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Spotlight on our Staff: LaToya Young

LaToya Young, DASH Housing Resource and Training Manager

Since 2007, LaToya Young has worked as the Housing Resource & Training Manager at the District Alliance for Safe Housing in Washington, DC. A native Washingtonian, she works with survivors and service providers – some people coming for assistance directly from the street, some who are referred to DASH. She also works with DASH’s innovative program, the Empowerment Project, where she connects with landlords and realtors to help them understand domestic violence and consider partnering with DASH in locating affordable, safe housing for clients. Additionally, she leads a host of different kinds of trainings for DASH.

Young works with all new domestic violence advocates in the District through the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She teaches these newcomers about the local and federal protections that survivors have under the Violence Against Women Act, and helps new advocates get acclimated to the work and the field. Through DASH, she also leads a DV 101 class on the barriers that domestic violence survivors face, and how individuals and communities can support them. DASH and the Housing Resource Center also point housing programs and staff to Young’s trainings, showing people what is available for survivors and pointing out emerging options.

Interally, she trains all DASH staff on housing resources and process. People know of Young and DASH’s work through community outreach and education, as she and other staff regularly attend a host of community meetings. There have also been a lot of referrals to lead service providers to Young. Requests for training are also made through the DASH website. “People are fascinated by how DASH works, and want to learn more,” says Young.

But what makes DASH so different in terms of its community work to address domestic violence? “It is really the culture,” Young explains. “We have few barriers – really none – for survivors interested in accessing our services. We allow survivors to be self-governing. We know that when given the chance, these clients can make good decisions, and are not interested in taking that power away from them. Power was already taken from them in the abuse, and we don’t want to do that again as an organization.”
Before coming to DASH, Young worked for three years at a “Housing First” organization, helping chronically mentally ill people to secure permanent housing. It gave her the expertise she is currently able to use in her work with DASH. She is very passionate about her work with survivors.

“What I also love about DASH is that while we are new in the field of dv prevention, we are very open to learning from and helping others in the movement and the field,” Young shares. “We are also committed to learning from survivors and working with them to help break the cycle of violence and create healthy lives. We are unique in how we as a staff come to understand social and economic justice, and how we commit, as a staff, to learning and growing.”

Contact DASH for more information on participating in one of Ms. Young’s trainings.


Freddie Mac Generously Supports DASH’s Empowerment Project!

DASH is honored and grateful to be a grantee of Freddie Mac in the coming program year. Freddie Mac, also known as Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), is a public government sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner. It was created in 1970 to expand the secondary market for mortgages in the US. This secondary mortgage market increases the supply of money available for mortgage lending and increases the money available for new home purchases.

With its dedication to community programs and affordable housing, Freddie Mac has partnered with DASH in 2012 on a $125,000 grant initiative supporting our scattered-site Empowerment Project. Participants in the project are able to sign an apartment lease that meets their familial, financial and safety needs. DASH provides the rental subsidy along with intensive support services and resources that enable the woman to become economically independent over the course of two years. This level of support allows DASH to increase the project to house an additional 10 families and help women to develop the tools to be fully financially supportive of their families and to develop real skills that ensure their economic independence.

The outcome of this grant will be that the women and their children served will have exited homelessness, secured stable homes, and be prepared to retain permanent housing through rental assistance, supportive services, and intensive education and advocacy around establishing economic self-sufficiency.
DASH partners with Wider Opportunities for Women in this work (link), an organization that helps women learn to earn, with programs emphasizing literacy, technical and nontraditional skills, the welfare-to-work transition, career development, and retirement security. Since 1964, WOW has trained more than 10,000 women for well-paid work in the DC area.

We are honored to have such generous, visionary partners in the important work to help survivors of sexual and domestic violence secure safe, long-term housing and live free from violence. We believe that DASH is a visionary organization that takes a holistic approach to serving survivors. Through research and listening we have developed a number of proven best practices we share with other organizations addressing domestic violence and homelessness. Without our corporate and organizational partners we would not be able to have the lasting impact that we do.

For more information or to pursue corporate sponsorship of the Empowerment Project, contact Peg Hacskaylo at 202/462-3274 x110.


DASH Recently Cited in HUD Paper

DASH is proud to report that we were recently cited in a paper from HUD about what public housing authorities across the U.S. are doing to address domestic violence. The paper, found here, notes programs and strategies in a number of different regions. The DC Public Housing Authority was mentioned. The report notes that when meeting with them, a representative of the District Alliance for Safe Housing reported on the dilemma of a public housing resident who had moved several times due to threats of domestic violence. The victim’s ex-husband managed to find her after each move, and she wanted to move to another city, but could not afford to leave public housing.

By staking a claim in the national debate on homelessness, DASH is furthering the voice of survivors of domestic and sexual violence. We continue to remain interested in partnering with government officials, corporations, and the public at large to strategize about eliminating domestic and sexual violence.


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