VOICES Leadership Council
In 2021, the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance helped launch the V.O.I.C.E.S. Leadership Council, recognizing that the movement to end gender-based violence has always been rooted in the voices, experiences, and leadership of survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence. By sharing their stories and raising their voices, survivors are uniquely equipped to shape and inform the work of professionals in the field.
The Council was created to uplift survivor leadership, build advocacy and organizing skills, and offer direct input into the Action Alliance’s training programs and policy initiatives.
Members of the Council receive ongoing support as they grow in their leadership. Through the program, they develop skills in storytelling, deepen their understanding of the societal and cultural roots of sexual and intimate partner violence, learn how services are delivered across Virginia, and gain tools to drive meaningful, systemic change in support of all survivors.
VOICES (Victim/Survivor Opportunities to Impact Change by Elevating our Stories) is…
- Space where victims/survivors of sexual and/or intimate partner violence learn, grow, stretch, and share their experiences with other victim/survivors;
- Dedicated space to write and rewrite our stories;
- A community to contribute to each others’ revisions;
- A supportive network to help lift those stories off the page.
Council Membership
The Council consists of 5-8 Virginia residents, over the age of 21, who identify as survivors of sexual and/or intimate partner violence who are interested in deepening their healing, strengthening their leadership voices, growing their advocacy and organizing skills, and guiding the training and policy development work of the Action Alliance. The trauma does not have to have occurred in Virginia and may have been experienced as a child witness to violence or as someone who lost a loved one due to intimate partner violence. Council membership will prioritize survivors who are BIPOC, who identify as a person with a disability or otherwise marginalized individual, and who do not currently work professionally in the field.
Week of Radical Truth: DV Stories That Need to be Told
In the final week of Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2023, we shared a powerful Instagram series that uplifted the dynamic voices of some of the Council’s members—their unfolding stories, their wisdom born from lived experience, and the deep, ongoing work of V.O.I.C.E.S., both realized and still to come.
Ideas to Share? Questions to Ask? Stories to Tell? Email: voicesleadershipcouncil@gmail.com