Thank you for your support, Kali!

1) How did you first learn about W.O.M.A.N., Inc.? 
I attend City College of San Francisco where I am enrolled in classes to complete the

Social Justice & Diversity Certificate and earn my transfer degree. Through enrollment at City, I became aware of the Project SURVIVE community. Project SURVIVE is a peer

education program that promotes healthy relationships and provides resources for leaving abusive relationships. I completed WOMN 55: Ending Sexual Violence this Spring, which teaches the Project SURVIVE curriculum and connects students to volunteer opportunities. My volunteer opportunity connected me with W.O.M.A.N Inc.

2) Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I grew up in the Mission District in San Francisco. I have most recently worked as a preschool teacher, preschool chef, and food program coordinator for a nonprofit child development organization. I live in the Sunset with my daughter, partner, and our two dogs. I enjoy cooking with my family, and movie nights out with my daughter.

3) Please tell us about your fundraising efforts.
When my partner, Philippe, and I got married in April and asked our friends and family to donate to W.O.M.A.N. Inc.’s April Purple Purse flash fundraiser, which we linked to our wedding announcement. We are sending out another announcement with a “donate” link to W.O.M.A.N. Inc.’s year round fundraising site on networkforgood.org with the hope that all of our friends and family will become one-time or sustaining supporters. It was wonderful to attend the 40th Birthday Celebration and meet more of the volunteers, staff, and board members who make up this community.

4) What propelled you to volunteer with us & what motivates you to continue supporting our work?
I felt responsibility to enroll in WOMN 55 and get a greater understanding of anti-domestic violence work as a way to give back to the community that supported me when I needed compassion and connection to services. I will continue to volunteer with W.O.M.A.N. Inc. by completing training for the Support Line this Spring.

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Happy Birthday W.O.M.A.N., Inc.! | Feliz Cumpleaños W.O.M.A.N., Inc!

The W.O.M.A.N., Inc. Board of Directors is planning a fundraising event in celebration of our 40th birthday! Over the past four decades, W.O.M.A.N., Inc. has worked tirelessly supporting tens of thousands of people impacted by domestic violence. It goes without saying that the community plays an important role in our ability to show up, day in and day out, for survivors and their supporters. We hope you join us in toasting the last 40 years & many more to come!

Location: 505 Natoma Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 
Time: 5:30pm – 9:00pm

INTERESTED IN DONATING? WANT TO BE A SPONSOR OF THIS EVENT?  EMAIL US AT: WINC40@WOMANINC.ORG TODAY!

RSVP: TICKETS| FACEBOOK 

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En las últimas cuatro décadas, W.O.M.A.N., Inc. ha trabajado incansablemente apoyando a decenas de miles de personas afectadas por la violencia doméstica. No hace falta decir que la comunidad juega un papel importante en nuestra capacidad para estar, día tras día, para los sobrevivientes y sus apoyantes. ¡Esperemos que nos acompañen a celebrar nuestros 40 años y muchos más por venir!

Cuando: Jueves, 3 de Mayo, 2018 | 5:30pm – 9:00pm

Donde: 505 Natoma Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

¿INTERESADO EN DONAR? ¿QUIERES SER PATROCINADOR DE ESTE EVENTO? ENVÍENOS UN CORREO ELECTRÓNICO A: WINC40@WOMANINC.ORG!

 

RSVP: BOLETOS | FACEBOOK

Thank you for supporting our Annual Adopt-A-Family Program!

2017 was an intense year. There were so many things happening around the world and even here close to home in California that put stresses on everyone. But with everything going on in the world folks were still able to make donations to our Adopt a Family Program. This program goes on every year during the holiday season, where folks and businesses are able to make donations, gifts or gift cards, to survivors of domestic violence and their families. Adopt a Family program brought in $860+ donations in the form of gift cards and gifts, a little less than previous years but these donations were still able to put smiles on our participants and their families. One participant said “I always look forward to the holiday season at W.O.M.A.N., Inc. Working 2 jobs has been stressful and I am only able to provide the minimum for my kids so I always look forward to this program because I know I will be able to give my kids something for the holidays.”

W.O.M.A.N., Inc. would like to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who has made Adopt a Family possible. A very special thank you to Cole Hardware for always thinking of us during the holiday season & for collecting Adopt a Family donations at their stores this year. Thanks to them, we received over $8,000 in monetary contributions. Without all of your generous donations this program would not be possible.

We would like to encourage people to think about making a donation to our Adopt a Family program to help support our participants and their families this year, 2018, during the holiday season.

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2017 fue un año intenso. Hubo tantas cosas sucediendo alrededor del mundo e incluso aquí en California que puso estrés en todos. Pero con todo lo que sucedió la gente todavía pudo hacer una donación a nuestro programa Adopt a Family (Adoptar una Familia). Este programa se hace cada año durante las fiestas navideñas, adonde la gente o negocios pueden hacer donaciones, tarjetas de regalos o regalos, a sobrevivientes de violencia doméstica y a sus familias. El programa recaudó $860+ donaciones en forma de tarjetas de regalo y regalos, un poco menos que años anteriores, pero estas donaciones todavia hicieron a nuestros participantes sonreir. Una participante dijo “Siempre espero con ansias las fiestas navideñas en WOMAN Inc. Trabajar 2 trabajos ha sido estresante y solo puedo brindar el mínimo para mis hijos, así que siempre espero este programa porque sé que podré darles a mis hijos algo para las fiestas navideñas.”

W.O.M.A.N., Inc.; quisiera agradecer a todos los que han hecho posible Adopt a Family. Un agradecimiento muy especial a Cole Hardware por estar siempre pensar en nosotros durante las fiestas navideñas y por recaudar donaciones en sus tiendas este año. Gracias a ellos, recibimos más de $ 8,000 en contribuciones monetarias. Sin sus generosas donaciones, este programa no sería posible.

Nos gustaría invitarlos a pensar en hacer una donación a nuestro programa de Adopt a Family para apoyar a nuestras participantes y sus familias este año, 2018, durante las fiestas navideñas.

We believe you.

We were very honored to be invited to KGO 810 to talk about WOMAN Inc during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Thank you to the station and to Ronn Owens for allowing us access to your platform; we connected with your listeners and hope some folks listening needed to hear about our organization.

Unfortunately, we weren’t present during the conversation about George H.W. Bush and the recent accusations of sexual harassment made against him; we wish we could have been there to join in and share our thoughts.

Nevertheless, we want to be sure that our community understands our stance on sexual harassment. Our stance is rather simple: Sexual harassment (including but not limited to unwanted touching, taunting, advances, threats, intimidation, inappropriate sexual jokes, or unwanted remarks on a woman’s physical appearance) is never OK. Never.

By definition, sexual harassment flies in the face of consent. There are no false equivalencies that can be drawn to water down the shame a perpetrator should feel after making unsolicited, unwelcome advances toward women. It can not be explained away, minimized or ignored–regardless of the perpetrator’s physical abilities (or lack thereof), age, position of authority or status. In other words, you don’t get a pass, (former) President Bush. Neither does anyone else.

When someone perpetrates sexual harassment they are gaining power and control, much like when someone uses abuse in their relationship. It isn’t OK. It dehumanizes the victim. Women are not game pieces to be played in brokering power moves. Women are not trophies for men who desperately need to feel powerful, for weak men who don’t like the word NO. Women are not conquests. Women are people with agency and rights. Treat us accordingly.

Finally, we want to center, in this case, women sharing their stories. They are not easy stories to tell, they aren’t always safe stories to tell, they are stories that can detrimental to tell. And yet, there is freedom in letting go of someone else’s secret. The men are responsible for their harassment. Our hope is that the #metoo movement (thank you Tarana Burke who created the hashtag 10 years ago!) will continue to help victims–survivors–to let that shame and isolation go.

We believe you. We stand with you. We hear you. We see you. We honor you.

We Could Win up to $100,000 — Support W.O.M.A.N., Inc. in The 2017 Purple Purse Challenge!

Friends! October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and there are many ways you can get involved to show your support for survivors. One way is by helping your local domestic violence organizations keep their programs strong by fundraising & donating. For the 3rd year in a row, W.O.M.A.N., Inc. has been selected to participate in Allstate’s Annual Purple Purse Challenge, a nationwide initiative to raise money for organizations doing the critical work to support domestic violence survivors in their communities. Last year they were able to raise a collective $3 million for domestic violence organizations across the U.S. This is an incredible, month-long fundraising opportunity and we need YOUR help to make it a success.

What is the Purple Purse Challenge exactly? 

What W.O.M.A.N., Inc.’s Echando Pa’lante Program Shows About Shared Power, Leadership, Relationship Building & Survivor Success

Since 1978, W.O.M.A.N., Inc. has supported survivors of domestic violence through empowerment-based, survivor-centered programming that honors the personal autonomy, power and resiliency of people impacted by violence.  These principles are guided by seeing survivors as whole people who are the experts of their own lives. We’re very proud to share with you a report on a W.O.M.A.N., Inc. program that truly captures the essence of these grassroots efforts – this program is called Echando Pa’lante (Moving Forward).

Echando Pa’lante is a survivor-led initiative co-created by women who had gone through W.O.M.A.N., Inc.’s Latinx Program (in-depth case management for monolingual Spanish speakers) and the W.O.M.A.N., Inc. team. Initially, Echando Pa’lante provided ongoing engagement and a creative, supportive space for participants post-crisis. The set-up was more open than conventional therapeutic atmospheres which allowed for community building and bonding between the folks partaking in the program. Motivated by the participants’ desire to get more involved, Echando Pa’lante evolved into a program that includes a comprehensive leadership component where the participants who’ve survived abuse and worked towards healing and recovery, are trained to be domestic violence advocates themselves. With the assistance of Montesinos & Associates, we developed an evaluation report through the lens of how survivors define success. This evaluation centers the voices of Las Pioneras (the pioneers), the first participants and steering group of Echando Pa’lante. Below, we’ll provide a brief synopsis of the results, but, when you’re done, we encourage you to read the full report here. In this evaluation, you’ll get to learn more about the inception and progression of Echando Pa’lante, and the impact of this co-created project shaped by the participants who inspired it.

Community Education Series: Supporting Friends & Family of Survivors

Domestic violence impacts all of us.

Many survivors reach out to friends and family for support before they call a domestic violence hotline, or call the police.  We all want to support someone we care about; we want to see them happy and safe. So, when someone we love is being harmed, it’s natural to feel at a loss on how to help.

As community members, we have the potential to impact change. If we can come together and offer support based on what survivors ask for, we can send a message that they are deserving of our help, that the abuse isn’t their fault, and that they shouldn’t have to suffer at the hands of someone who claims to love them. If we can ban together and support survivors, while questioning abusive behavior, we will send the overriding message that abuse doesn’t belong in our community–our circle of friends, our families, our workplaces or our homes.

Please join the W.O.M.A.N., Inc. Outreach Team at a free workshop apart of our Community Education Series. This session will focus on what we as family, friends and community members can do to support survivors of domestic violence, as well as what resources are available for all involved.
When: Wednesday, May 17 at 6:00PM
Where: SF Public Library, Bayview (5075 3rd Street)

RSVP on Facebook/Invite your friends here.
Questions? Please call Alicia at (415)969-6802

Learn more about our Education & Outreach program as well as other ways to get involved at our website: www.womaninc.org/education.

Want to support our programs? People like you are a HUGE reason we can provide our workshops regularly & free of charge. Please consider donating at www.womaninc.org/donate.