RTI International

Summary

People who have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking, or human trafficking commonly face challenges achieving economic security and independence due to factors such as a lack of employment opportunities or experience, lack of savings, and sometimes damaged credit due to financial abuse. For these survivors, economic empowerment is the transformative process of moving toward increased choice and opportunities to gain independence, stability, skills, and advancement in all areas related to one’s economic well-being. Programs that support economic empowerment include a variety of approaches to help support the earning potential, immediate and long-term financial independence, and self-sufficiency of participants. These programs build participants’ capacity and skills in a range of areas including financial literacy, technology, job readiness, and career development. Participation in economic empowerment programs that support survivors’ individual financial and employment goals can support their continued safety from future abuse as well as their ability to contribute to local economies. RTI International, in partnership with FUTURES Without Violence, is developing a self-assessment toolkit designed to support service provider agencies providing economic empowerment programming to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking, and/or human trafficking. This toolkit will help organizations identify their program's strengths, pinpoint areas for growth, and access resources to support program improvements. The self-assessment toolkit has four main topical sections: 1) To self-assess whether program activities lead to intended outcomes; 2) to self-assess whether the program collects and considers the needs and goals of participants; 3) to self-assess the extent to which programs leverage existing community resources in the form of strategic partnerships; and 4) to self-assess the preparation and support of staff providing economic empowerment programming. In addition to developing and pilot testing the toolkit, this project involves training and technical assistance to support service providers, advocates, and survivors.

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