The Gender-Based Violence Project: Bringing Women to the Table
By Alisa Orlowsky, Communications Associate
Many survivors of gender-based violence face obstacles in accessing services in their communities. The Gender-Based Violence Project is taking a woman-led approach to better understand the challenges and successes of organizations that provide support to survivors and the survivor experience of receiving support. This Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting the voices of the women bringing the Gender-Based Violence Project to life.
Women and gender non-conforming people of every age, race, ethnicity, and financial status are impacted by gender-based violence. Efforts to overcome the stigma and impacts of abuse have helped countless women and gender non-conforming people find support and forge a new path.
Often overlooked, however, is the reality that victimization often goes hand-in-hand with criminalization—and this disproportionately affects women of color. Black and Latine women are both incarcerated at higher rates and experience higher rates of violence compared to their white counterparts, including homicide.
In New York City and other communities across the country, government agencies and nonprofit institutions are tasked with supporting survivors who have had contact with the legal system as they create safe, healthy, prosperous lives. The reality, however, is that many survivors face widespread barriers to accessing important services. Harmful biases around who is considered a victim can severely limit program eligibility, which blocks some survivors from receiving meaningful and necessary support. Often times, social services are not designed to support survivors with criminal legal system involvement.
Harmful biases around who is considered a victim can severely limit program eligibility, which blocks some survivors from receiving meaningful and necessary support.
To address this reality, CUNY ISLG, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic & Gender Based Violence (ENDGBV) and with support from the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, launched the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Project in 2024. The Project aims to better understand both the challenges and successes of how organizations provide services to survivors and the survivor experience of seeking care.
Based on interviews and focus groups conducted with survivors and community organizations, ISLG will provide recommendations for government agencies and service providers to improve their services and delivery to better support this population, as well as lift up what’s already working well.
The Value of Diverse Perspectives
A central component to the GBV Project’s approach is a working group comprising three ISLG staff members and four consultants. These consultants are women with lived experience in the fields of gender-based violence and criminal justice. This Working Group develops research questions, conducts interviews with participants, provides valuable insights based on their experiences, and helps guide the direction of the Project. In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting the women who make up the Working Group, their thoughts on why it’s important that women and people with lived experience are at the table to shape initiatives, and why this is particularly relevant when supporting survivors.
In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting the women who make up the Working Group, their thoughts on why it’s important that women and people with lived experience are at the table to shape initiatives, and why this is particularly relevant when supporting survivors.
“I love to just make sure that survivors are on the front lines and that they are part of the implementation in the work that's going to impact them,” said Shamara Kelly.
“That’s my reason to be here. I feel like survivors should be a part of the work. They should be at the table always, especially if it's going to impact them.”
Working groups are valuable tools in the development of public service projects, as they make it possible to embed a range of diverse perspectives, center opportunities for collaboration, and ultimately ensure that solutions are informed by the needs of the people who will benefit from them.
“In order to really understand, you need people with lived experience that can speak to the pain and the suffering, and then speak to what helped us get through it,” said Dana Hanuszczak.
“And then be able to come back and say, ‘this is what's lacking, this is what's missing,’ but more so, ‘this is what we needed and it wasn't provided.’”
In the case of gender-based violence, this is especially necessary. All too often, these survivors are prosecuted for crimes that they were either coerced into committing—drug charges, shoplifting, prostitution—or for defending themselves against the perpetrator of their abuse. The trauma of gender-based violence combined with the collateral consequences of criminal legal system involvement leaves many survivors without adequate support services that are both trauma and culturally responsive.
“A lot of people don't really know what happens to survivors that are struggling in the systems and entrapped,” Hanuszczak said. “So to be a person with lived experience, with first-hand knowledge, you're going to give a raw picture of what exactly happens to women in these systems, and how domestic violence is constantly overlooked. I want to be a voice for those women in prison, those women suffering in silence that sometimes can't speak up.”
Centering Lived Experience to Drive Change
One of the greatest strengths of the Working Group is their unique lived experience and ability to create a safe space for criminalized survivors to share their story with someone who has been through something similar. First-hand knowledge of the types of traumatizing experiences that survivors face has created a valuable opportunity to both allow women to be heard and to help shape the future of services for survivors.
“I have both been incarcerated and am a survivor of domestic violence, I don't feel as though this is something that gets highlighted enough, especially from a women's perspective, or women who go through this and they need a voice,” said Jhanne Sinkler.
“I've always wanted to hold different systems accountable—but not just to hold them accountable. Let's find a solution where all survivors are safe,” Kelly said.
A primary goal of this project is to better understand the systems survivors navigate, and to suggest improvements for these systems and services. The Working Group ensures that people with experience in these systems are at the table, and particularly women, because they know how important it is to drive change from the vantage point of those most impacted. The value of shared experience also lends trust to the interviews with survivors that will inform the Project’s recommendations.
"This project is incredibly important because it redefines traditional approaches to the work,”
shared Miriam Goodman, ISLG Senior Policy Associate and Working Group member.
“By involving survivor leaders as consultants at every stage, it disrupts conventional power dynamics often present in research projects, fostering a more inclusive and equitable process."
“A lot of similar projects come from a more analytical point of view. They don't come from lived experience,” said Sinkler. “Perspective and empathy is something that is lacking across the board. A lot of people are not very forthcoming when they feel that it's coming from that kind of perspective rather than ‘somebody who can empathize with me,’ because they themselves have already been through it.”
Sherika Stewart-Rivera agreed.
“We have a level of empathy. I don't necessarily think that it's an easy skill,” Stewart-Rivera said.
This is not to say that men cannot be survivors of domestic or gender-based violence. While women and girls are much more likely to experience violence from gender-based power dynamics and social practices, men and boys can be and are also subject to it. The shame and stigma surrounding it, however, leads to severe underreporting and less programmatic focus. The Working Group has encountered these issues on a micro level, said Mia Greco, ISLG Policy Associate and Working Group member.
“Even the idea of survivorship is super gendered,” Greco said.
“I think we've been struggling to get men to participate because they don't see themselves as a survivor or someone who experiences gender-based violence. It's a strength of our team that we're pretty femme, but it's it also just speaks to the issue.”
Greco said she fully recognizes how their experiences make the project more impactful.
“We want the truthiest of truth we could get to, so that it's documented and it's real. And I think there's power in documenting people's experiences.”
Celebrating the Working Group’s Progress
Thus far, the Working Group has accomplished a tremendous amount of progress in bringing the GBV Project to life. They began working on the project from its very inception—starting with defining project goals, research questions, and the target audience. From there, they designed interview questions and began building a comprehensive outreach strategy to contact potential participants who would be willing to be interviewed about their experiences as criminalized survivors. Stewart-Rivera added that this has been an opportunity for them, as well, to keep growing their skills in the field.
“I've gotten to work on skills that I've always wanted to learn around data analytics and working together as a team with people that are coming with different experiences, being able to manage each other and synthesize information,” she said. “I think it’s amazing, the cross-communication across this team. We find different ways to make sure that everyone is a part of the project and that their buy-in is heard. We're the first stakeholders before any decision is made on the project.”
With over 30 interviews and one focus group already conducted by the Working Group, they’ve been able to document experiences from a diverse group of people. Once the data collection phase is complete, the GBV project will use their findings to inform recommendations to New York City agencies and nonprofit service providers. Even when the month of March ends, the Gender-Based Violence Project’s approach to centering women’s experiences deserves all the recognition.
Meet the Working Group for the Gender-Based Violence Project
External Consultants
Shamara Kelly is a community organizer and expert in domestic violence policy reform and galvanizing survivors to bring about social change and empowerment. Shamara has focused on systemic change in child welfare, police reform, and revamping the emergency shelter system for survivors of violence. Shamara has conducted training with both the private and public sectors on domestic violence and effectively engaging survivors. Shamara's most recent work includes developing community-based supports that do not involve government intervention in the New York City Metro Area. She is the co-founder of Sistersinpurple a coalition that is led by survivors and created by survivors that needed something they didn’t get going through systems, so Sistersinpurple is a safe space as they see it. She also sits on many committees that impact survivors. She truly believes when domestic violence is spoken about, survivors should always be at the table.
Dana Hanuszczak is a trailblazing community organizer, consultant, and advocate for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking. She is a published writer. As a survivor herself, she founded Survivor Center, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting and empowering those affected by gender based violence. With over two decades of experience in the field, Dana has been a relentless voice for systemic change and equality for all victims. She has developed trauma informed healing programs and works to reform systems that interact with survivors, ensuring they are more supportive and effective. Dana serves as a Chaplain in a prison ministry, providing spiritual and emotional support to incarcerated women. She is currently pursuing a degree in Entrepreneurship and business management to further strengthen her ability to serve her community and expand her impact.
Jhanne Sinkler is a dedicated Human Services specialist with over 10 years of experience in the field. She has worked with all kinds of demographics including, but not limited to, the homeless population, children of incarcerated parents, and the special needs population. She’s been on the advisory board of the Survivors Justice Project based out of Brooklyn Law School for the past 5 years. She has worked with the Bronx Criminal Court, Osborne Association, and College and Community Fellowship. As a survivor, she is honored to have a say in changes made regarding domestic violence and the criminal justice system. In her role at CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance, she has the opportunity to continue to do the work she is dedicated to and be a voice for the unheard.
Sherika Stewart-Rivera is a transformative justice advocate, data-driven strategist, and human services professional with over a decade of experience in transformative justice, operations, and strategic planning. Since returning home in late 2019, she’s been focused on creating meaningful impact—leveraging her expertise in policy, project management, and data analysis to drive systemic change. She’s held key roles at organizations like The Petey Greene Program, Richard St Paul's Law ESq, Rehabilitation Through the Arts, the Robert N. Davoren Center at Rikers Island, and the Research Foundation of CUNY, always centering upward mobility and community empowerment for service recipients. Now, as a candidate for a Master’s in Public Administration (June 2025), she continues to advance this mission through her own consulting business, Great Work Solutions, where she provides strategic guidance to organizations committed to equity and justice.
ISLG Staff
Miriam Goodman has spent the past fifteen years working with survivors of trauma. Most recently she was the Director of Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI)program at the Women’s Prison Association (WPA) where she helped to create a trauma-responsive program that advocated for women to stay in their communities, rather than go to jail or prison. She helped WPA’s ATI specialize in supporting survivors of intimate partner violence and exploitation, who were criminalized for their survival and consequently charged with violent felonies. Previous to WPA, she was the Assistant Director of Anti-Trafficking and Trauma Initiatives at the Center for Court Innovation (CCI). At CCI she designed alternative to jail programs for people arrested on prostitution charges. She provided training and clinical support to on the ground social workers, as well as local and national training for judges, lawyers, and clinicians on working with survivors of trauma. She was also a therapist for survivors of trauma.
As a policy associate, Mia Greco supports the Policy Director and greater policy team in implementing the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative, the NYPD reform project, and the Kriegel and Lindsay Fellowships. Prior to ISLG, Mia worked as a foster care case planner at HeartShare St. Vincent's Services, where she partnered closely with families to overcome barriers to reunification, meet their safety and service needs, and place children into permanent homes. Before her work in foster care, Mia filled public service internships within the Chicago Department of Family Services and the Office of Congresswoman Robin Kelly, where she conducted policy research. Mia holds a B.A. in Public Policy and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago. Her honors thesis applied qualitative research methods to explore the role of city government employees in implementing youth programs in Chicago.
Finda Kofuma is a Senior Policy Associate working on the NYPD Police Reform and the Community Solutions projects. Finda comes to ISLG with an extensive background in Community Engagement, Community Development and Youth Development. Prior to joining ISLG, Finda was the Program Manager for Seedco’s Bridges to Careers program where she implemented their $4.3 million re-entry grant from the Department of Labor. Finda has also worked at the New City Housing Authority where she oversaw service coordination for public housing developments comprised of over 11,000 households in Upper Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. In addition to this, she managed private and public partnerships and executed the agency's referral system which connected public housing residents to critical services. She served as a Community Coordinator with the New York City Department of Education ensuring that students with housing insecurities had equitable access to education. Additionally, she worked on several restorative justice initiatives which include the Center for Court Innovation’s Harlem Community Justice Center Youth Justice Project and Sheltering Arms youth dentition center led by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Finda holds a Master of Public Administration from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a B.A with a concentration in Social Science from The College of New Rochelle.
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