Victims and Survivors Fund

In response to the recent attacks on members of our Asian Pacific Islander (API) community, The Coalition of Community Safety and Justice, with Community Youth Center as the fiscal agency, is spearheading the creation of the Victims and Survivors Fund, a direct service and financial resource to assist victims and survivors of violence and their families through trauma, injury, and financial hardship.

The Victims and Survivors Fund is just one of the key components in the process of building a city-wide social support and safety infrastructure to provide service coordination to assist API families and victims of crime.  For much of the Community Youth Center of San Francisco's (CYC) history, the agency has been known for its strong leadership in response to situations that require specialized, culturally/linguistically competent, and trauma informed mediation. Unfortunately, many of these cases involve victims and survivors of traumatic experience resulting from violence. While we understand that institutional violence in our community is not a new phenomenon, the number of cases of violence towards the API community have exponentially increased--a trend that can be attributed to xenophobia and racism related to COVID-19, mass economic insecurity and extreme inequality. As the rates of violence continue to rise, we, as a community, need to find meaningful ways to heal and support each other, especially the victims and survivors. 

Indeed, our community has always been at the forefront of identifying and enacting solutions to solve for the myriad issues that challenge our resolve. As an organization, we are here to ensure that our community’s victims and survivors get access to the resources and services they need to appropriately address the trauma associated with violence.

In the spirit of community action, allyship, and healing, the Victims and Survivors Fund will help address the immediate needs of those affected by violence. The funds raised in this campaign will go directly to support the various financial needs of API victims and survivors to aid them in a path to healing. Along with our partners in this initiative - API Council, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Chinese Progressive Association, and New Breath Foundation, we as a coalition strive to establish a more sustainable model, rooted in restorative justice, that will systematically reduce violence resulting from hate, poverty, and inequity.