Today we’d like to introduce you to Christie Brungardt
Hi Christie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Our work started in 2008 the day our 25 year old daughter, Jana Mackey, was murdered by an ex-boyfriend in Lawrence, KS. She had just completed her first year at the University of Kansas School of Law. As grieving parents (mother and step-father), we began to study the field of dating and domestic violence. We are committed to building a safer world for the future. Both being college professors in the field of leadership studies at Fort Hays State University, and also known as social entrepreneurs, we felt that it was our responsibility to take our tragedy and turn it into action.
A year and a half after her death, we formally kicked off the creation of Jana’s Campaign, focusing on preventing violence before it occurs. Our theme is education about and prevention against gender and relationship violence. We started out as just a couple working through their grief and wanting to make a difference. Today, Jana’s Campaign has grown to have a professional staff and our work has reached hundreds of thousands all of people across the country. Most of our work focuses on K-12 schools and college campuses.
For more information, please view our video and more additional information on our website:
www.janascampaign.org
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No…No…No… There have actually been too many to mention here.
Some of the most challenging have been:
1. Not being taken seriously by professionals in the field.
2. Others felt we were a threat to their domain.
3. Immediately family members not always supportive.
4. Little funding for prevention work in this field.
5. Trying to hold down full-time jobs and do this work without burning out.
6. There is not a national road-map on how to do prevention work in this field. We had to create it.
7. With few previous models of total prevention organizations, many people struggled to understand our work.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Today, we are both retired. We retired on the same day from the same department. Our professional careers in teaching leadership studies at Fort Hays State University spanned decades. Curt specialized in teaching social justice and Christie specialized in teaching civic engagement and women and leadership. Combined we taught for 51 years, having the opportunity to impact thousands of young people in our classrooms. We were both passionate about inspiring young people to leave our classrooms and go create positive change in their families, organizations and communities.
Although we are retired from teaching, we are both still actively engaged in Jana’s Campaign, where we volunteer on a regular basis.
Additionally, we are both delighted to stay connected to a very large network of our former students. In some ways, we believe our teaching continues even in retirement.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Persistence.
The importance of building something that is sustained beyond the founders.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.janascampaign.org
- Instagram: JanasCampaign
- Facebook: Jana’s Campaign
- Twitter: JanasCampaign
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/janascampaign
- Other: http://www.janasstory.org
