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MARCH 2021 | ISSUE 01
BE BRAVE, SPEAK UP
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Family Violence Law Center's Policy
Department
Artist: Joshua Mays
Location: 17th & Broadway, Oakland
Contents Welcome
Welcome to the Family Violence Law Center
(FVLC) Policy Department's first newsletter!
Welcome - 1 We are excited to use this medium as a way
to stay connected with supporters of our work
FVLC Policy Work - 2 and share our department's advocacy,
progress, and growth.
Housing and Gender Justice
Project - 4 Our Policy Department is currently a small,
but mighty team of two with Tunisia Owens
as the Policy and Advocacy Manager and
Survivor Provider
Nishara (Nashi) Gunasekara as the Housing
Community Organizing - 4
and Gender Justice Advocate.
HOME Cohort - 4 Our quarterly newsletters will provide a
snapshot of the multifaceted work underway,
Final Thoughts - 5 updates on any initiatives, and occasional
reflections, projections, or calls to action.
We will also use this medium as an SB 271 (Wiener) repeals a 1988
opportunity to highlight the healing artistry restriction that limited eligibility for
of Oakland. Each newsletter will feature at the office of Sheriff to those with a
least one piece of local art to remind us that Peace Officers Standards and Training
advocacy, activism, and change can start (POST) certificate and salaried law
and stem from multiple forms of work. enforcement experience. In alignment
with the FVLC's participation in
We hope this newsletter satisfies our itch for
Oakland's Reimagining Public Safety
connectedness in this hyper-virtual world.
Task Force, this bill seeks to increase
We welcome any feedback on this first issue
diversity in gender, ethnicity, skill set,
and future ones. Thank you for your support!
and perspective in a position that has
FVLC Policy Work largely been occupied by white men.
In our support letter, we speak to: 1)
It has been an ambitious and successful first the continued failures by many
quarter of 2021. Keeping up with the bustling California Sheriffs to deliver fair,
legislative cycle, the FVLC has already survivor-centered, dynamic responses
submitted three formal letters in support of to address community safety needs
AB 71 (L. Rivas), SB 271 (Wiener), and SB 373 and 2) the requirement for change in
(Min).
leadership to even begin the work of
"reimagining public safety."
AB 71 (L. Rivas) proposes a
comprehensive plan to address
SB 373 (Min) protects survivors from
homelessness by committing ongoing
debt collection for debts that were
funds to long-term solutions. The bill
indicates a set-aside of funds for taken out in their name through
addressing homelessness among domestic coercion or fraud. Financial abuse
violence survivors. In our support letter, we impacts nearly all of FVLC's clients, so
highlight the disparate impacts of supporting this bill was a must. In our
homelessness, housing insecurity, and letter, we outline how involuntary
COVID-19 on survivors to underscore the debt can preclude survivors from a
need for a distinct set-aside and plan to number of stabilizing resources,
adequately serve them. We also signed on compelling them to either return to
to AB 71's accompanying budget request. their abusers or make other
dangerous trade-offs.
Advocacy, activism,
and change can start
and stem from
multiple forms of
work.
Artist: Unknown
Location: 339 14th St. in Downtown Oakland
Photo by: @1stNoel
Aside from engaging in legislative work, the FVLC Oakland's Reimagining Public Safety Task
Policy Department is pursuing other channels of Force (RPSTF) concluded its last meeting on
advocacy, one of them being a multi-media March 17. The goal of this task force is to
series on economic abuse. Economic abuse reduce the Oakland Police Department's
affects nearly all domestic violence survivors and budget allocation from the city's general
FVLC clients are no exception. In response to the purpose fund by 50%. As participants, the
complex barriers our Housing First clients face FVLC has contributed to the 89 approved
due to economic abuse (destroyed credit, lost recommendations aimed to achieve this
life-savings, involuntary debt), we wanted to goal as well as to increase community safety.
produce a detailed series on this under- These recommendations will be submitted to
discussed form of violence with the hopes of Oakland's City Council in the coming weeks.
providing recommendations for action and
resources for survivors. Part 1 will go live by the Lastly, the FVLC Policy Department
end of this month. participates in Alameda County's Continuum
of Care Homeless Management Information
On the topic of economic abuse, the FVLC Policy System (HMIS) Oversight and Systems
Department participates in FreeFrom's Survivor Coordination Committees. The HMIS
Wealth Policy Group (SWPG). FreeFrom is a Los Oversight committee focuses on improved
Angeles-based national organization that works performance, accountability, and quality of
to create financial security for survivors of Alameda County HMIS data. HMIS comprises
gender-based violence (GBV). SWPG focuses on information of a County's homeless
advocating for policies and best practices that population for the purposes of tracking and
promote survivor wealth across the nation. The coordinating resources available to those
group is comprised of GBV advocates from homeless. The Systems Coordination
across the nation. In our February meeting, we committee focuses on improving Alameda
discussed how we should advocate to improve County’s Housing Crisis Response System
the nation's response system to survivor financial through coordinated planning among
security. The FVLC Policy Department suggested necessary stakeholders and performance of
creating a best practice guide that informs the system for clients.
how policies and initiatives can be survivor
wealth-centered. The idea gained wide support As domestic violence advocates, the FVLC
and will now be the advocacy vehicle we use to Policy Department participates in these
collectively create a final best practice guide by meetings to raise the needs and concerns of
the end of 2021. homeless survivors who are often overlooked
in the greater homeless population.
Specifically, within the traditional HMIS
system, those who identify as survivors are
unable to be added to HMIS because of
various data confidentiality protections under
When we continue to let the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA).
survivors become
Therefore, a priority for the FVLC Policy
Department in these meetings is to advocate
economically for survivor visibility within these systems to
ensure adequate services and attention is
disenfranchised through being paid to these individuals.
abuse, our communities In Systems Coordination meetings, our main
concern is to ensure that Alameda County’s
suffer. Housing Crisis Response System is tuned in
to the unique needs and specific barriers
(From part 1 of the FVLC homeless survivors face in accessing
stabilizing resources.
Series on Economic Abuse)A recent point of discussion during HMIS Survivor Provider
meetings has been around the Point-In-Time
(PIT) count and Housing Inventory Count (HIC). Community Organizing
The PIT is a count of sheltered and
unsheltered homeless people on a given The FVLC regularly convenes with a group of
night. The HIC is a count of the beds and units Alameda County survivor and homeless
available to those who are homeless on a providers to: 1) give updates on resources,
given night. COVID-19 has interfered with the funds, and support available to providers, 2)
feasibility of these counts in 2021 and so, the share information on the needs and status of
PIT and HIC counts will be conducted in clients in respective jurisdictions, and 3)
January 2022 and resume their regularly collaborate on advocacy efforts on behalf of
scheduled counts in 2023. survivor needs. Most recently, our continued
and collective advocacy resulted in Social
Services Agency grant of $300,000 to
Housing and Gender multiple of our survivor provider members to
Justice Project
assist with hotel costs for sheltering survivors
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Housing and Gender Justice Project is
aimed at addressing the specific intersection In response to the proposed cuts to the
between domestic violence and Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), which is the
homelessness. Since 2021, we have been primary funding source for victim services
researching best practices and models throughout the nation, we initiated a
across the nation that adequately account working group to advocate for increased
for, address, and service homeless survivors. resources and specific budget set-asides to
Due to a lack of public attention and support survivor needs at the local, state, and
systemic barriers, survivors of violence are federal levels. The effort is currently underway
often omitted from conversations around with our first meeting held on March 17. We
homelessness. This typically results in things aim to implement our finalized strategy by
like: severe undercounts in any large-scale the end of April 2021, in time for California's
homeless population count, under- state budget revisions.
resourced/ inadequate homeless outreach
and initiatives, as well as an overall HOME Cohort
incompatible homeless services system for
The Housing Opportunities Mean Everything
survivors.
(HOME) Cohort is a group of approximately
eight survivor providers from across California
One model that has piqued our interest is Los
committed to addressing homelessness
Angeles's model of incorporating a domestic
among domestic violence survivors. As a
violence advocate within their homeless
member organization, the FVLC participates in
services system. This model lends itself to
HOME Cohort-wide opportunities, discussions,
increased collaboration and service
and advocacy as well as directly on two of
alignment between two historically siloed
field and improved service rates and quality three HOME Cohort working groups: advocacy
of domestic violence survivors. and communications. Here are a few wins
we've had since 2021:
California Apartment's Association
(CAA) Webinar on Domestic Violence
Housing Laws - In January 2021, the FVLC
participated in a statewide webinar hosted
by the CAA to educate California landlords
on domestic violence housing laws.Together, with Lakin Ambriz, Director of Advocacy Working Group - The HOME
Housing Services at and Rachelle Currie, Cohort Advocacy working group focuses on
Associate Director of Haven Women Services initiating specific advocacy strategies to
(HWS) located in Modesto, California, we address the issue of homelessness among
developed content on the forms of survivors. The group is comprised of five
domestic violence, its cyclical nature, its link members as of now: Erin Scott (Executive
to homelessness, and how landlords can be Director of the FVLC), Rachelle Currie, Lakin
supportive to survivor tenants. The webinar Ambriz, Sara Behmerwold, and Nashi
went live on the CAA's website in February. Gunasekara. Currently, we are working on an
We are now working with the CAA on initiative that aims to add an addendum on
multiple options to increase accessibility to rental leases explicitly stating survivor
housing and survivor advocates as well as housing rights. We are using Critical
survivors themselves. Resistance, Organizer's Toolkit (2019) to
ground and build out our advocacy strategy.
National Network to End Domestic The first step in this process is touching base
Violence's (NNEDV) Annual Economic with tenant rights groups across California
Justice Summit, There's No Place Like to gauge interest, get feedback, and
HOME - The HOME Cohort was selected to hopefully create partnership and
present at the NNEDV's annual Economic momentum around this idea.
Justice Summit on California's Housing First
(HF) model. The presentation focused on the Final Thoughts
history, structure, and implementation of
To close out Women's History Month, we will
the HF model as well as audience-specific
leave you with a few quotes from two
communication strategies to promote HF in
changemakers who passed on this month.
attendee's jurisdictions. Our presentation
Nawal El Saadawi (October 27, 1932 - March 21,
was attended by over 200 people
2021) was an Egyptian secularist, feminist,
nationwide. This was a collaborative effort
humanitarian, author, activist, physician, and
spearheaded by Sara Behmerwold from
psychiatrist. Beverly Cleary (April 12, 1916 -
Human Options in Orange County, Araceli
March 25, 2021) was an American writer of
Patino from Rainbow Services in San Pedro,
children's and young adult fiction.
and Nishara (Nashi) Gunasekara from the
FVLC in Oakland.
"Solidarity between women can be a powerful
force of change, and can influence future
Communications Working Group - The
development in ways favourable not only to
HOME Cohort Communications working
women but also to men." - Nawal El Saadawi
group focuses on developing strategic
messaging and communication tools to
"I think adults sometimes don't think about
address homelessness among survivors.
how children are feeling about the adult
Currently, we are working with Berkeley
problems." - Beverly Cleary
Media Studies Group to develop a
communications toolkit that assesses the
"I wrote books to entertain I'm not trying to
current attitudes towards and media
teach anything! If I suspected the author was
coverage on domestic violence,
trying to show me how to be a better behaved
homelessness, and their intersection. Using
girl, I shut the book." -Beverly Cleary
information gathered from focus groups of
stakeholders across California, we will
"When we live in a world that is very unjust, you
provide tangible action steps and resources
have to be a dissident." - Nawal El Saadawi
that folks can take to combat gaps in media
coverage and public perception, shift the
narrative around survivor homelessness, and
ultimately, advocate more effectively for
solutions that target survivor homelessness.You can also read
