Former Deputy to Mayor Bloomberg Seeks to Help End Domestic Violence

From the day it was created, the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation has turned to Yolanda Jimenez for advice and financial support.

As the commissioner of former mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence, she helped secure money for its programs to help children who witnessed abuse in their homes.

“She was our go-to person in getting a lot of information, in what the city’s had to deal with on a regular basis,” says Joe Torre, the legendary former manager of the New York Yankees, who helped found the charity in 2002.

So when she stepped down from her city government post, says Mr. Torre, Safe at Home got its “go-to person” to run the group.

Ms. Jimenez arrives at a time when domestic violence is gaining high visibility in America, but she says journalistic coverage often overlooks the youngest victims—and the people who are key to curbing abuse.

“The way we’re going to be able to get to a place where we can end the cycle of domestic violence is by educating young people,” she says.

The Youngest Victims

During Ms. Jimenez’s decade-long tenure as commissioner, she streamlined the system intended to offer help to domestic-abuse victims, making it easier to navigate.

Through her leadership, the city created Family Justice Centers in every borough, at which prosecutors, lawyers, police, and counselors were brought together under one roof to assist victims.

During her tenure, the number of wives, husbands, and others killed by their romantic partners decreased 43 percent.

The family centers each included a room for children. In those rooms, Ms. Jimenez learned firsthand of the grave effects domestic violence had on children.

“It was apparent to us early on that children who were coming to that room were clearly exhibiting signs of trauma they had witnessed at home,” she says.

Mr. Torre once had much in common with the more than 45,000 children his charity has served. As a child in Brooklyn, he often saw his father beat his mother, Margaret, until Mr. Torre’s older brother, Frank, forced their father to leave home.

It wasn’t until 1995, when Joe Torre attended a self-help symposium, crying in front of strangers after recalling old memories, that he realized how much the violence had affected him.

“I connected the dots that I wasn’t necessarily born with certain fears,” he says. “It was something that was created in my childhood by what was going on in my home.”

The experience proved transformative and allowed him to see the value of openly discussing his past.

“Once I discovered it, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops,” he says. “All of a sudden, I felt like I was a normal person again.”

Educating Teenagers

In 2002, Mr. Torre and wife, Ali, decided to create the charity, which today serves children in 10 schools and one community centers in New York, New Jersey, and California.

Its signature program is Margaret’s Place, named after Mr. Torre’s mother, which offers a forum for students to talk to one another and to counselors trained in violence prevention.

Since taking over Safe at Home’s leadership in August, Ms. Jimenez has begun to talk to Major League Baseball about drafting a disciplinary policy on abuse, in response to the NFL’s handling of recent allegations of domestic violence involving some of its players.

Operating on an annual budget of $3.5-million, Safe at Home receives 38 percent of its revenue from corporate donors, 34 percent from individuals, and 28 percent from foundation grants.

Ms. Jimenez says she hopes to attract more corporate support and has her sight set on expansion.

But she says her biggest focus is on teaching young people how to spot the warning signs of abuse in their own relationships.

The charity has been asked by local Boys & Girls Clubs to speak to their members about dating violence and plans to develop more partnerships with other youth organizations.

The Safe at Home Foundation, Ms. Jimenez says, must reach those “who are starting to become involved in relationships—and that age seems to get younger and younger. It’s important to educate them about how to identify unhealthy, abusive behaviors.”

Domestic violence, she stresses, deserves greater attention because of its broad impact.

“We’re not just talking about a woman’s issue. It’s about families, children. It’s about saving lives,” Ms. Jimenez says. “It’s disheartening in this whole conversation to still hear that. This is an issue that affects all of us.”

Editor’s note: This article was updated on October 6, 2014, to correct the year the Safe at Home Foundation was founded, as well as the number of schools and community centers the organization currently operates.