What We Do
THE PROBLEM
The devastating levels of interpersonal violence that have afflicted New Orleans for decades produce a ripple effect, fueling mass incarceration and leaving Black women disproportionately responsible for burying their sons and daughters, raising children alone, and supporting incarcerated loved ones. It’s a crisis that must be addressed if New Orleans is going to thrive, and yet no public agency has the mandate to care for survivors, prevent secondary trauma, and heal our community.
1 in 14
Young Black men in New Orleans could expect to be killed before they reached age 35, as of 2023.
THE SOLUTION
For nearly two decades, Silence Is Violence has been providing care and support for those dealing with the aftermath of violent crime. Silence Is Violence staff reach out to survivors in the aftermath of an act of violence offering a listening ear and real, tangible support. This can include:
Case management
Victim advocacy
Grief and trauma support
Trauma-informed care
Resources
Crisis prevention & intervention
Together, these wrap-around services ensure that people going through the worst of traumas have an advocate who is caring for them, attending to their healing and helping to deal with the host of challenges that derail so many lives in the aftermath of violence.
Silence Is Violence’s 3 Conditions for Resilience After Violence.
Through work with thousands of clients, Executive Director Tamara Jackson and the Silence Is Violence team have identified three things that survivors of violence and families of victims need in order to keep their lives and communities intact through the trauma of violence:
1) a sense of agency
2) access to care
3) guidance through the grief and healing process
OUR IMPACT
Silence Is Violence serves New Orleanians who are most marginalized and excluded from the system and who have the fewest resources to support them as they survive and recover from tragedy. Thanks to Silence Is Violence, thousands of families across the city have been able to stay in their homes and keep their kids in school; and their communities have been able to avoid the secondary violence, impoverishment and trauma that tear at the social fabric of our city.
CLIENT DEMOGRAPHICS
242
Clients served in 2023
97%
make less than 80% of the Area Median Income
98%
Are people of color
79%
Are under the age of 30
47%
Have no income at all
“It was days [Silence Is Violence Executive Director Tamara Jackson] took out of her own, busy, personal schedule, and she came and she brought me there and walked me through, step-by-step, how to fill out different forms and what to ask for.”
— DEIDRA SMOOT, MOTHER OF KENNETH HALL, JR.