May 17, 2016 2 min read

Washington School District’s outgoing athletic director garnered kudos from Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence for his work as a local mentor and advocate.

Washington native Joseph Nicolella, 61, received the Harrisburg nonprofit’s first Excellence in Male Leadership Award for Western Pennsylvania during a ceremony Tuesday in Pittsburgh’s Market Square.

Of 146 homicides tied to domestic violence last year, 25 were in Southwestern Pennsylvania, according to the coalition.

Judges in Washington, Fayette and Greene counties granted 540 temporary protection-from-abuse orders from Jan. 1 to May 10. Men acted as perpetrators in 90 percent of reported domestic violence incidents.

The coalition and other groups increased efforts to engage more men and boys in efforts to curb the pervasive problem.

The award ceremony launched a month of events aimed at raising public awareness of gender violence, including its third annual campaign to encourage men to sign the Father’s Day Pledge.

Officials from the coalition cited Nicolella’s work with Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern Pennsylvania, which operates a shelter and provides other services in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties, and independent efforts he’s taken since 2007.

This work included promoting the Coaching Boys Into Men program’s pledge to treat females with respect and his attendance at Mentors in Violence Prevention training in Pittsburgh last year. He’s begun teaching district athletes in the program’s model, which stresses a “bystander approach” and encourages the community, including men, to be active in preventing it.

“Hopefully, through efforts such as the PCADV initiative and other programs, awareness of violence prevention will continue to spread,” Nicolella said in a statement.

As an adviser for National Honor Society, he encouraged members to hold drives for personal care items for domestic violence survivors living in shelters.

Nicolella, a former district English teacher and basketball coach, will step down as athletic director at the end of this school year.

Nicolella was one of seven nominees for the award statewide. Domestic Violence Services of Southwestern Pennsylvania nominated him.

“He has gone above and beyond the duties of his work from the very beginning, with absolutely no ulterior motive except the well-being and betterment of students and athletes whose lives he has touched,” said DVSSP spokeswoman Samantha Lee.