Ten dial tones, three lengthy rings. Then, a voicemail greeting.
Calls to BRAVE Bay Space’s 24/7 disaster hotline don’t all the time hook up with a dwell voice on the opposite finish, as a result of the cellphone strains on the nation’s first nonprofit rape disaster heart haven’t operated across the clock — as marketed — for years.
When survivors throughout the Bay Space arrive at hospitals and police stations for assist — or select to dial (510) 800-4247 on their very own — the historic rape disaster heart is lacking tons of of calls a month as a result of “we’re just not answering the phone,” in keeping with one of many final seven folks on workers by Could, who requested anonymity because of worry of retaliation.
Nonetheless recognized to many by its unique moniker — Bay Space Girl Towards Rape (BAWAR) — the group has promoted itself as an area for trauma-informed care, advocacy and different free sources for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Alameda County since 1971.
Lengthy-term, unsustainable pressure on revenue streams and fundraising efforts has pressured the group to wind down operations at its San Leandro service heart this fall, and shutter fully by the top of September, in keeping with Leah Kimble-Worth, BRAVE Bay Space’s government director, and Karen Schoonmaker, who chairs the nonprofit’s board.
However that’s not the complete story, in keeping with previous and current workers and native advocates, who say years of quite a few reorganizations, scheduling conflicts and speedy workers turnover have curtailed ongoing service capability and the soon-to-be-shuttered group’s 54-year-old mission.
After a number of makes an attempt to resolve points internally, BRAVE Bay Space’s advocates say poor management has contributed to almost 40 staff leaving since Kimble-Worth took over as government director in July of 2020, a quantity confirmed in information reviewed by this information group.
Kendall Butler felt like she needed to stroll away in January as BRAVE Bay Space’s volunteer coaching coordinator as a result of the nonprofit didn’t adjust to California state compliance requirements for hotline operators, which she mentioned created not solely questions in regards to the hotline’s high quality of service but additionally potential authorized vulnerabilities.
Employees members say the rape disaster heart has lengthy adopted strict, state-mandated operational requirements — the strings that got here alongside funding from the California Governor’s Workplace of Emergency Companies. A few of these guidelines required facilities to serve not less than as many survivors because the variety of forcible rapes reported to police of their native community, whereas counselors working the cellphone strains have been required to reply inside 10 minutes, in addition to recontact shoppers inside three working days. Of all individuals who name the disaster line for assist, workers aimed to attach not less than 45% with follow-up companies.
Every of these parts was faraway from the brand new pointers handed out in late 2024, as was the requirement to supply 24-hour advocacy companies, in keeping with paperwork obtained by this information group.
Nonetheless, Butler mentioned an even bigger drawback was that BRAVE Bay Space had failed to meet inner coaching necessities for years prior, leaving many volunteers with no licensed curriculum or persevering with training.
“Laws and regulations are created for training so that people don’t perpetrate more harm on those hotlines for people that are already being harmed,” Butler mentioned. “This is outside of my morals, and I feel really stressed about this.”
Butler and different native advocates say BRAVE Bay Space’s constant failure to attach callers with an actual listening ear ends in a lonely and probably harmful useless finish for anybody reaching out for assist.
“When those services are available and they do work, it’s amazing, incredibly beautiful, and I’ve seen the impact. I think that’s what keeps bringing me back to it — there’s nothing like true human connection that has the capacity to heal,” Butler mentioned.
The day after Butler resigned, the group’s survivor companies navigator additionally resigned, whereas Kimble-Worth introduced its director of applications was going to be transitioning to a part-time function.
Within the closure discover shared on BRAVE Bay Space’s web site final month, executives bluntly rejected considerations that BRAVE Bay Space is “giving up” and bowing to hostile political forces. As a substitute, Kimble-Worth and Schoonmaker counseled the legacy they’ve helped construct, each as a corporation and throughout the broader internet of sources obtainable within the East Bay.
“Sometimes, the most courageous action is recognizing when passing the torch will better serve the cause we all believe in,” the co-signed Could 5 assertion mentioned. “Our decision is not surrender — it is a strategic realignment of resources in service of the broader movement.”
They mentioned 92% of BRAVE’s working funds relies on federal funding, and different sources and reserves that helped climate earlier threats to rape disaster heart funding have been depleted.
“Today’s reality is starkly different: decreased volunteer capacity, paired with necessary and long-overdue labor standards in our field, mean that we would need to double our current workforce — with 30% less funding than last year — to meet the minimum level of service that survivors deserve,” the assertion mentioned. “Rather than depleting our resources in an unsustainable struggle that would ultimately compromise the quality of care for survivors, we are choosing to thoughtfully transition our services and institutional knowledge to partners who are positioned to weather these challenges.”
Kimble-Worth didn’t return a number of requests for touch upon the allegations by present and former workers members.
The nonprofit highlighted a number of financial challenges whereas explaining its closure. Along with a 2015 state regulation that established complete however costly requirements for rape disaster facilities throughout California, management additionally mentioned service capability and funding at BRAVE have steadily declined because the pandemic lockdown.
“We believe the most responsible path forward is to step aside and make space for stronger-resourced organizations to carry the work forward,” Kimble-Worth and Schoonmaker mentioned of their assertion, thanking the quite a few workers, volunteers, funders and neighborhood companions who will probably be impacted by BRAVE’s closure. “Above all, we honor the courage and resilience of the survivors who have trusted us with their stories and healing journeys.”
Sarah Lance, affiliate director of care at UC Regulation San Francisco, can also be the campus’s free, confidential advocate for college students, college and workers impacted by sexual violence, harassment, stalking and home violence. California regulation requires that public colleges throughout the state have a chosen confidential social advocate. Whereas some rent internally, CSU East Bay, UC Regulation SF and others contract with native disaster facilities like BRAVE Bay Space to guarantee that function is crammed.
Lance mentioned she hasn’t heard any official communication from BRAVE Bay Space officers in regards to the closure, leaving uncertainty about her choices within the fall.
“To hear that BRAVE Bay Area is closing and the employees are the ones that are reaching out and wanting to support the mission, it’s upsetting because it’s such a big loss,” Lance mentioned, later including that it is going to be tough for different native orgs to fill the hole as soon as BRAVE Bay Space stops offering companies for home violence survivors and different Bay Space residents in disaster.
“People are going to have to wait longer,” Lance mentioned. “Think about how hard it is to find a therapist — people give up. Can you imagine being unsafe and scared, calling somebody for help and not being able to get that? What do you do then?”
