With major support from a multi-year grant from the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation, Jane Doe Inc. established our new Initiative for Safety and Justice: Advancing Advocacy, Organizations, Leadership.  This Initiative (ISJ for short!) will engage those providing advocacy on the front lines, support and collaborate with organizations, and mobilize current and emerging leadership to center our collective responses on survivors and aims to inspire the evolving field and movement to end gender-based violence. A key piece of the Initiative for Safety & Justice focuses on ways in which trauma and oppression impact whole communities and influences our public and private responses to violence and inequity.

As the only statewide membership and advocacy coalition of sexual and domestic violence organizations in Massachusetts, Jane Doe Inc. has a unique role in creating opportunities that invest in the leadership of domestic and sexual violence advocates who provide life-saving work and one of the most critical relationships for people who experience abuse. These advocates – and the organizations and systems within which they work – represent an indispensable and vital resource to help survivors navigate complex systems, find safety and healing, and map a course for their lives after experiencing a single trauma or a lifetime of abuse.

Example of ISJ activities:

• In May 2016, JDI hosted The Trauma Stewardship for a full day in Boston and a full day in Springfield, reaching over 400 advocates and staff from JDI member programs and allies in the field.
  
  
• In 2016, JDI organized several intensive retreats with the directors of our member programs to focus on integrating gender and racial justice work as we explore ways to pivot our work from social change towards social justice in meaningful ways and explore what this means for local and statewide work with various systems. 
  
  
• In May and June 2017, JDI hosted a 4 part “Webinar Series on Trauma and Resilience” to help staff increase their understanding of the impact of sexual and domestic violence on brain functioning, memory, and trauma and how we can use a strength-based, trauma informed to support staff and volunteers. Additional trainings are scheduled for 2017 and 2018.
  
  
• Future projects include the development a new curriculum for staff at JDI member programs that incorporates the fundamentals of advocacy, trauma informed approaches, and leadership development and a public website that will serve as a repository of resources to address individual, vicarious and historical trauma.

Through the ISJ’s innovative programming, resource development and expanded partnerships, Jane Doe Inc. will continue to support these goals and advance these critical conversations as part of our mission to promote safety and justice.