We will rise up as a community to work toward a safer, kinder world for us all
It will take all of us to create a community where everyone has safe and supportive relationships. That’s why Claire’s Community offers a variety of relationship violence prevention programs and resources for youth and adults that will equip everyone to stop interpersonal violence before it begins.
What We Value
The inherent equality and worth of all individuals.
The strength and power of individuals to make their own life choices.
The right of every individual to a safe and just environment.
Community accountability and recognition to eliminate the root causes of violence.
The integrity of our organizational practices.
Responding to community need with vision, creativity and courageous leadership.
20 per minute
the number of people physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States.
What we intend to do about it
We envision a community where everyone enjoys safe, supportive relationships in which they can thrive. Where no one is a victim – or perpetrator – of interpersonal violence. It’s a big dream, we know. But prevention is possible. As we educate and empower individuals of all ages to build healthy, respectful, nonviolent relationships, it will have a powerful ripple effect that brings transformative change to our community.
Claire’s Community Uses a Proven Approach.
Comprehensive
Claire’s Community follows the Center for Disease Controls’ comprehensive approach to preventing relationship violence by addressing risk and protective factors at multiple levels: individual, peer and family, community, and societal. This broad approach employs multi-sector interventions designed to create a social and physical environment where harmful behaviors are less likely and healthy behaviors are encouraged and supported.
Evidence-based
The strategies employed by Claire’s Community are based on the best available evidence to help our community focus on prevention activities that have a proven record to prevent relationship violence and its consequences across the lifespan.
Honoring Claire’s legacy
LT Dr. Claire VanLandingham was a shining star, a dentist in the US Navy who poured her passion and energy into the people and causes she believed in. In January 2018, she was killed by a former partner. Her passing left a vacuum in the lives of those who knew and loved her. So in May 2018, Claire’s mother, Shannon VanLandingham, and others who knew and loved Claire founded #BeMoreLikeClaire to carry on the transformative work Claire most surely would have done in her life.
Claire lived her life around a set of values that are now the guiding principles for everything we do at #BeMoreLikeClaire:
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All people should have access to healthy food.
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All people should have access to holistic and comprehensive health care.
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All people should have access to housing that is safe and affordable.
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All relationships should be free from cruelty and built on trust and respect.
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Positive, caring role models and mentors transform lives.
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The Earth and its resources should be protected and respected.
The #BeMoreLikeClaire Team
Shannon VanLandingham
Executive Director, Founder of #BeMoreLikeClaire
Shannon brings a lifetime of experience in leadership and non-profit volunteering. Throughout her life she has served as a trainer, facilitator, and educator, while organizing leadership programs, planning events, and honing her skills in fundraising for good causes. She loves her family and friends, music, big laughs, and finding the right person for the job. Working to continue her daughter's legacy of love and service is helping her find healing for her shattered heart.
Liza Gant
Community Outreach and Social Media Coordinator
While not the founder of #BeMoreLikeClaire, Outreach Coordinator Liza Gant likes to think of herself as one of the originators of the concept. Five years her junior, Liza idolized her cousin Claire from a young age and acted as her second shadow for the majority of her childhood. Liza continues to be inspired by her cousin and is in her second year as a non-traditional student pursuing a degree in psychology. She plans to attend grad school and eventually work as a therapist for teens and young adults. Liza is passionate about domestic and intimate partner violence prevention, and is "super jazzed" about the expansion of Claire's Community.
Anna Kraxner
Development Coordinator
Anna is a highly experienced and accredited grant writer. She earned dual degrees in Creative Writing and Communications in 1998 at the University of Kansas, and completed basic grants training with The Grantsmanship Center, Inc. where she learned how to win funds for nonprofit organizations by writing award-worthy grants. As the first full-time grantsman at KU Endowment Association, Anna established grant processes and earned many writing awards from multiple universities and organizations. She developed and taught a Grants 101 course for UMKC’s community education program for several years and has served as a proposal evaluator for the U.S. Government. She also took extensive Trauma Informed Care training and became a certified teacher for Newhouse Domestic Violence Shelter while working there as Grant Administrator. Anna is a 50-year semi-professional violinist and enjoys spending time with her family, especially her grandson Milo.
Micki Chestnut
Claire's Community Coordinator
Micki has spent her career in strategic communications. Through her boutique communications firm, she had the opportunity to write for magazines, co-author three books, write a nationally syndicated column, and help a host of companies and nonprofit organizations with their strategic communications goals. Micki’s other passions include hiking, adventures with friends, travel, and community volunteerism.