Empowering Communities: How Project Be Free is Saving Lives and Supporting Families in Crisis

Last summer an undergraduate student in my department at the University of Washington was killed in an act of domestic homicide. A dispute between her mother and stepfather turned violent and Angela (not her real name) tried to intercede, protecting her mom from her stepdad’s rage.?When her mom managed to flee from the room, the stepdad turned his ire on Angela, brutally stabbing her over a hundred times.?

The violence of her death shocked me deeply and in the weeks after her killing I wondered if Angela had ever said a word, confided in somebody about her home situation, or sought help. Subsequent reporting on the case revealed that this was not the first time a dispute between the marital partners had turned violent. Angela was from a family of South East Asian immigrants and I suspect that a sense of shame may have prevented her from reaching out. ?

According to the American Journal of Public Health(1), 20% of homicides that occur in an incident of domestic violence affect a third party who is trying to intervene; those are often the children or the adult offspring who witness the altercation and try to stop the violence. But they can also be friends, neighbors, complete strangers, and police officers.

Project Be Free (PBF), a nonprofit organization in Seattle’s South, understands that domestic violence is a problem that affects whole families. Instead of providing support for only the intimate partners of domestic violence, they offer help to all family members, assisting them with finding alternative residences, counseling, and limited legal support. They also try to help families heal and if possible, develop better coping methods for stress and anxiety, thus give the family unit a chance to rebuild healthy relationships.?

Project Be Free also understands that cultural norms play an important role in how victims of domestic violence and affected family members seek assistance and that some may be slow to come forward, fearing stigmatization in their community or in case of illegal immigrants, incarceration, and deportation as a result of calling the police.?In response PBF has hired and trained staff from different cultural backgrounds who are able to understand the nuances of what is being communicated to them and offer help that is culturally appropriate. Building trust with families that are affected by domestic violence is the first step in getting them to accept help.?Cultural and linguistic affinity serve as tools to build that trust.

Impact 100 Seattle is providing Project Be Free with an unrestricted grant of $100,000 which will enable them to expand their services to more areas in the Puget Sound region and bring their family-based intervention model to more homes. It will also allow them to continue providing 24/7 services to affected families, responding to calls as they come in and take immediate action.? Finally, the funds will play a vital role in stabilizing operations, ensuring that PBF can pay their staff on time and lift up employees who are themselves members of underprivileged communities.

Help came too late for Angela; she was dead when the police arrived at the scene. At 21 years old, she was a star student at the University, an engaged community member and a loving, devoted daughter.?I wish her family could have found its way to Project Be Free sooner. ?But it comforts me to think that with the grant from Impact 100 Seattle, Project Be Free can help other families and maybe, just maybe, save a life.

Written for Impact 100 Seattle by member Manuela Noske.

1.???? American Journal of Public Health 104, 461_466, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301582