The Survivors’
agenda
The Survivors’ Agenda Initiative is a collective of organizations who believe that survivors should be the ones who shape the national conversation on sexual violence.
The Survivors’ Agenda Initiative provides space, resources and support to address the impact of sexual violence within racially oppressive systems upon individuals of all gender identities, including cis- and trans- women and men, and gender non-conforming and non-binary communities.
Reclaiming power and changing the conversation is one key priority – especially for those most marginalized and kept down by the structural oppressions of our society.
Our work is survivor-centered and survivor-led, focused on strategies and tactics that support those harmed by sexual violence to survive, heal, and take action in service of creating systemic change that interrupts, prevents, and ends sexual violence. We work to sustain an ongoing vision of survivor justice – with a commitment to laying the foundation for future movement building, policy change, narrative shifts, and accountability efforts over the long term.
Our primary directive is to deeply listen to survivors. To create spaces and venues where survivors can tell us what they care about, what they need to heal, and how they want to use their voices.
Secondly, we are expanding and shaping a constituency of survivors, one that is rooted in both political action and healing. We are bringing together those who may or may not self-identify as survivors, but who, by nature of their personal experiences, deeply associate with the impacts of survivorhood.
Thirdly, we are calling for a change in the rules. We are calling for people in power – the officials we elect into office, and who purport to represent our interests – to be held accountable to the unique needs of survivors by passing laws and enacting institutional change on behalf of their survivor base.
The Survivors’ Agenda is also a guide for anyone seeking to prevent and interrupt sexual violence, including sexual harassment, wherever it may present itself. This agenda is about what we are calling for, and what we will no longer stay silent about. Our purpose is for individuals who have navigated sexual abuse and other forms of sexual violence in their own lives or communities to read and receive the Survivors’ Agenda as an offering of love, empathy, support, healing, empowerment and change.
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