Lonna will lead the charge to empower battered women and advocates to organize, register battered women safely to vote, and elect candidates that care about the issues of violence against women.
The Sheila Wellstone Institute proudly welcomes Lonna Stevens to the position of Director.
I'm thrilled to join the Sheila Wellstone Institute and continue the work of Sheila Wellstone to end domestic and sexual violence ," Stevens said. "Making sure that women are safe in their homes is about economic and political justice for battered women. It is also about empowerment. I'm excited to be part of the Sheila Wellstone Institute's work to train and mobilize advocates and battered women to vote and create social change.
Lonna will lead the charge to empower battered women and advocates to organize, register battered women safely to vote, and elect candidates that care about the issues of violence against women. By doing so, we can win on the issues of safety for battered women and children and organize politically to grow diverse candidates who understand the dynamics of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Lonna Stevens brings extensive experience in the movement to end domestic and sexual violence. Stevens has worked in the battered women's movement since 1996, starting in Alaska when she worked as a children's advocate at a shelter program in Juneau. She then worked at the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.
Lonna began her work at the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women (MCBW) in 2001 and was instrumental in restoring funding for shelters, domestic and sexual assault programs and transitional housing funding. She also advocated for policies that created safety for Native women and immigrant and refugee populations, and developed and helped pass legislation making it a felony for domestic assault strangulation.
Lonna is from the Tlingit and Dakota tribes.
Lonna can be reached at Lonna@wellstone.org or 651-645-3939
