Sheryl Cates
Chief Executive Officer - Texas Council on Family Violence, National Domestic Violence Hotline & the Teen Dating Abuse Helpline (1-800-799-SAFE, TTY 1-800-787-3224) www.ndvh.org and www.loveisrespect.org
Austin, TX
In March 1999, Sheryl Cates became the leader of the Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) and the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH).
The Texas Council on Family Violence is one of the largest domestic violence coalitions in the country serving domestic violence programs and battered women in Texas.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is the only service of its kind, connecting people in crisis to more than 5,000 sources of help in communities across the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Hotline operates 24-hours a day, 365 days a year and has answered more than 1.8 million calls since 1996.
Loveisrespect.org, National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline was launched in February 2007. The Helpline is a 24-hour resource for teens who are experiencing dating abuse. It is specifically designed with teens and young adults in mind, operating around the growing technologies that they use most often: the phone, web and chat.
Sheryl has more than 20 years of experience in the movement to end violence against women. She is recognized as a national leader in this effort.. She is a recipient of the Legacy Award from the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community. Sheryl has been prominently featured as an expert in the field of domestic violence on The Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC’s Prime Time, The Queen Latifah Show, The John Walsh Show, CBS Saturday Early Show, The Montel Williams Show, Larry King Live, and Court TV. Sheryl has been a featured speaker at a roundtable dialogue at the White House to provide feedback on family violence programs to Attorney General John Ashcroft and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. Sheryl has been appointed to the National Council on Violence Against Women, and has made two appearances with President George W. Bush at the White House to promote family violence policies.
Nominated as Lubbock’s Woman of the Year in 1998, Sheryl is also the recipient of the Liberty Bell Award from Lubbock County Young Lawyers Association, the Citizen of the Year Award from National Association of Social Workers; and the Women Helping Women Award from Soroptimist International. Sheryl is a Leadership Texas graduate and has served on boards and as a member of a number of community service organizations including the Texas Council on Family Violence Board of Directors, where she served for five years and was Chair from 1997-1998. She has served on the Advisory Board to the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence, American Bar Association/Commission on Domestic Violence, National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women, WomensLaw.org, Allstate Foundation’s Domestic Violence Program, National Network to End Domestic Violence, and Cut-it-Out. She has also served in an advisory capacity for the Texas Governor’s Commission for Women, and in a leadership capacity on the Council for Crime Victims for the Texas Office of the Attorney General.