The Indianapolis-based Domestic Violence Network is addressing generational trauma among Black women with a three-year, communitywide plan.
Named the Beyond Equity plan, the family approach to healing and resources will debut its pilot program in March 2024, WRTV reports. Thanks to support from the community, including conversations with Black women and trans women students at Indianapolis’ Arsenal Tech High School, the Domestic Violence Network is offering support to survivors like Jimmie Bridges.
“I want women of color to know that they do have a voice,” Bridges told the outlet.
A mother of five, Bridges was married to a man who inflicted verbal and physical abuse on her for more than a decade. She also disclosed that she was beaten in her sleep by her husband when he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“I had to choose my children, also. I didn’t want them to keep growing up in the environment of abuse because it trickles on down. It had to end somewhere, and it had to start with me,” said Bridges.
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Beyond Equity plan provides support groups, training of service providers and community members, and a “restorative justice program.” Domestic abusers can put themselves on the invite list.Domestic violence disproportionately devastates communities of color, with some advocates calling it a racial justice issue. Black women are three times more likely to be fatally shot by an intimate partner in comparison to white women.
Rebecca Berry, director of strategic initiatives with the Domestic Violence Network, told WRTV that the plan will examine the actors behind these disproportionate rates. With that, DVN can uncover societal impacts on the culture.
“This is something the survivors have asked for, like ‘I want to find my own justice, I want to speak my own truth, I want to find my own healing,’ and they weren’t finding that in the ways the criminal justice system is structured,” Berry said.
On Jan. 9, a communitywide launch event will take place at the Martin University Gathertorium in Indianapolis from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST.