Ujima Inc.: The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community (Ujima) is proud to be one of three special issue resource centers that focuses on racial and ethnic minority victims of domestic violence funded by the Family Violence Services and Prevention Act (FVPSA). FVPSA funding has allowed Ujima, since 2016, to provide training and technical assistance, resources, research, education and outreach, and address public policy issues on domestic, sexual, and community violence in the Black community. Ujima defines the Black community as the African Diaspora in its broadest sense, e.g., African-Americans (descendants of slaves in the U.S.), African immigrants, Afro-Carribbeans, and Afro-Latinx. FVPSA was a pioneer 35 years ago in not only understanding the disparity and barriers to access to shelter, services, and resources for Black survivors – but by also funding a response. FVPSA allows Ujima to curate technical assistance that boldly speaks to the lived experiences of Black survivors, past and present, in the U.S. enhancing a trauma-informed approach that includes the multiple forms of oppression that Black people experience in addition to domestic violence. The chronic, compound complexities of trauma must have a culturally specific approach to create the paradigm shift toward violence reduction and healing. Resiliency must have a blueprint created by our own community.
Ujima has responded to a multitude of requests for training and technical assistance on the historical construct of race, the impact of bias on help-seeking, post-traumatic slave syndrome, trafficking, and intimate partner violence on historically black colleges and universities to name a few. In July 2019, Ujima staffed a booth at The Essence Festival in New Orleans, LA and met thousands of men and women who wanted more information on a range of topics from domestic and sexual assault statutes to bystander intervention tips to wanting to disclose their survivor story. Over seven hundred people signed up to be a part of Ujima’s network of allies and volunteers. Ujima staff have identified two signature policy initiatives and are partnering with various local, state, and national organizations on Black maternal health and The Crown Act to address institutional violence against Black women. Ujima has also convened listening sessions in nine communities across the United States and its Territories. Listening sessions included participation from youth ages 14-24 and adults ages 24 – 70 and established the lens through which Ujima finalized its approach to community-centered culturally specific technical assistance. Ujima has also partnered with fellow Domestic Violence Resource Network colleagues in numerous initiatives to bring voice to the unique needs of survivors from the African Diaspora in the FVPSA supported response to domestic violence across the country.
Over the past 35 years, FVPSA has been a critical lifeline for many survivors of domestic violence; however, stark disparities still exist. In 2017, Black females were murdered by males at a rate more than twice as high as white females. (When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2017 Homicide Data, Victim Policy Center, September 2019). A robust cadre of culturally specific, trauma informed, survivor-centered, and unbiased responses and programs are needed to end this trend. Ujima’s vision is to create a world where Black women and girls live free from violence. We have to be seen; we have to be heard; and we have to be believed to do so. We will not rest until our vision becomes an undeniable reality and an unretractable truth.