WHEREAS, domestic abuse and violence is a serious injustice and public health crisis that affects people and families of all races, ages, genders, sexual orientations and income levels; and

WHEREAS, each year nearly half of all homicides in Maine are related to domestic abuse and violence; and

WHEREAS, support and help are available 24/7/365 to anyone affected by domestic abuse, through the programs of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence and the statewide domestic violence helpline; and

WHEREAS, domestic abuse and violence is entirely preventable, and all Mainers have opportunities to intervene and change the ways we and our communities understand and act on the issue of domestic abuse and violence; and

WHEREAS, community leaders are uniquely positioned to make a broad and lasting impact by enacting policies and practices that support survivors and their children, and hold abusive people to account;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim October 2025 as

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

throughout the State of Maine, and I urge all citizens to recognize this observance.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this eleventh day of September Two Thousand Twenty-Five