Cell phone recycling raises awareness of dating violence while protecting the environment
NEWARK, NJ – Rutgers–Newark and Verizon Wireless officials came together on the University Heights campus in Newark today to mark the close of Domestic Violence Awareness Month and announce the expansion of UHopeLine, an extension of the company’s exclusive HopeLine® wireless phone recycling program that places permanent collection points on college campuses.Recognizing the silent epidemic of dating abuse, UHopeLine is designed to increase awareness of dating violence, provide aid to domestic violence survivors and encourage college students to help the environment by recycling their no-longer-used wireless devices.
“Rutgers Newark is proud to partner with Verizon Wireless on this project,” said Gerald Massenburg, assistant chancellor for student life at Rutgers University’s Newark Campus. “The hallmark of institutions of higher learning should be to raise awareness about social issues that impact members of the campus community and the community at large. As a partner with Verizon Wireless, the university is responding to an important need that can save lives by supporting victims of domestic violence, and positively impacting the environment as these phones are recycled in a safe manner.”
According to New Jersey State Police crime statistics, in 2007 there were 71,901 domestic violence incidents in the state, an average of one act of domestic violence every seven minutes and 19 seconds. Nationally, women ages 19 – 29 report more violence by intimates than any other age group and nearly 30 percent of high school and college students experience dating violence at some point.
UHopeLine accepts wireless devices and accessories in any condition, from any wireless service provider, and then refurbishes or recycles them in an environmentally sound way. Proceeds of the UHopeline program benefit local domestic violence survivors in the form of wireless phones with service and cash grants to domestic violence advocacy groups working to end domestic violence.
In recognition of the donations made by the Rutgers community during the program’s first year, Verizon Wireless recently made a $5,000 donation to the Department of Sexual Assault Services and Crime Victim Assistance. More than 500 phones were collected during the first year of the program.
“The generosity of the Rutgers community and consumers nationwide has enabled Verizon Wireless to collect more than 6.5 million no longer used phones and donate nearly $7 million in grants and over 80,000 wireless phones with service to domestic violence survivors,” said Pat Devlin, president of the company’s NY-NJ Metro Region. “UHopeLine is a natural extension of the HopeLine program, and helps raise awareness among young women at a time in their lives when they are especially vulnerable to controlling relationships.
“Dating violence is a major problem on college campuses,” said Sarah McMahon, acting director, Center on Violence Against Women and Children, Rutgers School of Social Work. “Students do not always identify emotional or verbal abuse, and the rapid expansion of technology has presented additional yet subtle ways in which abusive behavior can occur. We are increasingly recognizing that dating violence is a community problem, affecting all of us, and that we need to develop solutions that involve the entire campus community. UHopeLine provides a way for everyone to become engaged in creating a community that stands against dating violence. We are thrilled that we have already collected over 500 phones on campus and believe that expanding the program to additional campuses will increase the ability of students, staff and faculty to become involved in this important project.”
UHopeLine collection bins are now in place at the following Rutgers locations:
In New Brunswick:
- Rutgers Student Center, 126 College Avenue
- School of Social Work, 536 George Street o Winants Hall, 7 College Avenue
- Cook Campus Center, 59 Biel Road
- Douglass Campus Center, 100 George Street
In Piscataway:
- Busch Campus Center, 604 Bartholomew Road
- Livingston Student Center, 84 Joyce Kilmer Avenue
In Newark: Paul Robeson Campus Center, 350 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
In Camden: Campus Center, 326 Penn Street
In addition to the UHopeLine program, Verizon Wireless established a $100,000 scholarship fund last year at the Center on Violence Against Women and Children for deserving School of Social Work graduate students. Named the Verizon Wireless HopeLine® Scholarship, income generated by the endowment is used to award scholarships, annually, to at least three Rutgers graduate social work students enrolled in the School of Social Work’s Master of Social Work (MSW) specialization on violence against women and children, the first such program in the country.
Read more about the program here.
Media Contact: Ken Branson
732-932-7084 ext. 633; kbranson@ur.rutgers.edu
E-mail: Rutgers University