Crime Survivors Speak

This week’s episode focuses on the incredible story of Kojo Mensah, a former professional basketball player who turned a personal tragedy into his inspiration to help revitalize an entire community.

Born in Ghana and raised in the United States, Kojo's promising basketball career was tragically cut short by gun violence at his college campus, an event that not only left him and his teammates physically w...

In a profoundly moving episode, we sit down with Vanessa Martinez, an Arizonian survivor leader who turned tragedy into advocacy. Vanessa opens up about the harrowing day she suffered a gunshot wound to the head in a domestic violence incident that was tragically witnessed by one of her children. As she grappled with the physical and emotional aftermath, an already dire situation was made worse by a system that denied her victim co...

Bertha Purnell is a tireless advocate, founder of Mothers On A Mission 28, and the Chicago Chapter Coordinator for Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice. Driven by the tragic loss of her son Maurice to gun violence, Bertha has dedicated herself to creating a network of support and services for survivors and their families in Illinois. In this episode, Bertha opens up about the motivation behind starting Mothers On A Mission 28—a g...

Aswad Thomas is a familiar voice in advocating for survivors–and a familiar voice on this podcast. But not everyone knows the profound journey that brought Aswad to be the National Director for Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice. In this episode, guest interviewer Jonathon Lewis flips the script to ask Aswad about his survivor story and path to leadership. From growing up in communities marked by crime and poverty, Aswad defied...

 Yolanda Jennings is an organizer from Philadelphia, where she works to support survivors recovering from domestic violence. Having lost multiple family members to domestic violence and being a survivor of DV herself, Yolanda has seen where the system fails to help people trying to escape intimate partner abuse and is co-creating the solutions that allow people to rebuild their lives after violence. Yolanda talks about her experien...

Alex Abboud is a licensed social worker and victims advocate who has spent her professional life finding new ways to provide services and support for victims and survivors recovering from harm.

From developing the first social work response model for the city of Detroit to becoming CSSJ's Statewide Manager of Pennsylvania, Alex has extensive experience both providing direct services to survivors in the immediate aftermath of trauma...

Jonathon Lewis has spent his career organizing folks from marginalized communities to demand a greater voice in policy making. From working on the Obama campaign in Ohio to advocating for teachers and educational equality in his home state of Texas, Jonathon is now the National Training Director for CSSJ, where he works to provide survivors leaders with the tools to build a new movement of safety, justice, and healing. In this conv...

Priscilla Bordayo is a survivor of sexual abuse and incest who has turned her story of healing into a transformative tool for change. Priscilla was born into a large family that had been shaped by generations of abuse. After becoming a victim of that cycle of harm, Priscilla became the change that broke the cycle. She learned to heal, to forgive, to sit with victims in their darkest moments, and to inspire countless people with her...

Tricia Forbes has been working in the movement for economic, social and racial justice for over 25 years. She has held many leadership positions at policy advocacy organizations across Texas to promote healing over retribution. Tricia is also one of many people who attended her first Survivors Speak event and immediately immersed herself in the movement to lift up survivors. Today Tricia leads CSSJ's Member Support Program, which o...

Victim Compensation is one of the few programs designed to provide direct reimbursement for victims of crime and violence, and yet too many victims do not receive support from Victim Compensation and are left to struggle alone after a tragedy.

Today’s guest, India Brown, is here to speak about her own difficulties getting the support she needed after experiencing the loss of a loved one to violence, and how she turned that struggle...

In the United States, 1 in 3 people will experience domestic violence in their lives, but very few victims receive the support or resources they need to heal.

The guests on our podcast today, Kimesha Coleman and Shari Ware, are two leaders who are stepping forward to interrupt cycles of harm and destigmatize the shame of domestic violence by providing much-needed support for victims.

In this episode, we talk about the racial dispar...

Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice has a new podcast! This is Crime Survivors Speak, a podcast of conversations with survivor leaders about the public safety solutions we all need. In this introduction, host Aswad Thomas shares his journey to becoming the national director of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, the nation's largest network of crime victims organizing for change, and he previews the conversations he'll be ha...

Tune in to Episode 1 to hear Aswad Thomas chat with Lenore Anderson, President of Alliance for Safety and Justice, about the birth of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice in 2013 and the changes that have emerged since. From winning new policies that both shrink incarceration and expand victim support to training new leaders across the country, Aswad and Lenore provide some of the history and background of the new safety movement...