Working with Coalitions to Amplify Your Voice

I sat down with Beth Hassett, the CEO and Executive Director of WEAVE – Women Escaping A Violent Environment – to talk about the policy work that it does. Like many of the organizations I’ve talked to, WEAVE is a 501 (c)(3) – so they are limited in the amount of lobbying that they are allowed to do. There is, however, a firm that they work with that does pro bono lobbying on their behalf.

However, WEAVE is still active in the policy arena, educating and advocating on behalf of their clients who are women, children, and men trying to escape victimization in its many forms. Most of WEAVE’s work focuses on closing loopholes and correcting the unintended consequences of laws from the past.

WEAVE also belongs to a couple of coalitions that do a lot of policy work, and by working with these coalitions, WEAVE is able to amplify their voice and bring it to a larger audience. Those coalitions are CalCASA – the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault – and CPEDV – the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.

We talked at length about the process for how CPEDV establishes its legislative and policy priorities as well as how they go about working to accomplish those goals. You will have to listen to our conversation for those details.

I hope you enjoy this week’s conversation with Beth Hassett. Be sure to check back next week when I talk with her about a bill that WEAVE worked on a few years back to increase protections for domestic violence victims, AB 1407. That bill took an interesting path, so I think you all will enjoy that conversation as well.

For more information on WEAVE, please visit their website – www.weaveinc.org. You can also find WEAVE on Facebook, @WEAVEInc and on Twitter, @WEAVEinc.

As Beth mentioned in the interview, you can also visit CPEDV’s website to learn more about their policy priorities. CPEDV can also be found on Facebook at @CAPartnershiptoEndDV and on Twitter @cpedvcoalition.