The YWCA’s Week Without Violence Campaign is looking for community support to help raise awareness around gender-based violence and racism this week, especially recognizing the impact of trauma on communities of color.
The organization is hosting several events for the annual campaign under the 2021 theme of Beyond Resilience: From Surviving to Thriving!
Like racism and mental illness, domestic and gender-based violence is often misunderstood, ignored, or believed to be less prevalent than it is. We hear about it and perhaps see statistics or read about a particular incidence of violence, but often don’t know how to help or make a difference in what seems an overwhelming, systemic problem.
If that’s the case for you, the YWCA is offering education and clarity around how you can help including a virtual panel discussion at 5 p.m. on Thursday focused on “healing and renewing our collective commitment to addressing racism, domestic and systemic violence, as well as, the root causes of trauma that feed into the circle of harm.”
To participate, register here.
In their communications on Week Without Violence, this line about the 2021 theme and why it was chosen stood out for me.
“During this year’s campaign, we intend to flip this script by moving the conversation about gender-based violence past an exclusive focus on survivor’s endurance, and instead towards centering healing, and renewing our collective commitment to addressing domestic and systemic violence as well as the root causes of trauma that feed into the cycle of harm.”
It’s a big vision and one that will take many hands to make happen, but it feels right on target for where we collectively are in 2021. Resilience may have been the path we’ve been walking in the last few years, but there comes a time when true healing is needed.
If you haven’t signed up for the YWCA’s newsletter, I highly recommend checking it out. They are at the forefront of many complex but important conversations for creating safer, healthier, and more equitable communities.
Check them out here.
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