Next Door receives $10,000 from Mercury News Holiday Wish Book campaign
We thank the San Jose Mercury News for the $10,000 raised through their Holiday Wish Book campaign. Victims come to Next Door in the most precarious of situations – fleeing abuse in the home, often with young children and with no money or resources to fall back on. Domestic violence victims experience physical injury as well as poverty and neglect. In addition to providing shelter, education and counseling, Next Door strives to give victims access to transportation, immigration, translation and legal services, clothing and toiletries – in short, the beginnings of a foundation upon which they can build safe, productive lives for themselves and their families. But we could not do this without the help of our community and the San Jose Mercury News Wishbook Fund has been a long time supporter and for that we are eternally grateful.
The Sobrato Family Foundation supports Next Door
Next Door gratefully acknowledges The Sobrato Family Foundation’s matching gift of $42,000 in support of our general operations. The Foundation’s generosity over the many year’s it has supported us, enables Next Door to continue to address the issue of domestic violence through a multifaceted approach which provides our clients with access to a safe environment, crisis counseling, group therapy and community outreach. We recognize that victims of domestic violence often face unique challenges such as lack of financial literacy skills and isolation due to cultural or language barriers. The Sobrato Family Foundation’s support is integral and important to Next Door’s mission, as it is an unrestricted grant for general operating support, the kind of support that helps Next Door keep its doors open.
Next Door thanks St. Andrews for their support of our shelter program
Next Door is thankful for a generous grant of $5,000 from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Opportunity Fund, which supported Next Door’s emergency shelter. The funds will be used to provide shelter at local motels when the emergency shelter is at capacity. The shelter provides DV-impacted families with critical services so they can start rebuilding their lives, including: safe temporary housing, meals, transportation and safety planning. We are finding that due to the dramatic rise in homelessness, the Shelter has seen a 25% increase in demand, making it critical that we secure access to alternate forms of shelter. All clients who are referred to motels still have access to all of Next Door’s services. Next Door is committed to providing shelter to domestic violence victims 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and St. Andrew’s support is integral in helping us achieve this goal.
Next Door receives grant from Avon to support our Self-Sufficiency program
Avon is a major supporter of Next Door’s Self-Sufficiency Program. Their generous second-year grant of $65,000 is invaluable in our efforts to reach the most disenfranchised victims of domestic violence – those who face additional challenges due to financial abuse. Many have never learned how to budget, build credit, or responsibly take on debt. This lack of financial literacy, combined with linguistic and cultural barriers, increases the risk of poverty, hunger and homelessness if victims leave their abuser. The Self Sufficiency Program provides financial literacy and self-sufficiency individual coaching, counseling and workshops to empower victims with the skills, tools, and motivation they need to rebuild their lives. Self Sufficiency counseling and workshops address financial abuse and teach vital skills around banking basics, financial fundamentals, employment, investments, housing, government subsidies and education.
Applied Materials Supports the HomeSafe program
Next Door is honored to have received a grant from Applied Materials in the amount of $15,000. The Applied Materials grant will support the HomeSafe affordable housing program in Santa Clara, which allows Next Door to provide a comprehensive approach to addressing domestic violence. HomeSafe Santa Clara provides victims and their children a safe, structured environment in which they can rebuild their lives free of violence. Residents participate in self-sufficiency counseling and workshops, which empower them to address financial abuse and learn vital skills that help them open bank accounts, find employment, find safe affordable housing, and research and participate in educational opportunities and/or vocational training. Next Door also provides its Kids Club, which facilitates teamwork, emotional resiliency, and communication and conflict resolution skills through age appropriate activities, helping children and youth reduce the risk of stress-induced ailments and risky behaviors.
Next Door Receives Grant From Cisco
Next Door is grateful to Cisco for their $15,000 grant to fund our support groups. The Cisco grant will make it possible to provide support group services to more than 600 women and men this year. The grant will also help Next Door measure the physical, emotional and behavioral impacts the groups provide our clients. The support groups are critical to our mission – they enhance self-efficacy, emotional resiliency and life skills and help victims make healthy choices and rebuild their lives toward a safe future for themselves and their children. With the help of Cisco this year, Next Door will be able to measure our impact of our support groups on our community.
UPDATE: Safeway Clerk Reinstated
This is one of an occasional post from Margaret Epperheimer, an eight-year member of Next Door’s Board of Directors.
When I wrote about Safeway meat clerk Ryan Young earlier this week, I got passionate reactions from a number of thoughtful people. Young was suspended from his job without pay when he intervened when he saw a customer pushing and kicking his pregnant girlfriend. Good news: after more than a month without his job, Safeway has reinstated Young with back pay. It took a while (too long), but Safeway has done the right thing.
Safeway got a lot of pressure from Young’s union, which had challenged the suspension immediately. Young appeared on national TV, people began boycotting and picketing outside the Del Rey Oaks (Monterey County) store, and the incident went viral. According to an Associated Press report, more than 180,000 people signed an online petition expressing outrage at Safeway’s actions on Change.org, a website that allows people to engage in social advocacy.
As for the abuser in this case, he apparently pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery and was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to attend a 52-week domestic violence class.
Reinstating the employee who took the risk to get involved and stop violence is not enough. Safeway needs to make that generous monetary contribution to the agencies that provide shelter and support to domestic violence victims. Further, it needs to show leadership by instituting an employee education program about domestic violence, demonstrating with its care and clout that corporations CAN make a difference in the crusade to stamp out domestic violence “in the moment and for all time,” taking a cue from Next Door’s own mission statement. Safeway can make a difference and so can you.
Violence Stops with Each of Us
When Is Doing Right Not Okay?
This is one of an occasional post from Margaret Epperheimer, an eight-year member of Next Door’s Board of Directors.
One minute the police were calling Ryan Young a hero. The next minute he was suspended from his job without pay. Young, a meat clerk at the Safeway in Del Rey Oaks (Monterey County), saw a man pushing and kicking his pregnant girlfriend. Young intervened. He asked the man to calm down, but the batterer became irate. Young believed he had no choice but to stop the assault.
It seemed to be the right thing to do. Or was it? Safeway doesn’t necessarily think so. Did Young break company policy by intervening? Should he have called store security or a manager first? What would have happened if he’d delayed taking action? It’s been weeks now, and Young is without income while Safeway investigates to see if company policy was, indeed, violated. It’s been very stressful for Young and his wife, who is five months pregnant.
While I don’t have the advantage of seeing the security video of the incident, I would tend to side with the Del Rey Oaks police chief who said things could have been much worse for the victim if Young hadn’t stepped in when he did. How many times have we heard about a person or animal in distress being ignored because no one wanted to get involved? Young believed it was his responsibility, as a Safeway employee, to take action in the interest of customer safety – that of the victim as well as other customers.
Predictably, Safeway is getting a lot of unwanted publicity, with some outraged shoppers threatening to boycott Safeway. E-mails and Facebook messages – not just from people in Monterey County, but from across the country – are calling for Young’s reinstatement. The general tone is that Safeway should be proud, not punitive, that one of its employees did the right thing out of instinct rather than second-guess his responsibility as a concerned bystander, if not as a Safeway employee.
Domestic violence is about power and control and is most often confined to places where others won’t see, judge or intervene. For an abuser to choose a public venue to attack as this batterer did there is no telling what he would do and has done behind closed doors to his victim. Outrage is the expected and proper response. Certainly, Safeway has to have employee policies governing customer care and interaction, but should the policies be so strict that an employee can’t make a split-second decision about doing the right thing?
I would hope Safeway would give Ryan Young the benefit of the doubt, reinstate his job, pay him back wages, give him an employee commendation and make a generous contribution to a Monterey County agency that provides shelter and support to domestic violence victims. It would be even better if Safeway instituted an employee education program about the insidious epidemic of domestic violence, which, statistically, affects one out of three of its own employees. What do you think?
Next Door Is Looking For A Development/Marketing Associate
Next Door seeks “to end domestic violence in the moment and for all time,” addressing all sides of the issue by helping victims to rebuild their lives, building resilience in children who are exposed to DV, and advocating for responsible policy change. To achieve its goals, Next Door provides innovative prevention and intervention services to diverse ethnic and low-income families in Santa Clara County, California.
Next Door is recruiting an innovative, self-starter to help with fundraising efforts. Under the direction of the Development Director, the Development Associate will have the following key responsibilities:
- Support communications efforts, including the annual report, newsletters, direct mail and website, and social media efforts
- Solicit and secure sponsorships to help support revenue goal
- Organize and manage fundraising events
- Work with volunteers to support corporate engagement, events and in-kind giving
- Research, identify and solicit individual and corporate donor
- Manage donor data base and gift processing, including data entry, thank you letters, reporting and file maintenance
- Undertake special projects at the direction of the Development Director
QUALIFICATIONS
This position is ideal for a detailed oriented person with a can-do attitude, with strong communication and writing skills.
- Bachelor’s degree required
- At least 2 years experience working in a fast-paced environment
- Demonstrated excellence in written communication
- Strong oral communication and interpersonal skills
- Ability to multi-task
- Excellent organizational and project management skills
- Self-starter who is comfortable in a close-knit, team-oriented setting
- Flexibility and eagerness to learn and work on different tasks as needed
- Previous experience with Raiser’s Edge or a similar donor-database a plus
HOW TO APPLY
To apply, please attach your resume with a writing sample and a cover letter that speaks to why you are applying to Next Door and specifically details how your past experiences align with the qualifications and essential functions described above. Please send your application to bkohlbrenner@nextdoor.org and indicate Development Associate in the subject line.
Next Door is committed to equal opportunity employment.
Next Door Is Looking For A Director Of Finance And Operations
Next Door Solutions for Domestic Violence , a non-profit organization in San Jose CA is seeking a seasoned leader in non profit finance and operations to help move the department to its next stage of development.
Necessary skills include knowledge in general accounting practice (GAAP) regulations for non profits, accounting principles, A/R, A/P, Payroll and General Ledger. The Director of Finance and Operations will be responsible for month-end close, reporting to the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors; leading the annual budget process, acting as liaison with auditors, and other financial responsibilities. Ability to allocate and analyze costs, oversee 20 or more different government and private foundation grants is a must.
This person should feel comfortable looking at the big picture and managing its implementation. The director will supervise the Manager of Administration and one full time accounting assistant.
Next Door is the oldest and most comprehensive organization serving victims of domestic violence and their children in Santa Clara County. It employs 40 FTE staff in six locations with a budget of over $2M annually. Its funding is derived from government sources, private foundations and individuals.
Education – Masters of Business preferred but will accept comparable work experience. Salary is competitive and benefits include 100% paid coverage of health insurance. Please send resume to financedirector@nextdoor.org. If selected for review, a full job description will be forwarded. Only email applications will be accepted. No phone calls please.