of the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community and professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota, in St. Paul.

Williams, also the director of the Safe Return Initiative that addresses the issues of prisoner reentry and domestic violence, has worked in the field of domestic violence for more than thirty years. He will facilitate the workshop, Men’s Role and Responsibility in Eliminating and Preventing Violence against Women.

“Violence is not an issue that impacts a certain type of community or a certain type of person,” says Lucia Davis-Raiford, of the Miami-Dade County Community Action and Human Services Department (CAHSD). “It is a sad part of our social fabric, and this conference helps men see all the factors that contribute to the perpetuation of violence, from gender inequality to the way we define masculinity and the language we use. Men will leave this conference with the tools to become our strongest community advocates for putting an end to violence.”

The conference will be held at Albizu University. Interested men can register online via the CAHSD website at www.miamidade.gov/socialservices.