Dear Friend,

As we prepare to close out 2020 and move into a new year, it is important to remember the collective power of the human spirit. The incredible challenges and unprecedented hardships we have all experienced this past year have reminded us of our ability to adapt and reimagine, and the need for building community care. 

When shelter-in-place orders were issued in California, our POV team quickly adjusted to moving our work entirely to a virtual space. We reimagined emergency housing by partnering with Mayor Garcetti’s office and several other domestic violence agencies in Project Safe Haven to provide safe hotel rooms and apartments to survivors of domestic violence, beyond the existing shelter network in Los Angeles County.

We reimagined our clinical services by transitioning our counseling and support groups to 100% virtual capacities, with our clinical staff and our social work interns remaining extremely proactive and creative in cultivating online healing spaces for survivors and their loved ones.

Our annual campaigns and programs were also transformed, starting with Denim Day. With its accompanying rally, turned virtual, we were able to reach communities worldwide and expand its accessibility! We trained and educated on new platforms and even partnered with Denim Day NYC to make our first virtual rally a major success.

For the first time in its history, our digital Youth Over Violence Leadership Institute had youth participating not only from Los Angeles, but nationwide and internationally, with one young leader joining from Costa Rica! By adapting the program curricula, workshops and internship tracks, we were able to expand the institute’s reach and partner with twice as many youth this year. 

We have also reimagined our move into our new headquarters with our Brave Space campaign; a plan that officially became a reality when we signed our lease in November 2019 and reached another milestone when we received the keys to POV’s new home just last week!

We will continue to reimagine, innovate and remain POV strong for survivors. For our communities. For you. We thank you for your continued support and look forward to building with you in 2021.

#AppointABlackWoman

In its more than 230-year history, there have only been two Black womxn to serve in the U.S. Senate: former Senator Carol Moseley Braun and Senator Kamala Harris.

Peace Over Violence is joining over 200 CA community leaders, philanthropists, activists on signing this letter urging Governor Newsom to appoint a womxn of color to the Senate.

It is a bittersweet moment for us to depart from the office we’ve called home for the past 10 years—all of the events, meals, hallway conversations, coffee excursions and memorable late work nights have made 1015 Wilshire a comfortable and warm place for us to work together. 

These memories serve as a reminder that home is where community lives, and we are excited to create new memories together and with you at our new home! Although COVID-19 still prevents us from physically working in our new headquarters, we have begun moving in our office equipment, painting walls with lively colors and slowly making the space into our own.

We are looking forward to the day when we can finally invite the community into our new office and gather together once again. Until then, we will continue preparing for that moment and supporting survivors and their loved ones.

This month's blog post focuses on tech-enabled abuse and is written by POV’s very own Teresa Meija, our Campus Sexual Violence Advocate and Case Manager at the California Institute of Technology. As we continue to shelter-in-place, it is important to learn about how technology is being used in abusive ways to maintain power and control over some individuals. Visit our blog to read Teresa’s piece and learn more.

POV Reads

How To Be An Antiracist 
Ibram X. Kendi 

At Peace Over Violence, we have been reading The New York Times Bestseller How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. Kendi shares his personal realization of what it means to be antiracist and weaves ethics, history, law and science into his storytelling. This book has been considered by many as an essential piece for those who want to move beyond the awareness of racism and help to contribute to building a just and equitable society.


Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Isabel Wilkerson

In Isabel Wilkerson’s book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, she describes how the United States can be described as having a caste system. By using this term, Wilkerson believes we will be better able to understand the experiences of Black people and what they have been facing in the United States. She also discusses how the Nazi leadership used racist laws and the eugenics movement of the United States as their blueprint for their own policies. An insightful and honest book, the reader is exposed to how certain racist domestic policies in the U.S. have influenced others abroad.


“This City Makes Sure No One Goes Hungry- Even During COVID”
Pedro Vilela

Given that our struggles are interconnected, it is imperative that we look into addressing domestic and sexual violence in a variety of ways. As COVID-19 has affected the basic needs of millions of people within the United States, including many survivors, we must address food insecurity and ensure that everyone has access to nutritious food. The article “This City Makes Sure No One Goes Hungry- Even During COVID,” by Pedro Vilela, discusses the city of Belo Horitzonte in Brazil and how they approach this crucial issue.

Upcoming Program: GOOD NEWS!

Every week this month and next, our Prevention team is providing prevention education trainings on Tuesdays, drop in hours for trauma-informed counseling on Wednesdays, and self-healing groups on Thursdays. Each session is held on Zoom, FREE, and open to youth 14-19. See schedule below for times and more info; please join us! Please contact Karen Avila with questions or for more information: [email protected].

Dec 10 at 5:30: Self Care & Healing Arts

Dec 15 at 5:30: Living in a Food Desert: From Popeyes to Hot Fries
Dec 16 from 1:30-5:30: Drop-in Day with Karen
Dec 17 at 5:30: Self Care & Healing Arts
 

Coming Soon:  
Jan 12: Immigration, Refugees, Detention, Deportation, and Exploitation
Jan 19: You see me? Yes, I see you: Privilege and Intersectionality
Jan 26: What is Capitalist Realism? Building a Future for All

Our Generous Funders 

In this time of continued financial instability and heightened need, Peace Over Violence is especially grateful for the generous funders who have stepped in to support our work with the most vulnerable survivors in Los Angeles County. We wanted to give a particularly huge thank you to the following recent contributors:

• California Department of Public Health, for augmented funding to adapt violence prevention outreach and activities for vulnerable individuals to the realities of the COVID-19 world;

• Sunair Children’s Foundation, for providing support for our programming for children and youth;

• Boeing Employee Community Fund, for critical response to survivors of domestic violence;

• Capital Group, for general operating support at a time when we are faced with growing demands on our resources;

• Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, for its award to continue our partnership with Critical Mass Dance Company and offer trauma-informed dance movement classes to survivors;

• Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women, for three-year funding to support legal services to survivors;

• Lon V. Smith Foundation, for general operating support toward POV’s move campaign;

• Goldsmith Legacy Foundation, for its contribution toward our Still I Rise support group program for Black women;

• County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health – Office of Women’s Health, for specially earmarked CARES Act funding that provides direct necessity of life relief for domestic violence survivors;

• J.B. & Emily Van Nuys Charities, for funding a partnership aimed at creating a digital curriculum and training program to help home visitors identify and respond to domestic violence in virtual settings;

• S. Mark Taper Foundation, for its generous unrestricted operating support of POV’s wraparound services to the most vulnerable survivors in Los Angeles County;

• Pasadena Community Foundation, for specific COVID-19 relief for Pasadena-area families experiencing domestic violence; and

• Annenberg Foundation, for general operating support in recognition of the work POV has been doing in the pandemic and beyond.

Thanks to the financial support of donors like these, Peace Over Violence is able to provide critical ongoing support services that are essential to the healing journeys of survivors, as well as crucial prevention education initiatives to disrupt cycles of violence in our communities.