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We thank our generous
supporters for partnering with us.
Safe Horizon is the nation’s largest victim service agency. Every year we help a quarter of a million children, teens, and adults experiencing domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, exploitation, and other forms of violence.
We offer immediate and practical support like a hot meal, a place to sleep, someone to talk to, and lock replacement; as well as deep, ongoing services such as mental health counseling, help finding a place to live and work, and assistance navigating oppressive Our Impact Together in 2023, we: and often racist systems. In addition, we engage in advocacy work to ensure that all survivors have the access to justice and healing they deserve.
Our community is comprised of thousands of partners who are advocates, survivors, professionals, and donors who come together and support the 250,000 New Yorkers who find safety and hope through Safe Horizon each year.
Together in 2023, we:
For many of the 250,000 survivors Safe Horizon partners with each year, a few minutes is all they have to decide what to take with them as they’re fleeing a violent situation. Those few possessions represent a bridge for some, from an old life to a new beginning; for others, those objects helped them, simply, to survive. In 2023, during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Safe Horizon launched a photography-centered storytelling campaign called The Things We Carry.
The campaign visually explores what survivors are able to bring with them as they start their journey toward healing. We partnered with critically acclaimed photographer, Kelly Marshall, and stylist, Philippa Brathwaite, to capture the items in a new, thought-provoking way. The photographs were shown in a three-day pop up gallery exhibit in Nolita, New York City.
At Safe Horizon, we know that every member of our community – survivors, staff, supporters – has experienced a turning point that led them to their “safe horizon.” For advocates it’s often a point in time when they decide to volunteer, learn more about the issues that impact survivors, invest in change, or launch a new career. For survivors, it can be when they decided to seek support, finally felt safe from violence, or looked to the future with a sense of hope. To unite our community in their shared stories, we created the #MySafeHorizon campaign to tell these inspiring stories in an engaging series of videos. The campaign featured passionate frontline staff and leadership as well as survivors who took us through their stories of overcoming abuse and finding their “safe horizon” moments. These videos premiered at our 27th annual Champion awards and marked the beginning of a campaign that showed the resilience, passion, and strength of our community and supporters.
Gun violence has become more prevalent in New York City and across the country. Gun violence and domestic violence are intrinsically linked – abusers with firearms are five times more likely to kill their victims (Source: everytownresearch.org/domestic-violence) – which is why we raised this as a core awareness issue in 2023.
As part of Safe Horizon’s advocacy for survivor-informed legislation, we convened two roundtable discussions about the United States vs. Rahimi Supreme Court Case, in partnership with New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, former Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic Violence and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) Cecile Noel, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and Safe Horizon staff and clients.
The roundtable discussions brought domestic violence survivors’ voices to the public conversation and drew attention to our deep concern about pending legislation and how it will put the safety of survivors at risk.
In a continuation of gun violence advocacy and education, we also convened a virtual event to talk about solutions to gun violence. The event covered the scope and impact of gun violence, current and urgent calls for legislative and advocacy efforts to protect victims, and the rapidly increasing need for community-based support and resources for survivors.
Thanks to our Safe Horizon staff and supporter community, each day we are helping survivors, families, and communities impacted by gun violence in NYC. We provide comprehensive services, ranging from emergency support – like safety planning and counseling – to long-term care and advocacy.
In 2023, New York City witnessed a notable increase in new migrant arrivals, and Safe Horizon was right there to support new arrivals across our sites. In the latter half of 2023 a growing number of migrant youth, fleeing persecution from West African countries and seeking asylum in the States, sought help at our drop-in centers and crisis shelters. We worked with translators, provided prayer rugs, connected visitors to resources and cultural connections, and even prepared West African dishes to serve to ensure that new arrivals felt not only welcome in our space, but that their culture was seen and celebrated.
Through a partnership with Trinity Commons we were also able to provide legal consultations and information sessions to many new arrivals from the southern border in 2023, with plans for more in 2024. Safe Horizon staff conducted one on one sessions that included a comprehensive assessment of an individual’s unique history and situation, a thorough document review, information about available immigration options, resources, referrals and concrete next steps. We also provided a Know Your Rights presentation, in English and Spanish, including a Q&A section where participants could ask questions related to their personal situations.
Safe Horizon has always been, and continues to be, here for all New Yorkers, no matter how long they have been New Yorkers.
VOCA Advocacy on The Hill and At Home In 2023, Safe Horizon played a crucial role in advocating for the sustainability of victim services and anti-violence organizations amid the challenges posed by the decline in deposits into the Crime Victims Fund (CVF) under the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA). VOCA is the largest funding source supporting New York’s crime victims, enabling thousands of New Yorkers to access shelter, housing, legal assistance, counseling and more. New York’s federal VOCA grant has declined $121.6 million in the past five years, losing 61% of its value. Prior state appropriations covered only 23% of the shortfall. We will continue to advocate for Governor Hochul to secure resources for the safety net that essential programs like ours, and others, provide.
Safe Horizon Worked to Increase Options for Justice and Healing for Sexual Assault Survivors E. Jean, Drew, James, Cassie, Julia, Alexandria, Sheila, Jasmine, Kelsey, Caron, Jane. These are just some of the thousands of survivors who have come forward to sue the person or institution that caused them harm under the Adult Survivors Act (ASA), a New York State law that expanded pathways to justice for people who were sexually assaulted as adults.
Safe Horizon led a statewide, multi-year campaign to pass the ASA through the state legislature and deliver it to the Governor for her signature. The ASA opened a one-year lookback window to allow survivors who were 18 or older at the time of the abuse to file civil lawsuits even if the statute of limitations had expired. The window opened in late 2022 and closed on November 23, 2023.
As 2023 came to a close, we stood with many of these same organizations as part of the Survivor Justice Coalition to launch the Survivor’s Justice Agenda (SJA). The SJA builds on the ASA (and the Child Victims Act before that) and will further expand access to pathways of safety, healing, and justice for survivors across New York. We look forward to continuing our work with this powerful coalition in 2024.
A Win for FAVC Finally, 2023 saw a huge victory with the Fair Access to Victim Compensation act! In December 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation that expanded the eligibility and timeframes with which victims of crime can file to receive compensation. The bill removed the requirement that victims provide documentation from law enforcement in order to be eligible for compensation and expanded the window of time in which a victim can file a compensation claim. Our advocacy centered on the fact that the previous system of reimbursing survivors based solely on an accompanying police report left far too many New Yorkers without the financial support they deserve and need. We fought to reduce barriers to healing for New Yorkers across the state, particularly those who may have a historical distrust or fear of the police.
for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2023
