Speakers: Deborah Son, Executive Director/CEO. Taylor Campion, Senior Staff Attorney, Housing Safety and Justice. Renee Boman, Senior Paralegal. Lupe Sanchez, Intake Specialist
Why do you support FVAP?
Deborah Son: For me this isn't just professional, it's personal. I grew up witnessing domestic violence in my own home. I know what it feels like to watch someone you love be unsafe, and to feel powerless to stop it. And that experience has never left me. It's shaped everything for me, the work I chose, the causes I've given my life to, and the leader that I've become. When I walk into work with FVAP every day, I'm not just running an organization. I'm doing the work I wish had existed for my own family.
Lupe Sanchez: I support Family Violence Appellate Project because our small team provides appellate representation to survivors of gender-based violence across the state of California. That is our main focus, but in instances where we're not able to do that, we do offer a lot of resources and information in multiple languages to self-represented litigants who are navigating difficult family law cases. And aside from that, we also offer technical assistance to advocates and attorneys and provide trainings to organizations that cover a variety of topics. And so our small team does a lot and I hope that we can continue doing all of that and making a difference one survivor at a time.
Renee Boman: We were founded to fill a need that was not being met, the need for free appellate services for survivors and case law to help courts understand how to apply domestic violence laws, and the value of letting the needs of survivors drive our work continues with FVAP today.
How do donations make a difference in FVAP's work?
Renee Boman: Unrestricted funding like donations from you all is so important to an organization like FVAP because again, it allows us to continue to be nimble and flexible and adjust our work to meet the needs of survivors. That's one of the big things that's made us so successful and effective in changing the legal landscape. So, thank you so much for your support of our work.
Taylor Campion: It helps us create binding case law to prevent courts from making terrible decisions. It helps us help an advocate whose survivor is navigating a very confusing court process or housing issue, to help them stay safe and escape abuse. All of the donations and support we get from donors makes it so we can do what we do best to help end domestic violence.
Lupe Sanchez: As a small team, we already do a lot, being that we serve people across the state, but more funding, more donations would help make that work more impactful. We do have limitations as a small staff, and so we could potentially expand our team and hopefully reach more people that need our help.
Deborah Son: 6 attorneys, 230 survivors a year, every single one served at no cost. That only happens because donors believe this work is worth funding, even when there's no established funding category for it, because appellate legal aid is incredibly unique. And it does not fit into a box. So when somebody donates to FVAP they are directly paying for an attorney to read a survivor's case, to screen it carefully, and decide: is there something here we can fight for? That review, that human attention, is what donations make possible.
