Editor’s Note: Each quarter, AMA SF spotlights one local non-profit supporting people in the Bay Area. The following blog is by Marla Hedlund, Development and Community Relations Officer for this quarter’s featured non-profit: Center for Domestic Peace (C4DP). We hope you enjoy learning about the organization and the grassroots marketing efforts they utilize to accomplish their goals.
What is C4DP’s Statement of Purpose?
Center for Domestic Peace mobilizes individuals and communities to transform our world so domestic violence no longer exists–creating greater safety, justice and equality.
How have you driven awareness around your organization and your mission within the local community?
We’ve taken a multi-prong approach over the last three years that includes newspaper advertising, digital media marketing, and public events. We rely heavily on our community partners in law enforcement, other social services, therapists, schools, and universities to refer individuals that might need help. We’ve also heavily invested in digital marketing across the board; we’ve redesigned our website experience, invested in technical website SEO, and enhanced our social media presence with a dedicated staffer to promote, analyze, and engage folks on social media. We are also increasing the availability of information on our website and via social media available in Spanish.
What is C4DP doing to accomplish its mission?
We provide transformational services and programs that protect and enhance victim safety, and, ultimately, engage our community in permanent change.
We’ve been dedicating the last few months to reach communities that have been marginalized and who’re traditionally more hesitant than others to reach out for help.
- To help our Spanish-speaking community, we’ve recently combined two different hotline numbers to one combined English and Spanish hotline. We’re also working with a special group of volunteers at Voces de Cambio to expand support to LGBTQ and Spanish-speaking survivors. We have also increased our materials in Spanish on the website and via social media.
- To increase our reach with the African American community, we now have a Southern Marin Liaison who works to engage individuals in Marin City, a predominantly African American community. Our goal is focused on building the trust, educating residents on the services that C4DP offers and learning how it is we can best meet the needs of the Marin City community. Our Liaison is also very active with outreach at events and partnering with local churches and youth groups to get the message out.
We know we can’t end domestic violence alone, so we’re leading the charge in coordinating a community response to expand our domestic violence network. We work with local businesses to sponsor programs, match employee donations, and to participate in our annual fundraising event in May.
Thank you for allowing us to share the following survivor story.
My name is Sarah–and I met the person who attacked me via online dating.
I am a marketing consultant who jumped into online dating to find a potential life partner. I was matched with a man who seemed charming, caring, and supportive of my career. But after a few dates, it became clear that he was a conman with a drug addiction in addition to being homeless. I tried to distance myself, but when he started sleeping in his car outside my house, I decided to help him get city-supported rehabilitative care to help him get better and to get him off my street.
But he showed up on my doorstep one night. He polished off a bottle of wine alone and was awaiting my return–and when I asked him to leave, he attacked me in my own home and stole my car.
I learned about C4DP that night from the policeman who answered the call. Navigating the criminal system as a female victim of domestic violence was confusing, to say the least. C4DP helped me understand the path I would need to take to track down the attacker and bring him to justice. C4DP was there by my side at the many court dates required before he was finally convicted and sentenced.
It took me years to recover from the attack and the PTSD that followed. I took self-defense classes, and then organized a free self-defense class day with my instructor for women at C4DP and other friends and family. Although I was still going through my own PTSD, this step began opening my mind as to how to help other women prevent such violence from happening to them through C4DP. But I wasn’t quite ready yet to start down that path.
But now, I’m finally speaking up and want to help other women going through domestic violence. There is a lot of shame associated with domestic violence; I personally felt stupid, duped, ashamed of letting myself become entangled with such a con-man. But I’m here today to say that it’s not the woman’s fault. And if they do find themselves in this situation, I want them to know where they can go for help. C4DP isn’t just for low income, women of color, or some other context they don’t feel describes themselves. C4DP is there for women and individuals of all shapes, sizes, colors and ages. And they are there for you whether you need a shoulder to lean on, answers to any question about the system, or resources to help get you to a safe place. They aren’t just for women after the attack. They are there to help women who are in fear of being attacked.
I wish I had known about C4DP before my attack. If I had, maybe they could have helped me protect myself better and prevent the whole attack from happening in the first place. I am currently working with C4DP to develop their 2021-2022 ad campaigns to help raise awareness and understanding among men and women like me. I hope to also get involved with their fundraising efforts and maybe even some Intentions workshops I do with other tribes of women in other communities. Bottomline, I want to help C4DP with whatever skills and support I can because I believe their impact is immediate and much needed in our society today.
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