The NDMU Clothesline Project: A Domestic Violence Awareness Program for Incarcerated Women

• In Event: Posters II

Abstract

Research suggests that many women who are incarcerated have experienced domestic violence in their lifetimes (Zust, 2009). These women may not have had an opportunity to discuss or even acknowledge these painful experiences. Dr. Susan Barber of Notre Dame of Maryland University began a Clothesline Project on campus in 1997 and subsequently started working with Baltimore area women’s prisons to provide domestic violence awareness programming. The NDMU Clothesline Project provides Notre Dame students with an opportunity to participate in a service learning project over four weeks. During this time, students travel to a local women’s prison to help incarcerated women create t-shirts that symbolize their past experiences with abuse. Over 200 women have participated in the program over the past 19 years. This poster presentation will highlight important work of the NDMU Clothesline Project.

Author

• Mischelle Van Brakle, Notre Dame of Maryland University