Preventing Violence: It Takes an Entire Community

Joyce Bilyeu: [00:00:00] You can't do this alone. I've spent more than four decades working with survivor, and the one thing that has never, ever changed is that people don't just need services, they need hope. And every one of these agencies, if w- if there's something we cannot offer, we're gonna be able to give them hope. Every survivor deserves to be believed, they deserve to be safe, and to know that they don't have to walk this journey alone

Jeff Holden: Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. Our purpose and passion are simple, to highlight the incredible nonprofits that make our communities stronger. Each episode is a chance for these organizations to tell their story in their words, sharing not just what they do, but why it matters to the people they serve, to their supporters, and to all of us who believe in the power of community.

Through [00:01:00] podcasting, we hope to amplify their voices, inspire connection, and give them one more tool to impact the hearts of donors, partners, and neighbors alike. This work is made possible through the generous support of our incredible partners, CapTrust, offering fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations, Western Health Advantage, a local not-for-profit health plan that believes healthcare is more than coverage, it's about caring, Core, executive leadership and comprehensive support services.

They work in it so you can work on it, and Five Star Bank, a local trusted advisor to community nonprofits for over 25 years. Violence doesn't always look the way we expect it to. It may not begin with physical abuse. It can appear as control, coercion, financial abuse, isolation, stalking, cultural pressure, or manipulation, and very often it's happening right [00:02:00] in front of us.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to moderate a conversation on preventing violence at a conference on that very subject presented by My Sister's House. Our time was short, and that left us feeling like we had only scratched the surface. So I invited four of the leaders from that discussion back to continue it.

Beth Hassett of WEAVE, Ashley Bryant of 3Strands Global Foundation, Christine Nguyen of My Sister's House, and Joyce Bilyeu of the Sacramento Regional Family Justice Center join me for a much deeper conversation about what preventing violence really requires. We talk about recognizing the warning signs, intervening before violence escalates, the importance of culturally responsive services, and why collaboration between organizations can literally save lives.

But perhaps the biggest takeaway is this, preventing violence isn't simply the responsibility of these four organizations. It belongs to all of us. [00:03:00] This is Preventing Violence Continued. 

Scott Thomas: Beth Hassett, Ashley 

Jeff Holden: Bryant, Christine Nguyen, and Joyce Bilyeu, welcome to this premiere content episode, which is a follow-up from an event that we started a few weeks back at the Preventing Violence Sessions seminar Christine, what do we call this?

What was your event labeled? 

Christine Nguyen: It was our Per- Youth Violence, the four Ps in preventing, uh, violence. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. And we got a little bit short because of timing. We felt that there was so much more to add to the conversation that you have all been gracious with your time to allow us to do a full-length episode to discuss preventing violence.

So let me start with you, Beth. If you would give us a background on who it is you serve and the services you provide at WEAVE. 

Beth Hassett: Certainly. [00:04:00] So WEAVE has been serving Sacramento County since 1978. We started as a domestic violence agency. In 1988, we became the rape crisis center for Sacramento County, so we're the only rape crisis center in our community, and we also serve victims of sex trafficking.

So men, women, children, and youth all receive our services, including robust housing, counseling, outreach, and connecting people to resources, as well as legal services and sexual assault accompaniments. 

Jeff Holden: I love the fact that you addressed both men and women too, because I think there's this preconceived notion that in any of these situations, it's typically just women, when that's not necessarily the case.

Okay. Ashley, would you walk us through a little bit of the, the organization 3 Strands Global for us? 

Ashlie Bryant: Yeah, you bet. So 3 Strands Global Foundation has been focused on [00:05:00] ending human trafficking for the last 16 years. We have a drop-in center in downtown Sacramento where we serve anywhere from 15 to 40 drop-ins a day, and those who are vulnerable to human trafficking, both forced labor as well as commercial sexual exploitation.

And, and then we also have an Employ + Empower program where we place 1,500 survivors into sustainable jobs throughout the greater Sacramento counties. And, and then we have a survivor advisory board of 21 survivor leaders who work with us both on policy and as well as on policies internally, externally programming that we pay as consultants for the work that we do.

That's the direct services sort of leg. The other leg that we have at 3 Strands or 3 Strands, the strands we have, um, is on prevention. So we have a prevention education program that's national that is in 17 different states across the US from kindergarten all the way to 12th grade, and all [00:06:00] focused on how do we prevent the crime before it starts.

And then the last of the strands is on policy, and so that is our focus both in California as well as across US and federally on all sorts of different legislation addressing violence, human trafficking, and making sure that survivor voices are at the center of our conversations. 

Jeff Holden: And Ashley, did I see that you just launched a mini course of sorts on prevention?

Ashlie Bryant: Yes. We have a, a separate actually website from the Three Strand site that is our courses site, and we have a course on safety and awareness. And so very tailored to our teen population to make sure that, um, they can build a safety plan for themselves and know who trusted adults in their lives are and what are those characteristics of a trusted adult.

Jeff Holden: Thank you. Christine, would you address My Sister's House, you know, who it is you serve and services you provide? 

Christine Nguyen: Yes. Thank you, Jeff. Yes. So My Sister's House, similar to WEAVE, [00:07:00] we started in nine- in 2001. Well, actually, we started first as a woman to work support group. We feel that, you know, in order to gain independence from an abusive partner, so our client needed to, to basically work.

Joyce Bilyeu: And in order to work, they needed some 

Christine Nguyen: skills because we serve immigrant and refugee communities who often lack the English skills, the work skills. That was where we started our program, was to help women get back, immigrant and refugee women get back into the workforce. Since then, we have opened up services to include shelter services, emergency shelter, long-term housing.

We provide counseling, we provide legal services. We do restraining orders, marriage dissolutions, and child custody issues. And then we also have a 24/7 multilingual helpline where anyone can call [00:08:00] 365 days a week and, and put in an intake and do an intake with us so that way then our team can assess their, their needs and, and, and work on a safety plan, um, the next business day.

Again, we've been around 25 years. We're a much smaller organization, but our focus is really to bring in clients who need the language and the culture, um, ex- ex- uh, expertise from our, from our staff. 

Jeff Holden: And is there a particular language and culture that you service predominantly for the benefit of the listener who says, "Well, I, I speak Hmong.

Who can help me?" 

Christine Nguyen: Yeah. Over the years, it's kind of, it-- when we first started, was many of the Southeast Asian language, Vietnamese, Hmong, Laotian, Chinese. It's, we still serve those languages, but I actually recently pulled some data for our last fiscal year, and our highest language is actually from the I- Indian country.

Punjabi and, and Hindi is actually- Wow ... ranking high, um, among [00:09:00] our clientele at the moment. 

Jeff Holden: A- and Joyce, Family Justice Center, I'm gonna have you come back because it seems like with each of the entities, there's, there's a legal part of it. There's, you know, a, a community part. There's, uh, you know, an integration part, which I, I'll let you fill in the blanks on it, but if you'd tell us a little bit about, you know, what it is you do.

Joyce Bilyeu: Sure. Thank you. Thank you for hosting this too, Jeff. It's nice to be here with my colleagues. I appreciate them so much. But the Sacramento Regional Family Justice Center, we provide services, free services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, elder and child abuse. Doesn't matter what their gender is, what their age is.

Our mission is simply to provide hope, healing, and safety under one roof. We have a lot of onsite partners, and we have about 40 offsite partners that we have emo- memorandum of understandings with. So instead of asking a survivor to navigate dozens of [00:10:00] agencies while they're experiencing one of the worst moments of their lives, we bring together these partner organizations in one safe place so survivors can access advocacy, legal services.

We're the lead agency in Sa- Sacramento that provides most of the domestic violence restraining orders and elder abuse restraining orders. We do counseling, housing assistance, medical, um, support, law enforcement, prosecutors. We have children services. We have a human trafficking program we partner with WEAVE and My Sister's House in Ashley providing human trafficking services.

We have a Camp Hope for kids that's part of our prevention piece of our program, which I can talk about later. And then we have a huge training component to our organization where we train law enforcement and healthcare providers on assessing for high-risk cases. We have a high-risk team, so we train our officers on assessing those high-risk cases using a tool.

We [00:11:00] also train 911 dispatchers. A lot of training i- includes strangulation education and prevention for those survivors who have been strangled. That's kind of an overview of, of some of the services we offer. I think we all kind of offer sort of a foundation base, similar services, and then we work together.

You know, collaboration is our piece. The Family Justice Center model is been recognized by Office of Violence Against, um, Crime for a best practice model based really what we're-- what really makes it unique is our collaboration model 

Jeff Holden: And, and that's a big part of this conversation because if we can stress one thing above all, it's the necessity to deal with each other, to work collaboratively where the organizations cross over in the services that you provide, which as you've heard, each of you do in so many ways, especially in that, that human trafficking space, [00:12:00] which just is astounding to me the fact that we see as much as we do, that we don't recognize what it really is, and we think of it as just one thing, some- somebody who was locked up or really held captive, when in fact it's so many other things.

Let me ask, a- a- and I'll stay with you, Joyce, what are some of the steps that the agency's taken to mitigate violent actions? 

Joyce Bilyeu: Well, violence prevention really starts long before a homicide occurs. You know, at the Family Justice Center, we use evidence-based tools like danger assessments, lethality assessments to identify those survivors who are at the highest risk of being seriously injured or killed.

We really pay particular attention to, like I said previously, strangulation, access to firearms, stalking behavior, escalating violence, and that coercive control because we know that these are all significant predictors of homicide. If you can predict homicide, then y- then it can be prevented [00:13:00] through education, high-risk teams.

You know, our advocates work with survivors to create those personalized safety plans, obtain restraining orders, relocate families into safe housing, connect survivors to counseling and all the other, um, services that sometimes often create barriers to seeking services like transportation. And again, we also-- You have to train professionals.

I, I know WEAVE has been doing it for 40 years. Ashley's been doing it at My Sister's House. We're all out there training professionals, and you have to constantly do it because there's constantly people retiring, turnovers, and new programs, so it's just something that's ongoing. Prevention isn't really about one program.

It's really identifying those high-risk cases early, intervening quickly, and surrounding survivors with support before that violence escalates 

Jeff Holden: Hey, Ashley, let's go to 3 Strands Global. How about what's happening there? I mean, you're in 17 states, so you're [00:14:00] talking to a lot of different people. What's happening to mitigate the violence through 3 Strands?

Ashlie Bryant: Yeah. So, uh, you know, The Table, which is our drop-in center, we actually... It's really interesting. We've been years, but in the last two and a half years we've had the drop-in center, and we have seen our clients in crisis or fleeing violence far more than we had the years before that, right, before we opened the drop-in center.

So I think for us, we, on the prevention side, we- the whole goal is to stop the crime before it starts, right? As little as five years old all the way through. And we're a part of a lot of, like Sacramento Together in Sacramento, but across the nation, um, different task forces that we've been a part of and been privy to understand best practices in those places and then bring them home to, to Sacramento.

And I think, you know, when it comes to all of us, you know, one of the[00:15:00] 

things that you'll hear us talk about often is this empowerment. How do we make sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that we don't, you know, we stop the crime, um, of, and prevent it from happening, but how do we also empower individuals, our clients, to be able to live the lives that they desire when they're building capacity and they're thriving, right?

How do we actually do that? And so I think that for 3 Strands, it's, it's truly no matter, you know, man, woman, you know, y- youth, how do we make sure that they're empowered to be able to, to do and live the life building capacity and thriving, and that recidivism or really preventing things from happening will happen.

And so for us, it's the empowerment space, but it's also on that prevention space, too. 

Jeff Holden: Christine, you're the multi- most multicultural piece of all this How about within My Sister's House? Yeah. What's happening to prevent violence in terms of actual programs? 

Christine Nguyen: As you know, I think to, in order to work in the prevention space, we definitely need to build strong relationships.

I think as the newest member of, on this leadership team, my observation is that we cannot do this [00:16:00] alone, especially with, especially My Sister's House for sure cannot. We are a small organization. We work with limited resources and staffing. So, and you know, and My Sister's House recently went through a significant leadership change, and so one of my priorities has really been to rebuild and strengthen those relationships among organizations and professionals who work in the mission of preventing violence.

So, and this include the sister agencies of the leaders who are here with me today. And you know, again, I think building relationships and, and coming to an agreement that we all need to work together is a very important component in moving forward. We cannot ask our community to change the way they behave if we ourselves are not modeling those k- type of, of behavior change.

So I am very grateful to build my stronger 

Joyce Bilyeu: relationships with Joyce and 

Christine Nguyen: Beth and Ashley first and foremost, and then, I mean, I'm rebuilding relationships with law [00:17:00] enforcement, with the DA's office, with schools, with hospitals, and other community leaders. And you know, pretty much bringing like-minded individuals in the same room and developing an action plan to do this together, because I think when we're doing it in isolation, the community doesn't really see it as cohesive.

I think you see it as we're just targeting one population, but all, all of what we do affect each other. And definitely education is a big component of prevention. And I think you kinda saw that when we hosted the youth conference the end of, of June where all four organization came together and say, "Hey, what are some of the educational components that we need to put out there?

And from there, how do we move forward to the next step?" And so I'm very happy to see that you have brought us four back together in this podcast because I think we cannot stop with the youth conference. The youth [00:18:00] conference was k- kind of just the beginning of what to do next. I think I've reached out to individual people so far, but I would like to start perhaps the next six months to pull back together the same people and say, "Okay, we've, we've done this.

We- let's reflect on this. Where do we need to go from, from here?" And I think we just have to keep working at it, plugging at it. And like Joyce said earlier, people, there's people change in, in all the different entities, so we constantly have to educate each other and educate all of the different entities that we work with, and especially around Culture competency and culture humility.

You know, we, we do, we partner with Joyce and the Family Justice Center on her, uh, 56-hour, um, advocate training, and we're constantly pivoting, constantly changing how we e- educate and train the audience on what to expect and what to look for when you're dealing with someone who's an immigrant or a refugee, and they're, they're experienced domestic violence or experienced sexual assault.

What are the red [00:19:00] flags? W- what should, what w- you won't be able to get from them on the first meeting, perhaps the second meeting, the third meeting. So it's really about education, educating each other as well on, on how to work with our, with our clientele. 

Jeff Holden: Thank you. And, and Beth, I actually saved you for last because you have so many programs that are integrated locally, I mean, at bars, at schools, at campuses.

Tell us a little bit about your mitigation of preventing violence 

Beth Hassett: Yeah. Our, our vision for a safer Sacramento region and a call to action to the region is when everyone acts, violence ends, which happens to spell WEAVE. But we really believe that it's not just the responsibility of the four organizations sitting here today, but it's everyone's responsibility to ensure that survivors, um, know where to go, feel safe, and that they're believed.

So we have multiple programs, primary preventions in the schools where we're actually working with children and youth, [00:20:00] hopefully to get ahead of them becoming victims and perpetrators in the future. But we're working with bars and the nightlife staff who might, might observe somebody in a violent relationship right there in front of them or somebody being preyed upon by somebody predatory.

We work with businesses with our Silence Doesn't Work Here program because people spend a lot of their time at work, and there's a great opportunity for coworkers and supervisors to notice what's going on, to really recognize what domestic and sexual violence might look like in the lives of their employees, and to make sure that it's safe for them while they're at work, but also that it's safe for them to go home.

So we're out there teaching lay people how to intervene safely and how to be supportive, because that's one of the number one things we hear from survivors is, "I just felt so isolated. I thought it was only happening to me. I didn't think that there was help out there for me." And having trusted people around them tell them, "Look, I [00:21:00] believe you.

What's happening to you isn't right, and there's help for you," is a very powerful next step for a lot of people in figuring out how they're gonna keep themselves and their families safe. 

Jeff Holden: I, I'm gonna take a little slight detour from the questions, only because each of you can better explain what domestic violence or workplace violence can look like in the grand scheme of things, 'cause I think there's the high-level perspective of, oh, it's, it's a physical harm.

It's, it's a capture. It's a kidnapping. Yet in many cases, it's not. It's in your environment. We know people who are in this situation. Does any of you wanna pick that up just a second? I 

Beth Hassett: would, I would love to. You know, we talk about six different types of domestic violence, because people get really fixated on the physical Violence.

And absolutely, as Joyce mentioned, [00:22:00] you know, the, the odds that you're gonna end up dead increase dramatically if you've got physical violence. But that's not what many people are experiencing, and it's often not what people are experiencing early on in their relationships. So it's important that we talk about that emotional abuse, spiritual abuse, sexual abuse within a relationship, but also technological abuse, being stalked by somebody or threatened to be outed or, you know, have social media used against you.

Financial abuse. Almost 100% of the people who are staying in our shelter programs have some kind of financial abuse that they're experiencing. And it's important that we talk about that because somebody might not be experiencing anything physical at all. However, they're being forced to work, and they don't get to spend their own money, or they're being told they can't work.

And the way a lot of this shows up in the workplace, for instance, is, you know, somebody who used to go out to happy hour with you after work, but now their [00:23:00] partner picks them up. I mean, that's the kind of thing that a coworker might see and go, "Oh, something's changed in this relationship." Or somebody who gets 100 texts a day from their partner.

You know, there's something controlling going on there in this relationship that I might wanna pay attention to so I can be supportive of my friend or my employee. So it's really understanding all of the different horrible ways a domestic violence perpetrator might choose to control and abuse their partner and to look at the, at the whole person and what's going on for them.

Jeff Holden: Anybody else wanna add to that? 

Ashlie Bryant: Two words that we talk about often is that, just piggybacking on what Bess said, is this is often, um, whether it's domestic violence or it's human trafficking, sexual, it's a crime that hides in plain sight, right? So a lot of times we talk about that, and we, we, as, as a team, uh, you know, talk about the manipulation and the coercion.

Coercion is a big piece, a word that it's hard to nail down, but there is a lot of coercion. Like when Bess [00:24:00] talking about control, coercion and control, that is part of that perpetrator's mix, if you will. Manipulation, control, and coercion. And so how do we, as agencies, come alongside to be able to help a client understand that they're safe, first and foremost, and then after they're safe, how do we get the resources for them, right?

So but I think manipulation and coercion are big pieces for people, laypeople to understand that those two, along with controlling, right, that really is a, those are big, important words for us to understand. It's not just the physical, right? 

Joyce Bilyeu: I think we have a responsibility too, as leaders of an organization, to make sure our staff is okay.

You know, domestic violence, like Bess said, doesn't start with physical abuse. It often starts with emotional, mental, psychological abuse. They might not be getting hit, but that emotional, mental, psychological abuse maybe is beginning to feel like torture. And don't forget about, there's so much violence on the freeway that's happening out [00:25:00] in the parking lot, in the car, you know, going down the road, and our employees are not immune from that.

You know, it's required that all of our staff go through our 56-hour training and ongoing training with understanding we know that this could trigger you, and let's talk more about it and make sure that they're okay. And I don't wanna forget animal abuse too. You know, these are all signs that us as, um, leaders, we need to educate our staff supervisors on to make sure that our people are okay.

You know, number one priority for me in our organization is, you know, how does it impact the client, but how does it impact the staff too? How does it impact Family Justice Center and our community? Our staff are- and if you have volunteers and interns, what's going on in their life? So we have to make sure that they're all okay, because they gotta be able to provide services to others who are, are going through it.

And [00:26:00] how does that, how does that work if you're going through it yourself? 

Jeff Holden: We'll be right back after we hear a few words from the wonderful organizations that help us deliver this content. 

James Beckwith: I'm James Beckwith, president and CEO of Five Star Bank. We're dedicated to supporting non-profit organizations who advocate for the strength, resilience, and vitality of those they serve.

When non-profit organizations thrive, our community does too. By supporting the Nonprofit Podcast Network, Five Star Bank is amplifying the voices and meaningful impact of our nonprofit community. We're Five Star Bank, a trusted nonprofit partner. How can we help you? 

Darrell Teat: We are really excited to be part of the family and contribute to the work that you all are doing.

CXORE provides fractional and interim executive services along with comprehensive back office solutions that go into our client sites and do the work to give them the capacity they need in order to move [00:27:00] through transitions, whether that's planned or unplanned, or companies also work with our accounting and finance, back office solutions, human resources, technology, and administration.

The reason why our back office solutions add value is because we save them time and money, anywhere from twenty to thirty percent of what they would spend on that back office solution. We work in it so they can actually work on it. CXORE.com and contact me directly at DTEAT@CXORE.com. 

Jeff Holden: If you're interested in learning more about how CXORE may help your organization, visit CXORE.com.

Scott Thomas: Hello, this is Scott Thomas with CAPTRUST in our Sacramento office. I specialize in working with local nonprofits and associations. Annually, we survey private and public nonprofit organizations across the country to better understand challenges they see in today's environment. In our more [00:28:00] recent survey, we heard concerns about proper board governance, mission-aligned investment, and how to implement alternative investments.

If you would like a copy of the survey or to discuss your organization, look me up, scottthomas@captrust.com. 

Jeff Holden: At Western Health Advantage, healthcare isn't just a service, it's a shared value. As a nonprofit leader, you need a health plan that understands the importance of mission-driven work. Western Health Advantage is a local not-for-profit health plan that supports organizations like yours with affordable, flexible coverage options for your team.

But what truly sets them apart is their commitment to community, supporting nonprofits like the American Heart Association, Sacramento Ballet, and the Crocker Art Museum's Pay What You Wish Sundays. With access to top-tier providers and dedicated local support, Western Health Advantage is more than a health plan.

It's a partner in your purpose. Explore your options [00:29:00] today at westernhealth.com. Western Health Advantage, healthcare with heart, designed for those who give back. 

Brad Squires: Hi, I'm Brad Squires, CEO of Sacramento Venture Philanthropy. For more than a decade, SVP has brought together local donors, business leaders, and nonprofit change-makers to do philanthropy differently.

Through pooled funding, hands-on mentorship, and programs like Fast Pitch and 100X, SVP helps nonprofits build real long-term capacity, not just short-term solutions. If you're looking to go beyond writing the check and wanna use your experience, your voice, your leadership to create a lasting impact and have a lot of fun doing it, now is the time to join SVP.

Learn more about becoming a partner at SVPSacramento.org. 

Jeff Holden: Let's continue the conversation on preventing violence with our panelists, Beth Hassett of WEAVE, Joyce Bilyeu of the Family Justice Center, Christine [00:30:00] Nguyen with My Sister's House, and Ashley Bryant with Three Strands Global Foundation 

Scott Thomas: Christine, anything to add?

Christine Nguyen: Yes. You know, on top of everything that, you know, all the leaders have just said, mentioned earlier, you know, for the clientele, the community that we serve at My Sister's House, you know, you add on top of, of all the physical, the psychological abuse, there's also cultural, you know, differences as well too.

And, you know, trying to have someone understand that, you know, no, it's y- you know, it's like I, I have to listen to my husband, you know? That's what our culture believe in, you know? I cannot leave my husband. We have children. And so, you know, the, the complexity that's, that's layered with the culture and the religious really makes it very difficult for our clientele to even talk about what they're experiencing because oftentimes what they feel and believe is that this is normal.

You know, this, this is normal in my country and, you know, I'm going to bring shame to my [00:31:00] family. We have so many survivors actually come through our shelter only to kinda get pulled back and be coerced and pressured to go back home because you are bringing shame to the family, especially in-laws. In-laws are constantly contacting, 'cause even though when they live in our shelter, they still have access.

They're, they, they, they have independence on who they talk to, and I hear all the time where they're going back because they say, "You know what? We're gonna try to work it out because I should be listening to my husband." The guilt that they feel in leaving the abusive relationship so that way they can have a future for themselves will sometimes surpass their own safety.

And, you know, and wives and, and daughters who endure and sacrifice abuse are often highly regarded for their sacrifice. So those are the traumatic experiences and the dilemma that our survivors go [00:32:00] through, and it's hard to kind of push through the culture expectation and allow our victims and our survivors to feel the self-love for themselves that they deserve better than this abusive environment, and think about the future for your children.

You know, it's tolerated in certain country doesn't mean make it right, and I think it's trying to work through that understanding and that process with our survivors. 

Jeff Holden: And that's such a challenge because as Joyce was saying, we know that the incidence of recurrence, as it happens more and more often, there's a greater likelihood that it's not going to end well.

When somebody accepts and feels that guilt and returns back to the situation they're in, which I know all of you see with your clients It's, it's not a matter of if, it's a question of when something greater than what you came the first time for is going to happen. Yeah, let's, let's talk [00:33:00] a little bit about the collaborative partners before we get to how you all work together, the other collaborative partners that you've got in the communities that you serve.

Joyce, who are some of the other people that you work with that allow you to do what you do? 

Joyce Bilyeu: Sure. You know, many, many years ago we worked in silos. I'm a survivor of domestic violence, and it was going from agency to agency, repeating your story, maybe getting re-traumatized, you know? Rather than working in silos, you know, we work together.

It's obvious today. I think one of the most exciting things about this panel today is that it, it does demonstrate what collaboration should look like. You know, we have onsite partners. We have adult protective services on site. We have law enforcement on site. My Sister's House, their legal team and therapy team's on site.

You know, so we have those. We have the ch- the Sacramento Child Advocacy Program on site, the SAFE Center. When no, no single organization can stop violence alone, but when, like Beth [00:34:00] says, when everyone acts, you know, when everyone brings their expertise to the same table, survivors really do receive better services, and offenders then have fewer opportunities to continue the, the abuse Every organization that's represented here today has their very own unique expertise and service, services, different, different populations, but our mission intersects around safety, dignity, preventing violence.

Collaboration isn't about who gets the credit. It's about asking one simple question: What's best for that person sitting in front of us? Whether it's a client, whether it's a coworker, whether it's your mom, you know, what is best for that person sitting in front of us? The strong- I believe that the strongest communities aren't built on organizations working harder, they're built by organizations working together.

And this, this panel is a unique panel, you know. It's a really great example. Just like the Domestic Violence [00:35:00] Prevention Collaborative, it's a community collaboration that's been around for over 20-plus years. Christine's on it. Beth's on it. I'm on it. Ashley's gonna be on it this week, you know. So, and Jeff, we'd love to have you come and visit one of them- 

Jeff Holden: I'd love to

Joyce Bilyeu: as a collaboration. But we all work together for a common, common mission, if you will, to end violence in our communities and in our homes. 

Jeff Holden: Ashley, how about the collaborative partners that you work with in the communities you serve? 

Ashlie Bryant: Yeah, I think that what I think w- we, the four of us, as well as, um, others, have been active is, um, on the task force.

You know, Sacramento got a task force recently, and had those operations and those stings have been, um, incredible. And in Sacramento Together, as well as the task force, there's the opportunity for the four of us, as well as others, to join in and to be able to share trends and things that we're hearing or seeing, whether it's, you know, tech-facilitated abuse or it is rise in, you know, [00:36:00] crisis versus what we were seeing before.

So, it's this space is open place where we can communicate and are- and hear from each other what we're seeing in both our clients as well as, you know, those trends that law enforcement or our, you know, hospitals and, and medical folks are seeing all together. And I think in the stings in particular, it's been such a wonderful thing.

Our staff has truly enjoyed, whether it's FJC or it's WEAVE or it's My Sister's House, to be able to sit alongside, um, our partners and work with a client as they are exiting a violent situation. And how each, to Joyce's point earlier, how each uses the skills that that agency brings as one unit, um, to a client who might be experiencing that is so unique, and it really does bring our community together.

So, you know, I think that, that the four of us feel really fortunate to be able to work together as closely as we do in different thing, different ways, and our staff, extended staff especially, [00:37:00] and there is also task force as well as Sacramento Together and as well as some of the coalitions at the state level that we sit on around how do we end violence and crimes against those who we serve.

Jeff Holden: And Beth? 

Beth Hassett: I mean, I think they've all covered a lot of the colla- collaborations that we're all part of. You know, I wanna just emphasize that it's also the people who don't necessarily see themselves in, in this field. So those businesses, those employers out there. I think schools definitely see the risk of the students that they are working with, but they don't always see the importance of allowing us to all come in and do that prevention work upfront, and some communities are a little more resistant to that, uh, and there just isn't time.

You know, we work with beauticians and folks in the beauty industry because, you know, they're, they're privy to a lot of stories and a lot of disclosures from their clients, and they don't know what to do about it. So, you know, that's one of the, the main things that, that we've focuses on and that I [00:38:00] think the rest of these partners do as well, is just making people understand what they're looking for and what the impacts are on the lives of people and how, how somebody showing up might indicate that they really need help.

So it's, you know, it's all eyes on that, on that potential victim, I think is one of the most important things about the partnerships that here, here in this virtual room, but also out in our community. 

Jeff Holden: A- and that's very well said because I think when we give thought to what's happening, the issue isn't that it's somebody we know.

The issue isn't you're talking to your, your hairdresser or your barber, whoever it might be, who's telling you a story about somebody else, when in fact what they're explaining to you is a domestic violence situation. And you could find yourself working with an organization that has nothing to do with domestic violence.

Uh, it could be a substance abuse organization. It could be [00:39:00] a, a caretaking organization. It could be a senior care facility. Because it's so prevalent, it's just often, for lack of better description, misdiagnosed. 

Joyce Bilyeu: Mm. 

Jeff Holden: And we, we don't see it the way that it needs to be seen. Uh, Christine, I didn't, I didn't ask you, but are, are there any other collaborators that you work with that help the organization identify and better serve its community?

Christine Nguyen: Yeah, absolutely. I think that we're pretty much involved at some level or one way or another with the same, uh, types of organizations that the other agencies are involved with. But I just wanted to add that, you know, we're, we can understand we're, we align ourselves with a lot of women-owned businesses And, you know, they're coming forward and they're, they're raising their hands and saying, "How can we help?

How can we uplift?" And many of them have been survivors themselves. Many of them have, have gone through the experience, and they're, this is their way to kinda give back. Not just m- monetary, not [00:40:00] just in terms of knowledge and time and resources, but whole. You know, many of them invite our s- survivors to come and listen to empow- women empowerment.

And I, I think it's about, you know, you can do it. It's about being cheerleaders. I think these small businesses are coming to say they, you know, and, and b- basically wrapping their love around our survivors and say, "You know, sis, I know you can do this because I was there once, and I start at the bottom, and, you know, let me walk alongside you, and how can I uplift you?"

And it's really powerful to see, because oftentimes it's that love that we l- we lack when we're trying to uplift ourselves. And so I'm forging a lot of partnerships with small business owners. And I think just the business community 

Joyce Bilyeu: in general 

Christine Nguyen: are good partners in this work because they can provide, you know, employment 

Joyce Bilyeu: opportunities for our clients.

Mm-hmm. And 

Christine Nguyen: [00:41:00] that employment opportunity and that paycheck is really key To independence and to building their self-confidence and rebuilding their lives. So those are a couple of new initiatives that I'm working on at My Sister's House. 

Jeff Holden: I'm, I'm hearing the same thread through each of you. Sometimes we kind of get wrapped up in our thought process of it's the organization, the organization, the organization that takes care of these things, but in fact, it's the community that takes care of these things.

It's the individual that takes care of these things the, the best way because they're the voice to bring it to the organization's attention. And each of you are in that space now looking at it from a community perspective to the individual perspective, whether it be at a, a workplace or an office or a, you know, a, a social gathering, which I, I don't think we always think of it that way.

And, and, and we hear it that way many times when we come home and we have a conversation with our spouse or significant other and we're [00:42:00] going, "Oh, wow, that's-" That situation could turn into something that requires your intervention or the, the client's intervention with you, and that's what this preventing violence is really all about, is a better understanding of it.

If I could, I, I look at-- I'm, I'm looking at you as, as if people are familiar with Zoom calls, the product we use is similar, too, but I see the squares. I see four squares here, and I don't know what those, those, the, the game is where you connect the dots to things that connect. You know, you go crisscross and everything.

Yeah. And I see this spider web of activity is in, in my mind as I'm listening to each of you. If you could, if each of you could give me an example of something where you used one of the others' services, and obviously not in any specificity, but just we had a situation where I had to reach out to, and here's what it looked like.

Beth Hassett: I mean, I could start. You know, we, we are a large agency, so a lot of people come our way, and [00:43:00] language barriers are no joke in this community. I mean, Sacramento is one of the most diverse communities in the country, and we regularly, and just two weeks ago, reached out to Christine's team because we had somebody who spoke a language that nobody on our staff was able to communicate with them with.

So really tapping into that expertise and, and My Sister's House having staff members who speak a variety of languages is a, such a great resource here in this community because even if they're not providing the exact service somebody needs, just having somebody who can speak the language so that we can get the, get the help to the survivor that, that they need is, is critical and something we can't do on our own.

Christine Nguyen: Yes, I wanted to let you know that we put the, the, the survivor and her, and her baby in shelter. She actually was offer a position at our cafe, at My Sister's Cafe. 

Beth Hassett: That's so [00:44:00] awesome. 

Ashlie Bryant: So- 

Christine Nguyen: That's awesome ... um, it's, you know, we're working on childcare issues with her, but yes, I think that's a really great example of, of how I was a, you know, we're able to help, you know, a, a client over from WEAVE.

Ashlie Bryant: I think that- Anybody else want 

Jeff Holden: to add? 

Ashlie Bryant: Yeah, I, so, you know, one of the things that I have really loved having the, the drop-in center is that there's so many referrals that come. We have-- that's what we call at 3 Strands Global Foundation the Safe Care Model. So, and all of us get different grants, you know, and sometimes those grants are restricted.

And so if they're, you know, with the Safe Care Model, it allows us to have sort of unrestricted area of, of whatever it may be that the client might need. And so we get referrals from My Sister's House or from WEAVE or Family Justice Center that comes to 3 Strands because, you know, this might not fit in one of the many different restricted areas of what we have as funding, but it, for us it's like, okay, but 3 Strands can actually handle that and take it.

And so it's so great to be able to see any of the staff from [00:45:00] these great organizations come through The Table doors, our drop-in center, and, and there's a referral and, you know, or to be able to use our clothing closet and get clothing, both employee clothing as well as other things from The Table, from our drop-in center, and take it out.

We use all of this. When it comes to housing, both My Sister's House and WEAVE, our staff is constantly being able to have a first sort of line of call to is there a housing, you know, that's available, um, for a client that comes through that's in crisis. And if not, then how do we navigate, you know, housing vouchers together, all of us?

And, you know, each agency has been super open and generous around, "Hey, we've got extra vouchers," or, "We do," right? How do we share that understanding with each other? So for us, you know, it is so important to be able to have open lines of communication, especially 'cause Joyce shared in the beginning, you know, she had to tell her story over and over.

Well, we don't want that for our clients, any of us. And so if we can break down those barriers of communication and make sure that [00:46:00] a client feels supported and safe in a place where they don't have to retell, and they can be referred from one to the other of us, then more power goes in that community space, right?

Jeff Holden: Joyce, example? 

Joyce Bilyeu: Yeah, I'd have to agree. I think I've accessed all of the agencies for clients because we want what's best for our client, you know? And if, if we can't offer it here at Family Justice Center, we have one woman who had five kids, no driver's license, didn't speak English. Law enforcement calls me on a holiday.

I'm sitting in the parking lot at Raley's 'cause I was just getting ready to go in, and they had this woman at McDonald's. She had no cell phones, no nothing. So, you know, and we needed five car seats. So, you know, we, we got her into a hotel. We've got, um, cell phone for her. Another agency, La Familia, got the car seats.

You know, we were able to get the transportation. And the woman is-- she's just doing... This was, I think, two years ago, but she's doing great now. You know, her and her kids are safe, and they've gone through a really good program. You know, you can't do this alone. I've spent more than [00:47:00] four, four decades working with survivor, and the one thing that has never, ever changed is that people don't just need services, they need hope.

And every one of these agencies, if w- if there's something we cannot offer, we're gonna be able to give them hope. Every survivor deserves to be believed, they deserve to be safe, and to know that they don't have to walk this journey alone, that I'm gonna do a warm handoff with you. I'm not just gonna hand you a piece of paper and say, "Go to WEAVE or Three Strands."

I'm gonna make that phone call or drive them over there. Like Beth, I believe, mentioned earlier, violence prevention isn't the responsibility of one agency. It's the responsibility of an entire community. And when we can all come together, share our expertise, and put survivors at the center of everything we do, we don't just respond to violence, we can help prevent it.

And together, with all of us working together the way we do, we can create a community, our Sacramento community, where safety is [00:48:00] the expectation, not the exception So- 

Jeff Holden: And, and Christine, we, we've heard incoming to you because of the language or culturals differences. How about outgoing with any of the other organizations?

Christine Nguyen: I mean, we talked about how our four organizations coordinate services for our clients, but I really wanted to talk about something that the four leaders of the three leaders here have provided for me personally. 'Cause I think part of collaboration is really, is modeling, you know, partnerships that are productive and uplifting, and because then your staff sees that.

So I, I know that as a, a new CEO of My Sister's House, I've been able to reach out to Beth and say, "Hey, Beth, what's your understanding of this regulation? Can you explain this to me?" And she gives me, and she breaks it down. And so the, you know, I, I look to Joyce and Beth and Ashley as my mentors in this field.

And then from there, you know, [00:49:00] I make sure that our staff work well with their staff and that there is a smooth coordination of services and respectful communication among all of us, because ultimately when we respect each other's strengths and weaknesses, that ultimate is a win for the clientele.

There's no really no need to, you know, ask a lot of questions. But you know, I've called up Joyce and I say, "Joyce, my legal team, we're sitting on top of each other right now. You have wonderful space. I just visited your space. Can we take over some square footage?" It's a real estate. And she gave us prime real estate with windows where plants can thrive.

And so our legal team is now, you know, sharing space at the Family Justice Center. And same thing with Ashley, you know. "Hey, I need to put together an event. Can I use your space?" 'Cause we, what we lack at My Sister's House, the three organizations have. And [00:50:00] so I'm reaching out and I'm being creative, you know, maximizing the resources out there, partnering with, with everyone.

You know, and Beth, you know, and during the, uh, Christmas time, say, "Hey, Christine, we have these extra toys." You know, absolutely, I'm going by and saying, "Yes, sign our clients up for the, the toy drive." So, um, I'm trying not to reinvent the wheel, but at the same time, how can I support you? But ultimately, the three ladies here have really supported me quite a bit in the last year that I've been CEO of My Sister's House and really developing that infrastructure before, between our four organizations.

Jeff Holden: And, and the four of you are an incredibly powerful cohort of people in our community doing what you do to prevent violence and serve clients when it does happen. Closing comments, if, if each of you could just give us a brief statement on how Violence can be prevented to the other [00:51:00] organizations that are listening, to the community at large that's listening.

Say, "Here, just this one thing." Beth, you wanna start? 

Beth Hassett: I'll start. Yeah. You know, I think that people forget that somebody experiencing violence is a whole person, and they likely aren't even identifying as a victim necessarily. They're just a person trying to live their life and take care of themselves and their family and be safe.

And I think it's critical that people realize you might intersect with that person in all sorts of ways, like you said, through a drug and alcohol program, at work, you know, on the playground with your kids. And everyone being attuned to the fact that somebody might need a little nudge, a little help, even just an acknowledgement that what they're experiencing isn't safe or isn't okay, you know, that goes a long way in supporting survivors before things even get too terrible.

So I think [00:52:00] just recognizing that, you know, not everybody's defined by what they're experiencing at the moment, but, but they might need help that, that you are the right person to give to them. 

Jeff Holden: Christine, anything to add to that from your group of people? 

Christine Nguyen: My advice would be to, to listen to communities like Beth said, you know, it's a whole person.

And I think when we, when we start to put-- I would like to, for us, as a community, to stop putting Band-Aids on people. 'Cause I think the Band-Aid might short term solve the, the symptoms, but long term it doesn't, it doesn't change the community makeup of, of, of we or the community response to, to violence.

And so I think, you know, listen to communities we serve, involve them In the solutions as well. You know, like at, during the youth conferences, you know, youth, you know, they, they're, they're saying, "Hey, invite us. Give us a seat at the [00:53:00] table, and we will help you with the solutions." And, and I think, you know, I think as I move forward, I, this is the kind of the approach I want to start taking is bring the community along.

Jeff Holden: Great. And Joyce? 

Joyce Bilyeu: Yeah, I kinda have, like, these five-step recommendations. You know, first you wanna build those relationships before the crisis ba- ha- happens. A collaboration starts long before you need it. And then second, listen to survivors. You know, they're the experts in their own lives, and their voice should, should really shape your services.

You know, if we have a gap in services and it's a continuing gap, that's where I'm gonna build my, my programs. And third, use those evidence-based tools so you can identify those people who are at greater risk of future violence. And then fourth, like we all do, break down those barriers of transportation, childcare, language, technology, and financial assistance.

They're, they're just as important as the services themselves. And finally, never underestimate the [00:54:00] power of hope. When someone has experienced trauma, what they often remember isn't just the services they receive. They remember how you made them feel, how they felt when they left there. A little kindness and compassion and collaboration can literally save lives.

And Jeff, I have to thank you, you know, so much, because you're doing your part just by having this podcast and meeting with us at the Stop the Hate Crime, getting the word out. You're creating your part in creating those pathways of hope for others who, who might be listening in to this, and I would encourage anybody, if they're going through this, to contact any of, of the four of us on here so we can get support for you.

Jeff Holden: Thank you. And, and Ashley, close us out. 

Ashlie Bryant: Yeah. So we always say that prevention changes everything. It truly does. And so how others might work in this space is really, you know, putting survivors' voices first, what Joyce just said, is paramount. And so, you know, for [00:55:00] us, that's lis- leaning into that survivor advisory board.

We've really-- You know, people have different experiences, and so how can we listen to all those different experiences and meet them where they're at? All four agencies meet individuals where they're at. So if prevention changes everything and we're meeting survivors where they're at and we're working together as a community, then those are three of the most important building blocks.

And then, then the other, the last pieces that I would say is sort of four and five is, how do you, if you're already working in this space, work together with us? If you are new to this space, how do you understand what we're all, all of us are already doing so that we can fill gaps as a community and make sure to not only meet survivors where they're at, but also create that safety net underneath our clients so that no one falls through the cracks?

Because barriers exist, and so do the cracks, and so we wanna stop people from falling through the cracks as much as we can. And then the last piece, [00:56:00] I love what Joyce ended with, which is hope. I think that all of us, um, every single day have to remind ourselves of that pathway to hope. Um, and so when we're reminding ourselves of the pathway to hope, we also, um, then have the capacity to be able to give hope to those that we serve as well.

So for us, we always say it starts at home. We've gotta remember where our hope lies and where that foundation is, and how do we make sure it's self-care-wise, we take care of ourselves so that we can, um, be able to give hope to others as well. So that would be what I would share. 

Jeff Holden: Well, Ashley, Joyce, Beth, Christine, thank you so much.

Thank you for your time. Thank you for sharing, and most importantly, for what you do to serve those who are in these unfortunate violent situations. You've demonstrated through this conversation the value of collaboration, which is the greatest emphasis we've got today in our nonprofit ecosystem, and, and it's the need and the necessity to work [00:57:00] together for a better outcome.

I appreciate all of you. Thank you for your time. 

Christine Nguyen: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. 

Scott Thomas: Thank you 

Jeff Holden: for listening to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. We hope today's episode inspired you and gave you a deeper look into the work of our local nonprofits. If you believe in our mission to amplify their voices, please take a moment to leave us a positive review and share this episode with a friend.

It helps more people discover the incredible work happening in our community. And don't miss future episodes. Subscribe to our weekly updates and monthly newsletter at nonprofitpod.com. And if you're part of a nonprofit that would like to be featured, we'd love to hear from you. Just visit the guests tab on our website.

The Nonprofit Podcast Network is recorded and produced at Hear Me Now Studio with generous support from our outstanding partners. CapTrust, fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations. Online at [00:58:00] captrust.com. Western Health Advantage, local care with community impact. Find the plan that fits at westernhealth.com.

Core, executive leadership and comprehensive support services. Visit cxore.com. And Five Star Bank, a local trusted advisor to community nonprofits for over 25 years. fivestarbank.com.