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A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION
21-20
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
March 3, 2015
To recognize and honor Melissa Hook for her dedicated service helping and assisting victims of crime in the District of Columbia.
WHEREAS, Melissa Hook was born in Waynesburg, graduated with a degree in Urban Planning with a minor in Psychology from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1974, and attended graduate school at the Architectural Society of England;
WHEREAS, Melissa Hook has devoted her professional life to the subject of assisting victims of crime and helping them recover from their ordeals, basing her career on service to victims;
WHEREAS, Melissa Hook was the Executive Director of Victims Assistance Legal Organization, Inc., an organization dedicated to providing training and technical assistance to victims of crime;
WHEREAS, Melissa Hook has been published several times on the topic of victim services, including authoring Ethics in Victim Services in 2005 and contributing her expertise on victim services in regard to Buddhists in Spiritually Sensitive Caregiving in 2008;
WHEREAS, Melissa Hook helped develop the practice of “vertical advocacy” for victims of sexual assault, whereby a case officer is assigned to a victim from the very beginning of her or his journey, and this practice has been recognized as a national best-practice by victim services organizations and advocates;
WHEREAS, Melissa Hook has served on the board of the National Association of VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) Assistance Administrators, an organization dedicated to advancing education, research, and public service to deliver quality services for crime victims nationwide, to strengthen communication among its members, and to provide members with technical training and assistance to effectively respond to victims issues;
WHEREAS, Melissa Hook has been recognized as a trainer at the National Victims Assistance Academy, a program with the federal Office of Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center, helping others develop their skills and knowledge necessary to become successful victim advocates;
WHEREAS, Melissa Hook joined the District government in 2006 when she was appointed the Director of the Office of Victim Services to serve the citizens of the District by coordinating and supporting victim services by working with different District government agencies and community organizations to develop and improve services to victims of violent crime; and
WHEREAS, Melissa Hook, while serving as Director of the Office of Victim Services, was also appointed concurrently as Director of the Justice Grants Administration in 2011 to secure and manage federal grant funds regarding juvenile and criminal justice in the District of Columbia, administering grants to nonprofit and government agencies to improve programs, policies, and coordination of the District’s criminal justice systems, where she served until January 2015 with the recent change in administration.
IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, that the Council of the District of Columbia recognizes, thanks, and honors Melissa Hook for her contributions to victim services and justice in the District and to the residents of the District of Columbia.
Sec. 2. This resolution may be cited as the “Melissa Hook Recognition Resolution of 2015".
Sec. 3. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first date of publication in the District of Columbia Register.
