GCFV Presents Joan Prittie with 2021 Gender Justice Award

The Georgia Commission on Family Violence (GCFV) recognizes leaders in social justice who work for the betterment of women in Georgia through the Gender Justice Award. 

This year’s Gender Justice Award recipient is Joan Prittie. 

Recipients of this award are chosen based on their history of increasing safety for victims and survivors of domestic violence, enhancing accountability of batterers, and making systemic changes to laws in Georgia – all to eliminate gender inequality.

“The Georgia Commission on Family Violence agrees that we are long overdue in awarding our own Gender Justice Award to this extraordinarily hardworking changemaker...she is not only a force in her local community of Athens, her impact can be felt around the state,” said Judge Paige Whitaker, Co-Chair of the Georgia Commission on Family Violence.

Since 1999, Joan has served as the Executive Director of Project Safe Domestic Violence Center. Joan is a graduate of Bradley University and the University of Georgia School of Law, and describes herself as a “recovering attorney.” As a lawyer with the Prisoner Legal Counseling Project, Joan represented indigent inmates in the Georgia state prison system.  During that time, she helped develop the Battered Women’s Clemency Project and worked on behalf of 78 women in prison for killing their abusers, securing one sentence commutation and a dozen paroles.  Since 2010, Joan has served as editor of the Georgia Domestic Violence Bench Book—a compendium of state and federal law, and law-related information. 

Joan has been a supportive, active, and vocal advocate for survivors of domestic violence and their children. Under Joan's direction, Project Safe also created the Breaking Silence Teen Text Line in 2012, and has been able to provide confidential support, information & referral to teens throughout the state of Georgia. She embodies all the best attributes of our Gender Justice Award recipients. Joan also serves as a professor at the University of Georgia School of Social Work.

The Commission’s 27th annual family violence conference was held virtually on November 8-10, 2021. The theme of this year’s conference was “Moving Forward, Achieving Justice”. More than 600 local and national stakeholders attended the virtual conference, including judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, advocates, survivors, faith leaders, counselors and community members.

About GCFV: The Georgia Commission on Family Violence, created by The Georgia General Assembly in 1992, is charged with developing a comprehensive state plan for ending family violence in Georgia. If you or someone that you know is being impacted by domestic violence, call 1-800-334-2836 to speak with a domestic violence advocate.