Hi Survivor,

As 2024 comes to a close, we want to take a moment to wish you and your loved ones a joyful holiday season. This time of year offers a chance to reflect on our collective progress and resilience, celebrate the strides we’ve made together, and look ahead with hope and determination.  

At Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, your voices and advocacy have been the driving force behind so much positive change. From amplifying survivor stories to advancing policies that promote healing and safety on the state and federal level, this year has shown the power of our shared commitment.  

As we prepare to step into 2025, let us use this season to reset, recharge, and recommit to the vision of a world where survivors are heard, supported, and empowered. Together, we will continue building a brighter, safer future for all.  

Happy Holidays from all of us at CSSJ!  

Jonathon Lewis 

Managing Director 

Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice

This month, we want to highlight our entire CSSJ membership! The success we had this year across the country is because of YOU. You continued to be advocates for survivors of crime in your state while creating spaces for people to build and heal together. 

This year, we took our advocacy efforts to Washington, DC, and hosted the biggest convening of crime survivors at our nation's capitol. The work you did this year to make this special event a reality has resonated with survivors from every corner of the country and has elevated our movement to new heights. 

At the state and local level, we saw so many members take action. We had powerful advocacy days in states like California, Illinois, Florida, and Pennsylvania, where our members met with elected officials to advocate for legislation to support survivors of crime. We continued our advocacy efforts in states like Michigan and Arizona by making sure that our members took a lead role, ensuring elected officials heard from our members and considered our recommendations. In Ohio and Texas, we worked to build our local leaders to be ready for a strong 2025 legislative session through training, convenings, and consistent discussions on policy solutions. 

Congratulations on a monumental year!

On December 14, CSSJ will be hosting our annual National Member Appreciation event. The event will feature trivia, a recap of the year, giveaways, awards, and so much more!  Here’s the link to register: https://mobilize.us/s/911r6J

The CSSJ Member Support Program (MSP) has a range of healing and wellness activities, and this month we hope you’ll join us in community for Wellness Wednesday on Dec. 11 and the Monthly Healing Space for Survivors on Dec. 19. 

To learn more about getting FREE COUNSELING through our partner BetterHelp and our MyDeals Discount Program, visit HERE.    

The Crime Survivors Speak Podcast shares the stories of survivor leaders transforming our nation’s safety and justice systems. Join visionary survivor leader Aswad Thomas as he shares the mic with everyday people impacted by crime that are moving from healing to action and winning real change for communities across the country. Listen to this month’s episode at https://cssj.org/podcast.

And listen to our most recent episode here!