Lifetime Television joins the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in a salute to Rita Smith and Michael Bolton for working together to stop violence against women.

Rita Smith
Rita Smith is a woman you definitely want behind your cause. She spends 24/7 working to stop violence against women. Smith began working as a crisis line advocate in a shelter for battered women and their children in Colorado in 1981. Since then she has held numerous positions in Colorado and Florida in several local programs and state coalitions, including program supervisor and director. Currently, Smith is the executive director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, where she has been working since late 1992. She has co-authored a legal manual for attorneys working with domestic violence victims in Colorado, and in the fall of 1997, she co-authored an article on child custody and domestic violence published in The Judges' Journal (an American Bar Association publication). Smith believes that advocacy and social change are intricately connected and can not be done separately.

Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton is not only a star in the world of music, but also in the world of helping women and children. In 1993, he founded The Michael Bolton Charities Inc., which is dedicated to the assistance of at-risk women and children and to creating social awareness to broaden horizons and expand opportunities for youth across socioeconomic and multicultural lines. In addition, Bolton serves as co-chair of the Advisory Board of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. As a superstar in the entertainment world, Bolton finds himself on the road constantly, but he never hesitates to devote his time to helping the coalition raise awareness of violence against women and focus on the need for women and men to work together to stop the violence.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV)
www.ncadv.org
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) is dedicated to the empowerment of battered women and their children and is committed to the elimination of personal and societal violence in the lives of these women and children. The organization believes that violence against women and children results from the use of force or threat to achieve and maintain control over others in intimate relationships, and from societal abuse of power and domination in the forms of sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, anti-Semitism, able-bodyism, ageism and other oppressions. NCADV recognizes that the abuses of power in society foster battering by perpetuating conditions that condone violence against women and children. Therefore, it is the mission of NCADV to work for major societal changes that are necessary to eliminate both personal and societal violence against all women and children.

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