Our movement began by making visible what had been invisible. When women came to the emergency room of San Francisco General with injuries inflicted by their partners, we documented what happened to them with a Polaroid camera. In the 1980s, those photos were the evidence survivors needed to seek justice and protection from their abusers, and to better protect their children.
We then helped drive the passage of stronger laws in Congress, such as the Family Violence and Prevention Services Act and the Violence Against Women Act. By dedicating federal resources for services, treatment and prevention in the 1990s, billions of dollars flowed to local communities, to help families and communities who were hurting to heal.
As COVID-19 makes its terrible mark on the world, FUTURES is still on the frontline for safety and justice, serving and advocating for the vulnerable communities we have worked with for decades.
Now as then, true and lasting solutions start with making visible what has too long been hidden in plain sight: the daily struggles of survivors, children living with trauma, women and communities of color, immigrants, many trying to support their families on minimum wage at best, the LGBTQ community, and others.
We launched the FUTURES rapid response plan, working around the clock to expand our support for survivors, DV and SA service providers, the most vulnerable children, and the low-wage workers hit hardest, including the caregivers and service workers holding up our lifeline in this crisis.
Our policy team played a major leadership role to secure significant funding in the CARES Act and other relief bills, for safety, education and health, including Head Start programs, programs for DV survivors, the National Domestic Violence Hotline and services for the most vulnerable children.
With 90 percent of the world’s students confined at home, according UNESCO, children in the U.S. who rely on schools for meals, counseling and health services urgently need more support.The FUTURES public education team adapted our curriculum for trauma-informed schools, “Changing Minds,”into a virtual format, and shared it with more than 2,100 public school educators around the country.
Our health and children’s teams have shifted to virtual support for service providers, and are advocating for home visitors and child welfare workers to have the PPE they need. They also prepared advice for friends and families of those experiencing violence and we have made it available in English and Spanish.
In addition to rapid response, we are preparing for the deep and sustained recovery phase needed to support those hit hardest. Our workplace team is expanding its capacity with low-wage worker networks around the country, to better support essential workers on the frontlines, advocate for paid sick and family leave for all workers, and unemployment benefits for those who've lost jobs because of the pandemic.
We are also driving change with community partners around the country to “build back better.” Through an innovative partnership with Bay Area leaders, FUTURES is launching a robust collaborative among health, education, business, housing, food security and social service leaders in a system-wide effort to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable children and their families.
Where do you see innovative approaches? Reply to this message and let me know how we at FUTURES can lend our support.
We know that system change is hard -- and that it works. We’ve been doing this work for more than 30 years, and we aren’t about to stop now.
