Starsoneck Joins Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation

Winston-Salem, NC (July 22, 2004) -- The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation has announced that it has contracted with Leslie Starsoneck to work with the Foundation in assessing its efforts to assist victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in North Carolina.

Starsoneck is leaving her post as Director of the North Carolina Council for Women and Domestic Violence Commission in the North Carolina Department of Administration.

Tom Ross, Executive Director of the Foundation, said, “Ms. Starsoneck has provided strong leadership to the state over the past six years in its efforts to track, reduce and ameliorate the effects of violence against women. We are very pleased to have her as a member of our team as we seek to determine the best role for the Foundation to play in addressing issues of domestic violence and sexual assault in North Carolina.

“Ms. Starsoneck is familiar not only with the funding mechanisms that are currently used to address these problems but also knows what a critical role policy and advocacy efforts play in the efforts to end domestic violence and sexual assault,” Ross said.

Ms. Starsoneck directed former Governor Jim Hunt’s Task Force on Domestic Violence in 1998, which led to the establishment of a permanent state government Commission on Domestic Violence, housed in the North Carolina Department of Administration. She is credited with facilitating the development of legislative and administrative policies that broadly impact victims, perpetrators, and their children.

The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation was established in 1936 as a memorial to the youngest child of R.J. Reynolds and Katharine Smith Reynolds. During its history, the Foundation has made grants of more than $354 million to projects in all 100 counties in North Carolina. The Foundation’s current areas of major interest are community-building and economic development; the environment; governance, public policy and civic engagement; pre-collegiate education; and social justice and equity.  

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For more information, please contact
Tom Ross at 336.725.7541 or 800.443.8319 or tomr@zsr.org