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Powering Nonprofit Success Through Participatory Processes:

Did you know that organizations prioritizing participatory processes and deliberately decreasing barriers see a significant increase in program effectiveness? This Fall, I’m excited to delve into how this framework powers real-world success through our three-part webinar series, Insights for Impact!

On September 18th, Dr. Inderjit Vicky Basra, President and CEO of the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center, and Jessica Raymond, former Chief of Staff of the YWCA, joined Sharity Global Expert Anne Miskey to offer real-world examples of ways participatory processes elevated their organizations’ mission and impact. Dr. Basra emphasized the importance of including direct and indirect experts in decision-making conversations. She noted, “…layered communication makes the change.” When those in the community who experience the challenges your organization strives to address work alongside those with academic or professional experience in key areas, your organization can begin to affect systemic change. Jessica added, “When we talk about advocating for people and engaging their voices…here is the mic! You sit at this table, you tell me what you need from us, you make the decision…”

Key takeaways from the conversation included:

  • Write equity into your policies and procedures.
  • Avoid “tokenizing” the community you serve. Ensure that if you ask something of your community members, such as asking them to share their stories, you are developing and strengthening a mutually beneficial relationship with them.
  • Identify ways your organization may connect direct experts, those with lived experience, with donors, elected officials, and other community leaders and influencers.
  • Engaging all voices allows you to review and evaluate the impact of your programming with an open mind and heart.
  • Give credit to all the experts helping you execute your mission. Whenever possible, compensate and recognize direct experts, those with lived experiences, for their work on behalf of your organization, just as you would an indirect expert with academic or professional experience. 

Dr. Basra summed up the importance of engaging all voices when she described the success her organization has had with connecting survivor mentors with the recently rescued. “[Survivor’s] concepts around hope look very different because they’re sitting across from somebody, that at some point, was in the same space that they are in…Their survivor-mentor becomes a beacon of hope!” Anne added, “The little ways you can connect your donors in real ways to people” will bring about transformation.

Watch The Full Video Now

 

At a time when public health officials strongly urge “social distancing” to contain the coronavirus, for most, the home is considered the safest place. But, for victims of domestic violence (DV) victims, the reality is anything but. The home is where the danger lies.

We know from past hurricanes, when natural disaster strikes, abusers get more stressed, things get out of control and in an attempt to feel more in control, they take their fear and anger out on their partner.

Never before in modern times have we faced a public health crisis of this magnitude that is expected to force people to stay in their homes until at least April 30. It’s an alarming proposition that’s sure to bring about a spike in domestic violence given the undue stress of the virus itself; lost jobs and income; mixed with increased alcohol and drug use. Florida’s unemployment rate has already jumped by the highest percentage since Great Recession.

According to research conducted for an HBO documentary, up to “75% of domestic-violence homicides happen at the point of separation or after [the victim] has already left [her abuser].” Additionally, in 2018, its last fully reported year, Florida experienced the most total domestic-violence homicides since 2009.

The question becomes, what happens if survivors don’t have a safe place to go?

Having been the CEO of a certified Florida shelter for ten years, I can say with certainty that most shelters do not have resources to isolate symptomatic people or manage the surge that will come once the stay at home order is lifted.

If home-isolation weren’t hard enough on domestic-violence survivors, further complicating matters is that Florida’s shelters have been forced to operate on a shoestring, thanks in part to the $7.5 million compensation scandal involving Tiffany Carr — the disgraced former CEO of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

As the coronavirus spreads throughout Florida, I call on officials to do everything in their power to protect survivors stuck in impossible circumstances at home with their abusers only to find a domestic-violence system that has gone years without adequate funding through no fault of taxpayers.

Specifically, I urge the following:

  • Transparency with regard to the real-time number of domestic-violence survivors requesting and receiving support from shelters
  • Treat domestic violence as a secondary epidemic in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Emergency funds for domestic-abuse centers to address the increased need
  • Use CARES funds for hotel rooms for overflow from abuse shelters and to allow for “social distancing”
  • Prepare communities for the surge in need after the stay at home order is lifted
  • Funding for a statewide “warm line” that provides anonymous telehealth access to therapists with experience in trauma.

If you agree that the state has a public safety and moral obligation to protect domestic-violence survivors in unsafe situations at home who are frightened of going into potentially overcrowded shelters during this pandemic, I urge you to contact our public officials right away.

Carol Wick founded and runs an international consulting firm that helps nonprofits worldwide.