Domestic violence is an enormous problem all over the United States affecting all socio-economic, ethnic, racial, age, national origin, sexual orientation, and religious groups i Nationwide. Conservative estimates say three to four million women are battered every year.

The economic effect of domestic violence is felt far beyond the personal life of the victim. Research suggests that as many as 74% of working abused women are harassed by their abusive partners on the job; and, of them, each year 54% miss at least three full days of work a month; 56% are late for work on at least 60 days; and 28% leave early on at least 60 days as a result of domestic violence. This research also found that 20% of abused women lose their jobs altogether. The lack of security of victims of domestic violence compromises their ability to perform well and keep their jobs. ii

According to the 2001 American Institute on Domestic Violence employers and businesses are impacted in the following ways as a result of domestic violence: over 1,750,000 workdays are lost each year and between $3 and $5 billion in earnings is lost every year in absenteeism, lower productivity, higher turnover and health & safety costs. In a survey conducted by Corporate Awareness of Domestic Violence for Liz Claiborne of the 100 senior executives of Fortune 1,000 companies, 66% agreed that their company's financial performance would benefit from addressing the issue of domestic violence among its employees , and 49% said that domestic violence has a harmful effect on their company's productivity. Additionally, 94% of corporate security directors rank domestic violence as a high security risk. Domestic violence in the United States costs an estimated $67 billion annually.

Approximately 85% of the women who leave domestic violence relationships return to the abusive relationship. All too often people assume that women stay or return to domestic violence relationships because they have low self-esteem. However, the reasons women stay or return is far more complicated than the strength of the woman's character. A significant proportion of women who return to the domestic violence relationship attribute their inability to deal with their finances as a major contributing factor, iii which is often enhanced by the fact that the abuser often has all of the economic and social standing. iv This is where Turning The Corner plays such a vital role.

It is clear that survivors lack options and resources to support, protect and empower their choice to leave a domestic violence relationship for good. Their options are further limited by the fact that women who leave a domestic violence relationship often face one or more additional barriers including v having at least one dependent child, not being employed outside of the home, possessing no property that is solely theirs, and lacking access to cash or bank accounts. Many of these women fear being charged with desertion if they were to leave these domestic violence relationships, which would seriously jeopardize their custody rights and access to joint assets. It is very likely that many of these women would experience a decline in living standards and security of life for themselves and their children if they were to leave their partner. As a result of all of these combined factors, many survivors of domestic violence who summon the courage to leave the abusive relationship eventually return, most frequently for financial reasons.

In most cases women arrive at shelters with few more resources other than the clothes they are wearing. Some are bowed down with debt—either their partners' or their own. Still others tumble into debt after they have left a domestic violence situation, because they overspend on impulse or budget poorly. Very few are yet to address the emotional and psychological issues that have dictated their poor financial choices. Rarely, is a battered woman accustomed to managing her own money.

It is for these reasons that Turning The Corner's landmark program, “ The Business of Me ”, is offered to women's shelters across the country.

Turning The Corner takes a holistic approach to helping these women achieve personal financial health and independence. “ The Business of Me ” directly addresses abused women's fears of money, fears that can be particularly crippling and acute and often block their path to financial stability and health. The Business of Me program provides specific methods to overcome those fears. The program outlines a series of tools and action steps to develop all aspects of developing and maintaining financial health and independence. The Business of Me incorporates practical tools to help make money management fun and accessible and gives women the psychological insights to help them acknowledge and cope with their fears of managing their own money. In short, “The Business of Me” is designed to reduce the number of women who return to domestic violence relationships out of financial necessity.

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Or contact Nancy Salamone at Turning The Corner

About Nancy Salamone
Nancy Salamone is founder of N.A.S. Associates, Inc. a financial services organization that delivers financial management solutions for mid-size and large companies and individual clients. N.A..S. Associates has a unique specialty-women's financial issues, particularly the fears that most women harbor about their ability to handle their personal finances.

Ms. Salamone's previous corporate career includes twenty years at major New York City insurance and financial companies. She rose to the rank of vice president of marketing. She managed corporate budgets in excess of $20 million. But for most of her life, whenever she had to balance her own checkbook, she froze, terrorized. Although she was her household's wage earner, she turned over her entire paycheck to her husband, who retained tight control over all family finances. Although she regularly advised huge corporations how, why, and when to spend their money, she could not imagine how she could manage her money on her own.

Finally, in late 1991, Ms. Salamone found the courage to leave her abusive husband and to "turn the corner" - to face her fears of money and to take responsibility for her own finances. Today, Ms. Salamone is a Chartered Life Underwriter and a lecturer at the Center for Financial Studies in New York and at New York University . She has served on the board of directors of the Society of Financial Service Professionals. She has learned to balance her checkbook, and is committed to using what she knows to help other women overcome their fears of managing their money.

Nancy is the Founder and President of Turning The Corner and the developer of Turning The Corner's landmark national program " The Business of Me ". The “Business of Me” program is designed to help women achieve personal financial health and independence, putting them in control of their own money. To support the work of Turning The Corner you can click this link: help us help end domestic violence or contact Nancy Salamone at Turning The Corner. Thank you for your support. It is essential to Turning The Corner and makes our work possible.

Learn more about The Business of Me .

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