Tag Archives: Domestic Violence

Community

Where to Turn for Help: The South End Guide to Crisis and Advocacy Groups

by Victor Simoes

Last Updated on April 16, 2024, 1:52 pm.

Strong communities are a source of vital connection and a sense of belonging — a place of collaborative care where we often seek help and support​​ in times of crisis. When emergencies happen, it can be daunting to figure out where to turn, especially if calling police-involved numbers like 911 or the 988 hotline isn’t ideal. 

In this South End Guide, the Emerald has compiled a list of crisis and advocacy groups that offer immediate assistance through emergency or crisis services, legal assistance, and information and support on mental health, domestic violence, sexual assault, and substance use. 

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News

Author and Victim Advocate Shawn Richard-Davis Pens Book Raising Awareness About Domestic Violence

by Lauryn Bray

In Setting Aside Silence (One Word At A Time), former victim advocate Shawn Richard-Davis offers a faith-based, interactive book for domestic violence survivors and their families. The book includes words, definitions, and quotes from the Bible to provide survivors with the language to describe their realities, so they can identify their experiences as abuse and seek help. In an interview with the Emerald, Richard-Davis talks about how her nearly 30-year career working for the City of Seattle sparked the motivation behind Setting Aside Silence. 

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Voices

OPINION | Monday Morning at 9 a.m.: My Experience Working at the Domestic Violence Hotline

by Charlotte Jarvis

I’m back working on the domestic violence (DV) hotlines after a couple of years, and let me tell you what’s different this time. A lot. 

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Voices

OPINION | Domestic Violence Survivors and Immigrants Should Not Face Barriers to New State Tax Credit

by Judy Chen and Roxana Norouzi

When I sat down with Jane early last year, she had an air of nervous optimism. She was a mother of three, fresh out of a bad living situation, and badly needed a little cash to help pay for school supplies and formula. Leaning on friends and family had been hard, and I knew it was a big step to ask for help. Like every immigrant parent who comes to ask for support, I wanted nothing more than to tell her that getting help would be easy. 

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Community

Rahma Rashid Wants to Change the Narrative Around Abuse in Muslim Communities

by Nura Ahmed

Rahma Rashid started the Muslimahs Against Abuse Center (MAAC) because she knew how hard it was for women in her community to find what they needed when dealing with domestic violence. 

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News

Virtual Town Hall Highlights Legal Efforts to Further Protect Survivors of Domestic Violence

by Elizabeth Turnbull

Following a rise in domestic violence rates during the course of the pandemic, Sen. Manka Dhingra and others spoke at a town hall Wednesday, Nov. 3, highlighting new state legislation which is making it easier for survivors to seek protections from their abusers.

“We wanted to make sure that we were addressing long-standing issues that were highlighted by the pandemic,” Dingra said. “… We have a continued responsibility to help survivors reclaim their lives and move forward in a positive way.”

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Voices

OPINION: Abolition Is Survivor-Centered Justice

by Caedmon Magboo Cahill, Shannon Perez-Darby, and DeAnn Alcantara-Thompson

Seattle local elections are underway, and for the first time voters are presented with two abolitionist candidates. In the race for Seattle City Attorney, much has been said about how abolition would negatively impact public safety. One of the more persistent refrains is the narrative that pursuing abolition is turning our backs on domestic violence survivors. We write to dispel this myth. As a former public defense attorney, a community organizer currently working at a local anti-violence organization, and survivors with a combined experience of over 35 years supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence, we maintain it is abolition — rather than criminalization — that is the path toward survivor-centered justice. 

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News

YWCA Hosts ‘Week Without Violence’ to Raise Awareness Around Gender-Based Violence Against Black Women

by Elizabeth Turnbull

Editor’s Note: This article covers the topics of racism and gender-based violence. 

On Sunday, Oct. 18, the YWCA of Seattle, King County, and Snohomish began hosting a Week Without Violence to specifically provide resources and raise awareness around the fight to end gender-based violence that Black women and girls face.

While October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month in general, the YWCA’s free programming this week specifically focuses on the unique intersection of gender-based violence  — which includes domestic violence, trafficking, and sexual assault — and racism.

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News

Cuts to SPD’s Domestic Violence Unit Could Undermine DV Investigations, Experts Say

by Paul Kiefer

(This article was originally published on The C Is for Crank and has been reprinted under an agreement.) 

As part of the staffing transfers that Interim Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz announced last Tuesday, the Seattle Police Department is in the process of moving 88 officers to patrol duties, with more transfers to follow. Those reductions include 29 Community Policing Team members, five members of the department’s Intelligence Unit (used to identify crime hot spots and to determine where patrol officers will be deployed), and five members of the department’s Domestic Violence Unit — nearly a quarter of that unit’s staff.

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News

News Gleam: Police Shoot Man Suspected of Domestic Violence In Columbia City

by Emerald Staff

A Seattle Police officer shot a man Wednesday afternoon in the Columbia City neighborhood, after the man allegedly fired a gun and assaulted his partner during a domestic violence incident. Soon thereafter, the man took off with the couple’s one-year-old daughter, according to a spokesperson with the Seattle Police Department (SPD).

SPD says they received a call just before 2:15 p.m. that reported a man and woman arguing at the Rainier Playfield near 37th Avenue South and South Oregon Street. The man reportedly fired a gun, and then took their infant daughter before fleeing on foot.

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