Check out what’s going on at POV this month 🌟

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POV Statement on Anti-Asian Racist Attacks

In our fifty years of history, we have always stood with survivors of violence. Today and everyday, we remain committed in solidarity. Peace Over Violence denounces the anti-Asian violence happening in our communities. Over the last year, our country has seen Anti-Asian hate escalate to horrific levels. In the last year, Stop AAPI Hate ([link removed]) has recorded nearly 3,800 reports of incidents against Asian Americans nationwide. As an Anti-racist organization we stand in solidarity with the Asian community and remain committed to dismantling White Supremacy and the systems that uphold it.

We ask you to join us in showing up and uplifting the stories and concerns of the Asian community. We all have a role and can be active bystanders. Our partners at Hollaback and Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) have opened up their training: Bystander Intervention Training to Stop Anti-Asian/American and Anti-Xenophobic Harassment. Click here ([link removed]) for more info.

We continue to work together building a world without violence; we protect each other.

Women's History Month: Celebrating Black Women in POV's History

In honor of our 50th anniversary year, Women’s History Month, and Black History Month (worthy of celebrating every month), we want to acknowledge some of the many Black women who have helped shape POV’s values, programming, service delivery, policies and growth over the years. These women have been leaders at or with POV, as staff members, volunteers on our Boards, community partners, advisors and trainers. They have positively and significantly influenced POV and helped us grow to become the agency we are today. We are grateful to them and we honor their support, longevity, and contributions to Peace Over Violence.

We have two themes for our fiftieth anniversary year: Where are they now? Acknowledging all of the people who have contributed to POV. And Where do we go from here? After 50 years of making progress, there is still so much to be done.
Leah Aldridge

Leah was on staff at POV for more than 17 years. As Director of the Prevention department, she developed the foundations of our current youth programming and co-authored our award-winning In Touch With Teens curriculum. As part of POV’s executive leadership team, she helped oversee an amazing growth spurt at the agency, and established POV as a leader in violence prevention. Leah has always been a champion of media literacy; she is now a professor of film at Chapman University and also works on special projects with the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) and is a member of our Advisory Board.
Kibi Anderson

A media and communications maven, Kibi has worked for many companies including ABC News and Red Table Talk Enterprises. At POV, she worked on staff for several years in communications and was one of the first Denim Day coordinators. Passionate about elevating women’s voices,Kibi is now working as a consultant and serves as a member of our Advisory Board. Kibi is a longtime supporter and champion of POV and our influence in the public sphere.
Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou’s legacy as a beloved poet, author, and civil rights leader continues. Many people may not know this, but Maya also served on our advisory board for several years in the 1980s! Maya was very supportive of our women’s self defense programs, and particularly struck with the healing and crisis intervention work that the agency provides. She was a champion for women and girls everywhere and is an icon and will always be a light and an inspiration.
Joan Crear

Joan was the first Director of the Rosa Parks Sexual Assault Center in the 1980s, a community partner and sister organization to LACAAW, now POV. She is a longtime supporter and skillful connector and member of our Advisory Board. She currently works with the office of City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas.
Brenda Ingram

Well known in the violence against women arena, Brenda was POV’s Clinical Counseling Director for 5 years and is now a faculty member at USC and the Director of Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention and Services there. As a master trainer and educator, she championed our TRIUMPH (Trauma Resilience Integration Using Multiple Pathways to Healing) approach to trauma healing.
Fran Jemmott

Fran is a social change agent. She is the founder and CEO of the Jemmott Rollins Group, a firm working with nonprofit organizations and philanthropic foundations in California. She brings a wealth of experience and wisdom to all that she does, and she has been a trusted advisor and trainer to POV for many years.
Rose Montiero

Rose was a clinical social worker and adjunct professor at USC’s School of Social Work (now retired). She was a POV Board member for 14 years. A passionate feminist, Rose was a trailblazer in centering domestic violence and sexual assault as critical traumas and promoting trauma informed perspectives within systems.
Ruby Quallsgray

Ruby had a professional career as an Executive at Boeing working in Human Resources. Currently retired, she was a corporate champion of POV. She served as a member of the Board of Directors for more than ten years and brought her life experience and professional acumen to the agency - and still does.
Avis Ridley Thomas

Avis is a longtime supporter of POV and has been a dedicated advocate working for the Los Angeles community. She helped start the Rosa Parks Sexual Assault Center in the 80s, worked for the City of Los Angeles for 25+ years, and she is now the Co-Director of the Institute for Nonviolence and the Executive Director of Days of Dialogue, of which POV was an original participant. She continues to support and engage with POV and her favorite event is Denim Day.
Sharon Shelton

She is Vice President of Empowerment Services for the YWCA Greater Los Angeles and a member of the Governing Council for the LA County Women and Girls Initiative. She is a recognized expert in sexual and domestic violence and passionate about social justice issues. She is a community partner and valued friend of POV and is an active member of our Advisory Board, always willing to open doors, discuss trends, and connect.
Valerie Nordstrom

Valerie Nordstrom, an early founder, now deceased, was a community organizer who joined with other feminists in establishing our agency, the first rape crisis center in LA - then known as LACAAW. She was the first paid co-director of LACAAW in the early 1970s, helping to launch and form the organization we now know as POV.


** Denim Day 2021
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April is Sexual Violence Awareness Month, when POV and millions of individuals and organizations worldwide will come together in solidarity for the largest sexual violence annual awareness campaign, Denim Day. Denim Day 2021 is Wednesday, April 28th! ([link removed])

Survivors of sexual violence have been disproportinately impacted by the global pandemic. This year’s campaign will focus on believing survivors and protecting each other - all while spreading the campaign’s hallmark message: there is no excuse and never an invitation to rape.

The official launch of the campaign is next week - stay tuned for new and exciting materials and activities throughout the month!
POV Program Highlight: Our Brave New Space

Earlier this year, we completed our move to our new Metro Headquarters ([link removed]) . Our new space is not just a physical space, it is a brave space. What is a brave space? How do you practice brave space?

A brave space is a practice where we come together to provide a supportive environment that allows for honest connection, healing and sharing. The goal of brave space is to create inclusive environments that can achieve transformation and social justice.
* Every time someone initially connects with POV, they are being brave.
* Every time someone takes a self defense class, they are being brave.
* Every time a survivor comes back to a support group, they are being brave.
* When people are really willing to listen to others, they are being brave.
* POV staff is being brave showing up every day throughout this pandemic, working at the best of their ability under extraordinary circumstances.
* Showing up, extending yourself, willing to be healed, willing to stand up for social justice… these are all acts of bravery.

Be a part of our Brave Space community: while we have not yet returned back to our office, we are continuing to create this brave space and are looking for support on this journey. There are still naming opportunities ([link removed]) available and other support options, like putting your name on our physical or digital walls ([link removed]) ! You can secure your commitment today and make payments over time.


** POV Reads
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The White House Is Taking Women’s Issues Seriously. Really. ([link removed])
Alisha Haridasani Gupta and Emma Goldberg

A new Gender Policy Council will look different from councils past. For starters, it will report directly to the president.

California plans to close troubled youth prisons after 80 years. But what comes next? ([link removed])
James Rainey [link removed]

Eighty years after California created separate incarceration facilities to spare teenagers from being locked up alongside adults, the state has pledged to begin the shutdown of its long-troubled and frequently violent youth prisons.

The planned dismantling of the Division of Juvenile Justice, or DJJ, comes after years of scandal and mistreatment of young offenders, which spurred multiple reform efforts and more than a decade of state court oversight that ended in 2016. The shutdown mirrors changes across the country — embracing rehabilitation over punishment and confinement close to home, rather than in isolated state facilities.

Women’s History Month: Celebrating Female Leaders ([link removed])
Washington Post Staff

Women’s History Month arrives one year into the pandemic — at a moment when female workforce participation has dipped to 57 percent, the lowest it has been in more than three decades. To mark the occasion, The Washington Post has gathered stories of women who have faced challenges and triumphed.

What Defines Domestic Abuse? Survivors Say It’s More Than Assault ([link removed])
Melena Ryzik and Katie Benner [link removed]

The Congresswoman Cori Bush and the musician FKA twigs describe how manipulative, isolating conduct known as “coercive control” helped trap them in abusive relationships. Lawmakers are starting to listen.
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath Of Violence–From Domestic Abuse To Political Terror ([link removed])
Judith Lewis Herman [link removed]

Trauma and Recovery is revered as the seminal text on understanding trauma survivors. By placing individual experience in a broader political frame, Harvard psychiatrist Judith Herman argues that psychological trauma is inseparable from its social and political context. Drawing on her own research on incest, as well as a vast literature on combat veterans and victims of political terror, she shows surprising parallels between private horrors like child abuse and public horrors like war.

Trauma and Recovery has been a trusted resource and basis for POV’s work for decades.

Volunteer Highlight: Siyeon Park

My name is Siyeon “Lani” Park and I’ve been a Volunteer Counselor Advocate on the 24-Hour Crisis Hotline & Emergency Response Team for approximately 11 months. I decided to volunteer because I believe in the true power of genuine human-to-human interaction through which damaged relationships can be repaired, and a sense of safety and trust can be restored. Through my interaction with survivors of trauma, I have learned that many of the survivors are socially alienated due to complex reasons resulting from their battered history, and therefore desperately desire the mundane and ordinary interactions and conversations other people easily share in their everyday lives. I have learned that they long for a genuine interaction where they can give love and be loved without feelings of fear. Therefore, as an advocate, I will continue to actively tune into the stories they choose to share, and will act as a guide to the resources they can utilize on their journey to recovery.

In the News

Policy Update: The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is up for reauthorization. Urge Congress to pass VAWA now!

Support H.R. 1620, the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act. Take action today ([link removed]) ! The house votes on this today, March 17.

Policy Update: Public Charge Rule

The public charge rule makes certain immigration who are primarily dependent on government benefits ineligible to receive a green card. Before the 2019 public charge rule implemented during the Trump administrations, only those intending immigrants who were primarily dependent on cash benefits were affected. The new rule widened the scope of benefits that would affect an immigrant’s eligibility to include things like food stamps, housing assistance, and medical insurance. The 2019 public charge rule was widely challenged in several districts across the United States and was still being litigated in the Supreme Court.

Historically, the public charge rule has not been applicable to humanitarian applications such as the U Visa, T Visa, and VAWA. The 2019 public rule charge also carved out an exception to the rule for humanitarian applications.

On Tuesday, March 9, 2021, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, announced that the government will no longer defend the August 2019 public charge rule. In a statement released, Secretary Mayorkas said: “The 2019 public charge rule was not in keeping with our nation’s values. It penalized those who access health benefits and other government services available to them.”

The Department of Justice dismissed its pending appeals in the Supreme Court and other courts. This means the policy that was in effect before the Trump-era public charge rule was proposed is now in effect. Under those regulations, only those primarily dependent on cash benefits would be affected. The Department of Homeland Security will continue to review current policies pursuant to President Biden’s executive order.

This action ends a policy enacted as a scare tactic designed to keep families and individuals in need from seeking support through essential programs, such as food stamps, housing assistance, or Medicaid; all made more critical during an economic recession and global pandemic.

Upcoming Events
* April 28 - Denim Day

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 (tel:213.955.9090) office
213.955.9093 (tel:213.955.9090) fax
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West San Gabriel Valley Center
892 N Fair Oaks Ave, Suite D
Pasadena, CA 91103

626.584.6191 (tel:626.584.6191) office
626.584.6193 (tel:626.584.6193) fax
626.243.7972 (tel:626.243.7972) video

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24/7 LA RAPE & BATTERING HOTLINE

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