Hello 2021
For 50 years, Peace Over Violence has been supporting people’s healing journeys back to resilience after trauma. Last week’s traumatic events in D.C. have once again exposed that the greatest domestic threat to our safety and well-being is White Supremacy. Despite the unprecedented times we are living in, POV is dreaming big together as we usher in our 50th anniversary year. This 2021 we will strive together, fueled by the strength of our love and hope for our communities.
Last year we witnessed extraordinary political upheavals, the worst health and financial crises in recent history, the exposure of systemic and institutional inequities, and an unprecedented push for racial justice. 2020 was a difficult year. POV has been challenged to step up, do better and be better while under these extraordinary pandemic circumstances. It is safe to say that these challenges will continue for several months at least—and we will continue to meet them.
Our priority is continuing to provide our trauma-informed wraparound services, no matter what the situation. We will continue to work creatively, connecting and engaging with survivors and our communities, and reimagining our organization and our services so no one is left behind. Not this year, not ever.
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New Year, New Headquarters: We Have Moved!
Last month, we completed our move to POV’s new downtown LA headquarters at 1541 Wilshire Boulevard. We are humbled by our ability to achieve such a major step forward during one of the most critical years in recent history. When we can safely gather again, we look forward to welcoming you to our new brave space and showcasing all that it will allow us to do.
Our new headquarters has nearly a 40% increase in overall space, with twice as many rooms for meetings and counseling and ample parking for all. We will be able to increase our programming and expand our capacity for both crisis intervention and violence prevention services.
While our physical move is complete, our staff is still working from home to safeguard against the pandemic surge. We will continue to work remotely until it is safe for staff and clients to return to our new office in person. When that time comes, we envision working in a hybrid model that combines in-person and online services. We look forward to the day when we can welcome you all into our new space!
Thank you to everyone who supported us in this endeavor. Construction and fundraising continue for our first floor Child, Youth and Family Center, and naming opportunities are still available. Your generosity allows us to fund this expansion and to provide critical services to our communities.
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Program Highlight: Legal Advocacy Project
POV’s Legal Advocacy Project in the time of COVID-19
Lizeth Castillo, Managing Attorney
 COVID-19 has definitely shifted the way we all work with clients and has presented unique challenges to advocacy. Due to the pandemic’s unprecedented nature, the Legal Advocacy Project team has had to transition to working remotely from home. But although we are no longer in the office, the team is just as equipped to help. Appointments have been transitioned from in person to phone/video calls, and the team makes themselves accessible to survivors via email or phone. To assure safety, there are no in-person appointments unless required. The team makes sure to accommodate the needs of clients as much as possible by providing documents via email, fax, mail, or in-person pickup from our office as well. Although this way of working was an adjustment, as a division, we have quickly adapted.
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Learn more about POV’s Legal Advocacy Project here or connect with us via email at [email protected]. If you are a survivor in need of legal assistance, call 213-955-9090 or 626-584-6191 for assistance.
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POV Reads
The US economy lost 140,000 jobs in December. All of them were held by women.
Annalyn Kurtz 
According to new data released Friday, employers cut 140,000 jobs in December, signaling that the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic is backtracking. Digging deeper into the data also reveals a shocking gender gap: Women accounted for all the job losses, losing 156,000 jobs, while men gained 16,000.
Meanwhile, a separate survey of households, which includes self-employed workers, showed an even wider gender disparity. It also highlighted another painful reality: Blacks and Latinas lost jobs in December, while White women made significant gains.
A Pandemic within a Pandemic — Intimate Partner Violence during Covid-19
 Megan L. Evans, M.D., M.P.H., Margo Lindauer, J.D., and Maureen E. Farrell, M.D.
As Covid-19 cases surged in the United States in March 2020, stay-at-home orders were put in place. Schools closed, and many workers were furloughed, laid off, or told to work from home. With personal movement limited and people confined to their homes, advocates expressed concern about a potential increase in intimate partner violence (IPV). Stay-at-home orders, intended to protect the public and prevent widespread infection, left many IPV victims trapped with their abusers… This pandemic has reinforced important truths: inequities related to social determinants of health are magnified during a crisis, and sheltering in place does not inflict equivalent hardship on all people.
Report: Measuring the Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Survivors of Color
me too and FreeFrom 
Key Findings:
- Survivors of color are especially at risk of facing pronounced food and housing insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Financial insecurity is greatest among Black and Brown women survivors
- Survivors who lack financial resources during the COVID-19 pandemic are at greater risk of returning to a harm-doer
- Experiencing landlord sexual coercion is associated with a greater risk of food and housing insecurity
- Survivors of color are at greater risk than white survivors of halting their education during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is especially true for those who have experienced financial abuse.
- Black and Brown women survivors are at the greatest risk of being unable to pay multiple bills due to the financial impacts of COVID-19
The Plague Year
The mistakes and the struggles behind America’s coronavirus tragedy.
Lawrence Wright
An exhaustive overview of 2020, chronicling the introduction and spread of COVID-19, the ensuing pandemic, and the government's response during an unprecedented election year.
“‘The moment when everybody was forced to reassess the severity and longevity of the crisis is when people realized that asymptomatic carriers were important. That meant that all the prior controls were going to fail.’ Thousands of businesses would close. Nobody alive had seen a catastrophe of such scale. The rules had to change. The pandemic was a historic disrupter, forcing a shift from short-term to long-term thinking.”
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POV In The News
A year like no other for L.A. crime: Homicides surge, robberies and rapes drop
"Patti Giggans, executive director of Peace Over Violence, said calls to her organization’s hotline for sexual assault are down by about 25% — perhaps a result of people socializing and going out less — but domestic violence calls are up 45%-50%... Women have expressed hesitance to leave abusive relationships this year because they fear moving in with others or going to a shelter amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Giggans said. 'They’re feeling trapped, because they say, ‘I can’t go anywhere,’ she said.
"A city-funded program called Project Safe Haven provided funding for Giggans’ group to house families in such situations, but the funding was set to end with the new year, she said. "With women and children separated from work, school and other environments where the reporting of abuse often occurs, such violence may be dramatically undercounted this year, Giggans added. 'We won’t know until we move out of this pandemic,' she said, and some incidents may never come to light."
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Coming Up
Counselor Advocate Training
Peace Over Violence encourages caring and compassionate individuals to become trauma-informed Counselor Advocates working directly with survivors of sexual and domestic violence.
Grupo de apoyo para jóvenes inmigrantes
¿Eres joven y llegaste a este país recientemente? Si respondiste que sí, ¡BIENVENIDO! Tenemos una oportunidad para que te conectes con otros jóvenes inmigrantes recién llegados. ¡No estás solo, ni sola! Este grupo ofrece apoyo emocional, un ambiente de convivio sano, y herramientas para poder adaptarse a este país. Padres y madres de familia pueden contactarse con Federico Carmona al (626) 584-6191 x 2122 o escribiendo a [email protected]. Jóvenes interesados pueden contactarse con Karen Avila llamando al (213) 955-9090 x 1175 o escribiendo a [email protected].
GOOD NEWS!
Every week this month, 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. Click here for more info.
Dance From the Heart
POV is partnering with Critical Mass Dance Company to offer dance movement groups to current POV clients; this is a 6 week class starting at the end of January, available in both English and Spanish, and held on Zoom. Contact Ariana at [email protected] for more information.
Save the Date
February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month!
Denim Day 2021 is April 28th!
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We Have Moved!
Our new mailing address is:
1541 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 300
Los Angeles, CA 90017
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Support healing services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
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CONTACT
Metro Headquarters
1541 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90017
213.955.9090 office
213.955.9093 fax
213.785.2684 video
213.785.2749 video
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West San Gabriel Valley Center
892 N Fair Oaks Ave, Suite D
Pasadena, CA 91103
626.584.6191 office
626.584.6193 fax
626.243.7972 video
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