Southern Colorado Domestic Violence Symposium will present Building Partnerships for a Safer Community which will be hosted at Colorado State University-Pueblo.

This conference is sponsored by numerous organizations including Teresa’s Place Visitation Center, YWCA, Pueblo County 10th Judicial District Court, Pueblo Domestic Violence Task Force, 10th Judicial District Attorney, Pueblo City Schools, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Center for Governmental Training.

The conference will be held in the Occhiato University Center Ballroom from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 14.

There will be three featured speakers attending; Peter Jaffe, David Thomas and Sharon Araji.

Peter Jaffe is a professor at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, as well as the academic director of the Center for Research on Violence Against Women and Children.

David Thomas is a lecturer at the School of Professional Studies at John Hopkins University. He is involved with the Division of Public Safety Leadership and is also a retired police officer.

Sharon Araji is the chairperson of the sociology department at University of Colorado at Denver.

“The conference will help make people more aware of domestic violence and will also help people understand how to respond to the needs of domestic violence victims,” said Sharon Blackman, the center manager at Teresa’s Place Visitation Center.

The conferences topics will include the community and justice system’s responses to domestic violence, assessment and intervention strategies, what happens to domestic violence victims, the impact it has on children, domestic violence investigations as well as many other issues surrounding this topic.

Professional credits, such as the Peace Officers Standard Training and Continuing Legal Education intended for attorneys has been given out. The Continuing Education is also available to teachers attending the conference.

“This conference is geared towards professionals, but is definitely open to the community,” Blackman said. “This is also to educate people in the community about domestic violence in general, so they might reach out to friends or family that are posed with this issue.”

The cost will be $75 per person. The sheriff’s office said there will be a designated parking area for people attending the conference, therefore attendees will not be ticketed.