Observing Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Bay Area Legal Aid recognizes October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We join with our partner agencies, advocates, survivors and their allies in seeing this month as an opportunity to increase public focus and support for more and better resources to support survivors and their children and families in navigating both short-term needs for safety, and long-term needs for freedom from abuse and control. We reaffirm our core belief that interpersonal violence prevention and services for survivors are fundamental to the practice of legal aid, and that the civil legal needs of survivors—for restraining orders and legal protections, but also for housing and economic stability, access to safety net services and resources, immigration relief, and healthcare—must be addressed as part of a holistic approach to long-term safety and freedom from violence and abuse.

This October we are pleased to highlight an event that will bring BayLegal together in solidarity with many of the organizations and individuals who share this work with us. We are also honored to amplify the voice of one of those partners on the need to develop and sustain resources for interpersonal violence prevention addressed to Black women.

On Tuesday, October 25th, we invite our partners and community members to join the members of the San Francisco DV Consortium including BayLegal to celebrate the Movement to End Domestic Violence. Wear purple and come to the Polk St. steps of San Francisco City Hall from 12pm – 2pm to be part of this community event.

We would also like to highlight the crucial work of one of  the 17 member agencies that stand together in the Domestic Violence Consortium: Black Women Revolt Against Domestic Violence (BWRADV). This first-of-its-kind organization serves Black families in San Francisco through its Black Women Revolt Resource Center dedicated to:

• Increasing awareness about the impact of intergenerational violence in the Black community.
• Removing barriers for Black women who have experienced domestic abuse to receive access to culturally sensitive resources.
• Providing a designated space with resources specifically for Black women in San Francisco to help educate and heal as they recover from abuse.