Domestic Violence Super Advocates!

DASH is proud to announce that two of our staff, Afusat Olaifa and Connor McFadden, received the Domestic Violence Super Advocate distinction from the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence and artist L’il Mo. Both will be given tickets to see L’il Mo and Keke Wyatt tonight at the Howard Theatre, as well as get to stay for a night at the Courtyard Marriott.

“I feel incredibly honored to be receiving the Super Advocate Award, especially after getting to know all the amazing people who work tirelessly to end domestic violence in the D.C. area,” said Connor. “I believe that the community of DV service providers faces many unique challenges, and it’s great to see us come together to celebrate the impact we are making in our communities for children, families and adults alike.”

Afusat weighed in on her role and the award. “My work as an advocate is a challenge. In order to be a good advocate, someone must be loving, caring and go beyond the job descriptions to get things done. The biggest challenge is not having enough resources out there for some residents and their families. The award is an honor and motivation to do more than before.”

We thank DCCADC and L’il Mo for honoring our advocates, and offer congratulations to Afusat and Connor! We are so lucky to have you working at DASH!

DASH Founder and Executive Director Blogs from Kabul

Our founder and executive director Peg Hacskaylo is in Kabul and will be in other parts of Afghanistan on sabbatical for the next three months. She’s traveled there to visit domestic violence housing and shelter services, run by Shukria Khaliqi. Shukria visited DASH last year for three days. Follow along as Peg blogs for The Huffington Post from Kabul. Here is her first post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-a-hacskaylo/the-currency-of-change_b_3254787.html.

SPOTLIGHT ON ALLIES IN CHANGE AWARDEES: A WIDER CIRCLE AND MARK BERGEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Thanks to the leadership and support of Mark Bergel and A Wider Circle, families moving into housing with DASH had their new households fully furnished and equipped, ready for them to easily and quickly move into their new homes and begin rebuilding their lives. When DASH doubled the number of families housed through our Empowerment Project, A Wider Circle provided everything needed to help them move into their apartments seamlessly. With the simple mission of helping children and families lift themselves out of poverty, A Wider Circle does so much more. They ensure that families who have escaped abuse, leaving everything they had behind them, not only have a safe place to live but everything need to make it a home.

We would like to honor Mark Bergel, the Executive Director of A Wider Circle, with our Building Brick Award. In construction, the building brick is that which makes up the substance of the structure. A Wider Circle’s help to ensure that the families at DASH are provided with more than just a safe place to run, but the ability to establish new homes – quickly, easily, and comfortably, the way a home should be – helps change lives. Read the interview with Mark Bergel below, and remember to buy tickets to the Allies in Change Luncheon here:

I believe that we can end poverty, that it is the single greatest blight on our society and on our world. I believe that poverty leads to so many other destructive forces and I am deeply devoted to working to end it.

My relationship to our nation’s capital is simply that it provides the perfect opportunity to show what is possible when people come together to address a major problem. I have spent many, many days in all parts of our capital city and am always shocked that we allow poverty to endure and two worlds to exist side by side in the same land. I think we owe it to every ideal on which this nation was born and every ideal we hold sacred in our lives to end poverty. To me, DC is a metaphor for the connection that is needed in this world.

If you are doing anything of importance in this city, you will hear about DASH. It was
fairly early in the life of A Wider Circle, the organization I founded in 2001, that I came across DASH and forged a relationship with its leadership.

I believe that the work that DASH does – and the way it is done – is a real uplift. DASH and its leadership represent truly the best in social service, and we need to serve in an extremely high-quality and dignified way. That is what I see with DASH.

A mutual desire to serve well – that is what brought us together. A Wider Circle’s relationship with DASH is a true partnership. They provide support in many ways for our work, and we respond with urgency when a family from DASH is in need of our support.

While it may not sound unique, what stands out about DASH to me is the exceptionally
professional manner in which is it is managed and in which its programs run. It may not seem unique to be a consistently high-quality and first-class operation, but the way in which DASH is managed makes me feel good about how the women and families they serve will be supported.

Unfortunately, domestic violence is almost synonymous with poverty, so I am connected with domestic violence much more than I expected to be. In fact, I always say that it would be difficult to meet a woman who was born and raised in poverty and did not face some form of violence. Every conversation is heartbreaking, but at the same time, motivating. So, to be a part of what DASH is doing, and to partner in the effort is among the most important things that I and A Wider Circle do. We are deeply committed to confronting the issue of domestic violence and to making sure that those who have been victims of it can realize a future filled with positivity and joy.

SPOTLIGHT ON ALLIES IN CHANGE AWARDEES: EagleBank and Ronald D. Paul, Chairman and CEO

Since DASH first approached EagleBank for help with refinancing DASH’s Cornerstone Residence, their consistent support for our organization and vision of safe housing for all survivors has made a notable difference in the lives of the women we serve. Even though DASH was then a young and relatively unproven organization, Eagle saw fit to invest in our services and ultimately help to ensure that women and children had safe, stable homes. Their commitment to DASH has been steadfast from the beginning and without their confidence, we would not be able to ensure those safe homes remain for the
families that need them.

For this year’s Allies in Change Awards Luncheon, we are recognizing them with our “Anchor Award.” In construction, an “anchor” provides structural reinforcement
for the walls of the building, which perfectly describes what EagleBank has done for DASH in providing us with the reinforcement to maintain the health and stability of our
financial, organizational, and residential. EagleBank has been more than just a financial lender – through their consistent and enthusiastic support, they have been an anchor to the health and safety of the community. Read the interview with EagleBank Chairman and CEO Ronald D. Paul below, and remember to buy tickets to the Allies in Change Luncheon here:

EagleBank is a local community bank that has provided financial products and services to businesses and individuals throughout the Washington, DC Metro Area for nearly 15 years. We believe in supporting and strengthening the community we serve. Helping to make it a safer place in which to live, work and play is important and essential for all of us.

Our employees’ involvement and ability to serve the financial needs of DASH is how we learned about this very worthwhile organization. We strive to learn everything there is to know about a potential client in order to provide the best financial solutions. In that process, we recognized the serious subjects of homelessness and the domestic violence that DASH addresses. It is well in line with EagleBank’s own commitment to community involvement and desire to keep DC safe for all – our employees, customers, citizens and neighbors have helped alert us to the needs and deeds of DASH.

Any organization that is devoted to saving and protecting the homeless, especially women and children, and fighting the trauma of domestic violence should be on the radar screen of every local business. A city that protects and defends its homeless women and children is a city where businesses can grow and thrive. Safe, secure citizens can get jobs, provide support for their families and eventually help support the local economy on which we all depend. DASH provides a base, a cause, a draw… that pulls EagleBank and others in to focus on the dire needs of homeless women and children.

Our community support and efforts usually start with a need for financial expertise, a custom solution or a chance to partner in something worthwhile. As a community bank, everything EagleBank does for the sake of business involves touching the community. They are often inseparable. Sometimes, the cause and needs of a client that serves the community is a more powerful draw than mere business-as-usual. Such is the case with DASH. EagleBank is proud to be involved.

DASH has a focus that touches hearts – an abused female, a child without a home – violence and irresponsibility – a Mom left behind, bruised and battered, without the funds to feed, clothe or shelter her children. While so many organizations provide services on a bigger level – family, group or whole community – DASH shines a powerful beam on the weakest segment of this group.

Domestic violence, abuse, depression, illness, and other misfortunes lead to homelessness. Depression, abuse and violence, in particular, are on the rise and are directly related to mental illness. Until we all realize that mental illness is a disease (like diabetes, lupus, AIDS, MS and more), we cannot fight it or treat it properly. Thus, violence and abuse against women and children and the fright of being homeless will continue. Addressing mental illness which leads to the horror of domestic violence, and the resources needed to shelter the battered and homeless is important to EagleBank and should be important to everyone who hopes for a healthier, happier community.

Spotlight on Allies in Change Awardees: MOI and Jennifer Lee

DASH’s longtime corporate community partner, MOI, is this year’s recipient of the Keystone award. MOI not only works with DASH to build awareness and support for the cause of safe housing and safe lives through events, they also donate their time volunteering and organizing much-needed drives for DASH’s women and children. MOI has also donated endless amounts office furniture for DASH staff and its staff has helped design our office spaces. Jennifer, Senior Consultant for Commercial Interior Solutions, explains more about this wonderful partnership below, and remember to buy tickets to the luncheon here:

My name is Jennifer Lee, I’m a Senior Consultant at MOI. MOI is a Commercial Furniture Dealership with 30 years of experience providing clients with comprehensive furniture solutions.

I work and play in DC! I first heard about DASH back in 2009 when we hosted an art show that raised funds and awareness for DASH. It also gave members of the industry an opportunity to showcase our artistic talents.

When DASH was renovating the Cornerstone building MOI donated furniture as well as our services for design, labor, and project management for their staff offices.

DASH knows firsthand how large the need is locally for safe housing and support services. They bring vital awareness needed to educate others on the cause and effect relationship between domestic violence and the prevention of homelessness.

Their low barrier policy and the passion that their team has for the mission along with their unbridled resolve to give their residents the tools/skills needed to rebuild their lives with the respect and kindness they deserve. DASH addresses the need for services and local housing for victims and assists with getting them into safe, supportive environments, where they can find success at their own speed. DASH is nationally recognized for their best practice model organization.

I feel passionate that women and children should be protected from violence and sexual abuse. Having a sense of security and safety in your home…this is the most basic need most of us take for granted. All women should have an alternative housing solution to living in an unsafe environment or on the streets.

“We” in the global sense, are ALL affected by domestic violence, sexual abuse, and homelessness.

Spotlight on Allies in Change Awardees: Sasha Carter

On April 24th, DASH will hold its 3rd Annual Allies in Change luncheon, honoring individuals and community partners who have supported the organization’s work to provide relief to survivors of domestic and sexual violence, through emergency and long-term safe housing, and innovative homelessness prevention services. We are doing a series of interviews of our awardees beforehand to share a bit more about them. This blog focuses on The Red Derby, a local, neighborhood pub, and its wonderful and generous founder and owner, Sasha Carter. The Red Derby provides DASH with incredibly generous donations throughout the year, making sure every single DASH resident has food and gifts for every holiday, big and small, and school supplies/backpacks when the kids return to school each year. And the Derby’s generosity doesn’t end there! Two of their wonderful staff, Ann-Marie VanTassell and Beth Hansen, have also started an After School Art Group for DASH kids ( to read more about this wonderful group, click here).

Remember to buy tickets to the luncheon here.

Sasha Carter had the following commentary on The Red Derby’s iinvolvement with DASH:

D.C. has been my home since I moved here in 1988. Over five years ago, my husband and I opened the Red Derby, a local, neighborhood pub in the Petworth section of D.C. Upon opening, one of our friends, Jordan Fitzgerald, told us about DASH and asked if she could host a fundraiser at the Derby. We said, yes, of course. Remembering back to that first event, although there was a rain storm combined with an unexpected street closure, the fundraiser was a success. That was when we first started to learn about DASH. A couple of months later, with Mother’s Day on the horizon, we thought it would be a great idea to host our own fundraiser for DASH. We pulled our staff and our regulars together, and made it happen. That was the first of many fundraisers we were to give. Since we have been open, over the years we’ve focused on the following events for DASH: Halloween costumes and candy, non-perishable food for Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas gifts, Easter egg baskets, mother’s day gifts, and a back-to-school drive over the summer (for back packs and school supplies). We have tremendous support from our staff and our regulars for all the DASH fundraisers we host. In fact, this February two of our staff members began a pilot after school arts class at DASH.

Why do we host a DASH fundraiser every couple of months? Because we wholeheartedly believe in and support DASH and we want to help in any way we can. With the tremendous growth D.C. has experienced over the past ten years, DASH provides an invaluable component to D.C.’s landscape; it helps make D.C. not only a vibrant world class city, but also a community that cares.

Moms and kids are the nucleus of our society. We must be a community that takes care of, protects, and helps to grow this nucleus. Domestic violence and sexual abuse are full on attacks to the safety of this nucleus. By providing safe housing for up to two years and access to a whole range of social services, including financial counseling to help restore damaged credit and regain financial footing, DASH makes sure we are that community who takes care of our own by helping our own to rebuild their lives on their terms.

As a local, neighborhood pub, that is part of the D.C. community, the Red Derby wants to support DASH to succeed in its extremely important goals and mission. We are honored to be able to help in any way possible.

New DASH Playground Built in a Day!

Designed by Kids, Built by Volunteers

On Saturday, November 3, DASH, in partnership with KaBOOM! and with the support of the Washington Redskins Foundation, Wells Fargo, and Salesforce.com, created and built a state-of-the art playground for the children and families living in DASH’s Cornerstone Residence.

Since opening in 2006, DASH has been the largest dedicated housing provider for victims of domestic and sexual violence in the city, helping thousands of families find safe housing in their programs and throughout the District. The children currently living in DASH’s Cornerstone Residence did not have a safe playground to enjoy within walking distance.

This playground is one of more than 150 playground builds KaBOOM! has lead across the country in 2012 in an effort to fulfill its vision of a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. KaBOOM! is a national non-profit organization dedicated to saving play. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together business and community interests to construct more than 2,100 new places to play across North America. Our KaBOOM! playground build began early in the morning with volunteers arriving at an empty site. Within hours, KaBOOM! led volunteers in transforming the space to a vibrant place for children to play. It was an old-fashioned barn-raising with an urban twist!

The playground build began with a kickoff ceremony at 8:30 a.m. and then the 250 volunteers gathered for the event went to work. Throughout the day, there were teams shoveling mulch, mixing cement, painting murals, building benches, and assembling playground equipment, all with the goal of completing the playground by 2:30pm! Former Redskins and their families worked alongside staff of Wells Fargo and Salesforce.com, as well as members of the DASH community to achieve this incredible goal.

But it wasn’t ALL work. With the help of the delicious food donated by DC Central Kitchen, Papa Johns, Matchbox, and Diane Cottman, as well as the dynamic music DJ’d by DJ M Dot, the crowd enjoyed a community block party as well, at one point stopping to demonstrate their amazing dancing skills!

The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place at 2:30 p.m. It was a celebration of everyone coming together to realize the vision of a safe and healthy place for the families living at DASH to live and play. DASH and our residents couldn’t be more grateful for all of the incredible help and support to make this dream come true!

HELP DASH BUILD A PLAYGROUND FOR OUR CHILDREN

WASHINGTON REDSKINS, WELLS FARGO, SALESFORCE FOUNDATION, DISTRICT ALLIANCE FOR SAFE HOUSING AND KaBOOM! TO BUILD PLAYGROUND IN ONE DAY FOR CHILDREN

On Saturday November 3^rd, 2012, more than 250 volunteers from the Washington Redskins, Wells Fargo, the Salesforce Foundation, the District Alliance for Safe Children (DASH), organizers from KaBOOM! (the national non-profit dedicated to saving play for America’s children by creating play spaces through the participation and leadership of communities), and residents of the Washington D.C. community will join forces to build a new playground at DASH’s Cornerstone Housing Facility, the District’s largest dedicated safe housing program for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and their families.

DASH acts as a safe haven for women and their children by providing long-term safe housing and services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and their families as they rebuild their lives on their own terms. We help them move toward not only safety, but also hope, independence, family, peace, and everything that “home” represents community programs. We want to be a place where people can find “help, hope and healing.”

DASH needs the community’s help to make this playground project a success for our children. You can sponsor this exciting project by volunteering on prep or build days (Nov. 1, 2, and 3), making a monetary donation, donating food and/or snacks for the 250 volunteers, or loaning/donating other needed materials such as tents, chairs, tables, coolers, heaters, etc. Please see the detailed list below to find out what is still needed and how you can be involved!

We hope you will be our partner in transforming the lives of children who need our help.

If you have any questions, please contact Dana Arneson at darneson@dashdc.wpengine.com.

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DONATION OPPORTUNITIES

You can help sponsor the playground with a monetary donation by clicking HERE and writing “playground” where it says Designation, or sending a check to P.O. Box 91730, Washington, DC 20090, or contacting Dana Arneson, DASH’s Development Director, at darneson@dashdc.wpengine.com.

You can also sponsor the playground by donating items DASH needs to gather in the next month to build this playground for our children.

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FOOD & PAPER GOODS

PAPER GOODS, UTENSILS FOR 250 PEOPLE

Prep Day 1—Thursday, November 1^st

Breakfast (for 30 volunteers)
Lunch (for 30 volunteers)
Drinks-non water (for 30 volunteers)
Snacks (for 30 volunteers)

Prep Day 2 –Friday, November 2^nd

Breakfast (for 30 volunteers)
Lunch (for 30 volunteers)
Drinks (for 30 volunteers)
Snacks (for 30 volunteers)

Build Day—Saturday, November 3rd

Breakfast (for 200 volunteers)
Lunch (for 200 volunteers)
Drinks (for 200 volunteers)
Snacks (for 200 volunteers)

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EQUIPMENT

Tables
Chairs
Large Tents
PA System
Coolers for food
Space heaters

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VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Volunteers do not have to be trained, skilled or have any special tools!

1. DJ: for Build day Saturday, November 3^rd

will be present on site throughout build from 8am-2:30pm to play music for the volunteers and keep the energy level high.

Certified First Aid Provider for Build Day: Saturday, November 3^rd

will be present on site throughout build from 8am-2:30pm

3. Build Day Captain (16-20 needed)

will be assigned 10-20 volunteers, attend training on Prep Day, and arrive very early on Build Day morning to help set up the site

Volunteer for Prep Day 1—Thursday, November 1^st: 8:00am-5:00pm (30 needed)

Volunteer for Prep Day 2—Friday, November 2^nd: 8:00am-5:00pm (20 needed)

Build Day Volunteer—Saturday, November 3^rd:

8:00 AM: Registration and Breakfast

8:30 AM: Kick-Off

11:30-1:30 PM: Lunch in shifts for all volunteers

2:30 PM: Ribbon-Cutting and Dedication Ceremony

Registration Volunteer to oversee registration for Build Day November 3^rd: 7:30-2:30pm (4 needed)

Food Service Volunteers to staff food service area, set up and serve breakfast and lunch

Saturday, November 3^rd: 7:00am-2:00pm (8 volunteers needed)

Home. Means. Safety.

(Cross-posted with National Alliance to End Homelessness Blog)

By Peg Hacskaylo, Executive Director, District Alliance for Safe Housing

Trudy[1] had been living in an apartment with her boyfriend and their son for about 2 years when the abuse from her boyfriend became more frequent and more intense. She wanted to move out but couldn’t afford to live on her income from her job as a cashier at a local retail store. One night, when her boyfriend had another violent outburst, Trudy called the police. When they arrived, an advocate was with them to help her determine what services she needed. She said she couldn’t stay in their home because, if her boyfriend went to jail, she couldn’t afford the rent and, if her boyfriend was released, she wouldn’t feel safe there. So the advocate placed her and her son in a hotel paid for by compensation available to crime victims. She could stay at the hotel for up to 30 days while she tried to figure out what she would do.

By her second week in the hotel, Trudy had called every resource given to her to find another place to live, to no avail. She finally went to the city’s intake center for homeless families but they told her that she wasn’t considered homeless because she wasn’t living in a shelter or on the streets. By the end of the month, Trudy went back to live with her boyfriend, who had been released from jail, because she had run out of time and had nowhere else to go.

But when her boyfriend’s abuse continued, Trudy again began searching for another place to live. She reached out to the local battered women’s shelters and was eventually able to get space for herself and her son for up to 90 days. When her time there was about to run out, she again went to the central intake center, only to be told that she was still ineligible for housing because the shelter she was living in wasn’t part of the city’s homeless housing system. Trudy left the shelter to live in a friend’s basement until she could figure out her next step.

Stories like Trudy’s are all too common in the District of Columbia and throughout the U.S. Women are one of the fastest growing groups of homeless people in the country (Goodman, Fels, & Glen, 2011), and domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness among single women and women with children (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2005). In one large-scale study, 92 percent of homeless mothers reported experiencing sexual or physical abuse in their lifetimes (Browne & Bassuk, 1997). The limited availability of safe and affordable housing options frequently results in women falling into homelessness after exiting abusive situations (National Institute of Justice, 2008), and homelessness dramatically increases their risk of suffering episodes of sexual assault and other kinds of abuse (Goodman, Fels, & Glen, 2011).

When we founded the District Alliance for Safe Housing (DASH) in 2006, our initial plan was to create a safe emergency-to-transitional housing facility for survivors of domestic violence. At the time, the demand for housing for victims displaced from their homes was overwhelming and the resources to meet the need were scarce. The D.C. police annually received over 30,000 calls for domestic violence incidents and approximately 1,200 families were being placed in hotels for lack of available emergency shelter beds. There were then a total of 48 beds for women and children escaping abuse and fewer than 200 units of transitional and long-term housing for families exiting shelter.

We soon realized, therefore, that our primary objective would help only a fraction of those who needed it. We spoke to women on a daily basis who told us that they needed help not just accessing safe housing programs, but permanent safe housing. We heard from advocates that survivors needed help keeping their permanent subsidized housing or getting into affordable, rental housing. We needed a broader strategy to solve this problem.

Our strategy, a combined effort on three fronts to achieve greater housing accessibility for survivors from shelters to permanent housing, involves:

Creating additional safe housing
Facilitating access to existing housing programs
Preventing victims’ fall into homelessness

Under this strategy we worked with homeless and housing providers to ensure their housing was accessible and safe for victims. We worked with landlords to ensure they didn’t inadvertently discriminate against victims in rental housing. And we worked with domestic violence service providers to help them advocate for victims in the District’s complex housing system. As our strategy developed, so did our programs, and soon we had a continuum of housing support for survivors, wherever they turn for help.

Notably, our strategy has evolved into something more than just creating more, and more responsive, housing for women and families. It’s become about changing the way we see the problem, which lies directly at the intersection of domestic violence and homeless/housing services. Because at that nexus there is a disconnect that creates a sort of double-jeopardy for victims – putting them further at-risk of homelessness and abuse. We learned that domestic violence service providers and homeless service providers function in numerous parallel ways – in the same jurisdiction, with many of the same sources of funding, and almost always serving the same clients – but generally remain siloed and apart.

Domestic violence service providers traditionally focus on crisis intervention with victims, with an emphasis on protecting them from the threat of violence. Homeless and housing providers traditionally have focused on protecting their programs from the potential for transience, in the belief that survivors of domestic violence won’t last in their programs because they will leave to reconcile with their abusers, and the threat of violence that survivors present, thereby screening survivors out of their programs. While these concerns may be legitimate, they may also serve to keep women in perpetually unstable situations or force them to return to abusive homes for lack of other safe housing options.

Fortunately, with the advent of Rapid Re-Housing and Trauma-Informed service models, both domestic violence and housing/homeless service providers have excellent tools to begin addressing this gap. At DASH, we help families move into permanent housing units straight from crisis and bypass the range of emergency, transitional, and permanent housing programs, allowing them to “transition in place” and facilitating moves for families at-risk of imminent violence to other units within the city. We also work with survivors to help them cope with the trauma they’ve experienced and regain a sense of self-determination. And all of this is accompanied by constant Wellness and Safety planning to help survivors effectively ensure their own safety from abuse.

The elimination of homelessness is the express goal of advocates, funders, and governments across the country and has been for a long time now. And while a good deal of progress has been made in getting individuals and families housed, preventing their fall into homelessness, and increasing the availability of options across the housing spectrum, victims of domestic and sexual violence have, until now, seemed to defy conventional wisdom. With these new models of service, this doesn’t need to be the case – not for Trudy or anyone else.

[1] Not her real name, based on a true story.

DASH Presents to Fairfax County, VA Conference

Yesterday, Peg Hacskaylo, DASH’s Executive Director, spoke to a gathering of domestic violence and housing advocates to discuss ways in which they can adopt the DASH model of safe housing in Fairfax County, Virginia. Peg spoke about DASH’s Safe Housing programs and initiatives, as well as how to advocate for additional permanent, affordable housing for survivors.

The Fairfax County Commission for Women advises the County Board of Supervisors on issues related to women and girls in the county. In response to the increasing need for housing for survivors of domestic violence in the region, they convened the dialogue to develop strategies and recommendations which will be written up in a white paper to be presented to the Board.