Transforming Harmful Systems

Finding Safe Housing in NYC

For survivors of domestic violence, securing safe and affordable housing in NYC is a tumultuous journey, full of long wait times, delays, and the burden of having to prove your survivorship. Here is the story of Sharlena, an advocate for survivors of domestic violence.

Reforming Systems for Justice

We work to transform systems that impact survivors by advancing survivor-led policy reform. Through advocacy, education, and accountability, we challenge harmful practices and push for equitable policies that protect rights, promote dignity, and create lasting systemic change.

Social Justice Campaigns:

We organize around the real, urgent issues impacting survivors in real time—because our communities cannot wait. While our work is grounded locally, we push beyond city limits when needed, advancing state and federal reforms that reflect the lived realities of survivors.

Our goal is clear: to ensure that New Yorkers are igniting their collective power, organizing together, and driving the systemic change our communities deserve.

Our Campaigns:

Child Welfare: To dismantle the harmful practices of the family regulation system (child welfare system) that inflict trauma on survivors, protective parents, and entire communities—and replace them with systems rooted in care, dignity, and support.
Housing Justice: To organize for safe and affordable housing as a right for survivors and their children—strengthening protections within shelters and pushing New York City to expand equitable housing opportunities that allow families to live with dignity, stability, and freedom.
Free of Court Harm: To advance survivor-led court reform by identifying system failures, influencing policy, and holding courts accountable—ensuring that legal processes protect survivors, respect protective parents, and deliver equitable outcomes for families and communities.

Healing Communities:

We believe healing and organizing are inseparable. Through our Survivor Leadership Model, survivors move from isolation to community, from harm to power—building the skills, confidence, and collective strength needed to challenge systems and create lasting change.

Our Programs Include:

Political Education: We build collective knowledge about the systems and policies that respond to domestic violence and shape the policy agendas that impact survivors. Through political education, survivors deepen their understanding of how systems operate—and how to change them.
Public Speaking: We build survivors’ confidence and skills to speak publicly and engage in policy debates—ensuring their voices are heard, respected, and centered in decision-making spaces.
Community Organizing:Organizing is alive—it shifts, grows, and responds to the moment. We ensure survivors stay connected to the latest organizing strategies and opportunities for action, while digging deep into root causes to move beyond surface-level fixes and drive real, systemic change.

Resources:

We work to create a community where survivors move from surviving systems to transforming them—navigating with confidence, holding institutions accountable, and building both self-empowerment and collective power.

Our Programs Include:

Toolkits: A space where survivors don’t just receive tools—they use them to build power. Through shared resources, strategies, and skills, survivors strengthen their ability to navigate systems, challenge injustice, and drive change.
Peer Learning: Survivors learn from one another—sharing knowledge about systems, navigating challenges, and building collective understanding grounded in lived experience.
Your Safest Circles: Is a tool for healing and protection—helping survivors prioritize self-care, identify trusted relationships, and build networks of support to navigate harm, emergencies, and life after trauma.