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Dear Friend,
Summertime is in full swing here at POV! We have slowly started our return back to our brand new downtown offices and are establishing a new normal. Our hybrid working environment is working well so far! Meeting in person and working together face to face is a welcome change from the last year, but we remain cautious and safe in all that we do. We are closely monitoring new COVID-19 related developments and encourage all of you to get vaccinated if it is safe for you to do so. We continue to provide all of our services and respond to an increased need for support. We are looking forward to welcoming the community to our new space soon and sharing space collectively!
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From Susan Sorenson, a visiting National Advisory Board member who got a sneak peak at the office this week:
When I walked into the new office I felt the lightness. It is clear there was intentional space planning; the physical environment affects how we experience life. POV understands and has implemented this. It imbues optimism! I look forward to seeing the first floor and the continued developments.
– Susan Sorenson, Sexual and Domestic Violence Expert, Professor, Researcher, Author of After Campus Sexual Assault: A Guide for Parents & POV National Advisory Board Member
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Policy News: We did it!
VOCA signed into law, generating more funding for life-saving services for survivors of violence and abuse
From Esta Soler, President & Founder of Futures Without Violence and POV National Advisory Board member:
Just one day after the U.S. Senate passed it, President Biden signed the VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) Fix Act into law this afternoon! This new law means that survivors of violence and abuse will get life-saving services, because the local programs that help them heal and recover will once again receive money from the Crime Victims Fund. Programs use this money to help survivors access counseling, forensic exams, and items such as new locks for their doors and windows.
The Crime Victims Fund is one of the core federal funding pillars supporting programs that aide survivors of domestic and sexual violence and child abuse. It is supported by penalties and fees paid by those who commit crimes. Under the Trump Administration, receipts to the Fund dropped, leaving many victim services programs facing large cuts at precisely the time the pandemic was putting more people at risk of violence. FUTURES has been working tirelessly to get Congress to pass this bill. It's enactment today will mean more help for survivors at precisely the time they need it most.
Thank you so much for helping make this happen, and for supporting our work!
"Today is a day of hope and healing for victims of crime and organizations that support those victims of crime... I want to thank the advocates who mobilized and brought together the important changes in the law." - President Joe Biden
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Program Highlight: Youth Over Violence Leadership Institute
One of our Prevention department's signature programs, our Youth Over Violence Summer Leadership Institute is now in its 11th year! This year’s Institute remains virtual for the second year in a row. Ten youth leaders and four youth ambassadors meet every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to learn violence prevention and healthy relationship building skills. The has been discussing topics like the roots of violence, healthy and unhealthy relationships, sexual violence, among others. The youth have had the opportunity to learn about these topics together and also about each other during sessions of healing arts and movement. They are bonding and building relationships with one another in the virtual space. Internship tracks began last week; where the group split into two, one creating a project about mental health and one about community organizing. They will be taking everything that they learned in the first two weeks and turning it into something that can benefit their schools and communities. Stay tuned for more updates on the Institute!
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POV’s People: Where are they now?
Throughout this year, we will be highlighting individuals or groups that have impacted our work over the last 50 years.
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Lorinda Hawkins Smith
Former POV Violence Prevention Specialist
“This summer I'm performing my full length solo show, Justice? Or...Just Me? The Bite in the Hollywood Fringe Festival (13 years in the making). My production was selected to be a recipient of the 2021 Hollywood Fringe Festival Diversity Scholarship awarded to productions with powerful community impact. This is the first in a trilogy of shows: The Bite, The Fight and The Flight based on the Justice? Or...Just Me? book series. I recently just published the first in the series which coincides with the show of the same title.
The show and book highlight my journey of leaving a domestic violence marriage and all that it entailed. Being a Violence Prevention Specialist with POV taught me so much. Through presenting and tabling at events, I was able to learn about the Biddy Mason Charitable Foundation that benefits Foster Youth. Biddy Mason is my shero. She was an ex-slave that won her freedom in court and went on to be a philanthropist, real estate investor, church planter, right here in L.A. She is a constant reminder that once you have been freed from bondage, not to return to it again. Being involved with POV was also a blessing to my son. At the time, I took him to see The Hunting Ground and it made a profound impact on him. He then became involved with Youth Over Violence and wrote a paper on sexual violence on campus which helped get him into his college he has since graduated. It is my desire to continue to bring awareness to domestic violence to the point where we end it. Also, it is my desire for October to be known by more people to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month.”
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Youth Over Violence: Where Are They Now?
Our Youth Over Violence Instagram has been highlighting their own members for Where Are They Now! Check out some of our former youth leaders and see where they are and what they are doing now.
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The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver is both a popular and critically acclaimed Pulitzer Prize poet. Oliver has published many volumes of poetry. She reveals spirituality through nature and her poems provide rediscovery and connection with each reading.
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
his grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
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by Julia Paskin
More than 50% of unhoused women are survivors of domestic violence.
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by Katie Rogers
The department said that discrimination against transgender students was prohibited under the law, a reversal of its Trump-era position.
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by Federico Carmona, POV Trauma Therapist
"Overcoming psychological trauma, while growing emotionally, intellectually and spiritually, is a journey that can be viewed as both challenging and rewarding. I would go so far to say that healing from trauma is a sacred journey. It requires venturing into the deep self to plant the seeds of healing, ultimately bringing forth a better version of one’s self. However, this journey requires a hero. The person affected by trauma is the one who embarks on this journey, and there is no vicarious substitution for the journey." Continue reading.
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POV is hiring!
Looking to join the team at Peace Over Violence? Apply today!
Open Positions:
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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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