See Beautiful Grant Applicant: IVA Foundation

The feature below is brought to you by IVA Foundation, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. 

To learn more about IVA Foundation, please visit their website page: here.

Beauty: a foundation of hope, love, and life for victims and survivors.

Beauty is not what we see when we look in the mirror. Beauty is within us, beauty surrounds us, beauty is the foundation of hope, love, and life. Sometimes in life, we go through circumstances that hinder us from experiencing the amazing elements life has to offer and the journey back to recovering our 'beauty' can be lonely, overwhelming, and seem hopeless.

According to the NCADV - National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.” This is one of many shocking statistics that reflects the unfortunate reality victims of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence are forced to endure. We see these numbers in the news, we scroll past them in tweets, we read about it in the newspaper, but it never really resonates until it happens to someone we know, or worse, ourselves.

I remember my personal experience with domestic violence ever so vividly. It was the fourth of January, and the winter season was as chilly as ever. I will never forget standing in the cold, minutes after being physically assaulted once again. Fear, resentment, and the raging hurt I felt left me in tears but I stood on in the blistering cold. I’m quite certain that I blanked out after this thought, and every moment afterward became a passive flow of time in space.

I was homeless for 8 months with my then 2-year-old, diagnosed with a major depressive disorder alongside various health issues. Living in a battered women’s shelter, I felt alone, helpless, and isolated. Though there was a roof over my head, food to eat, a means to survive, it was hard for me to see the beauty in anything. I blamed myself for my circumstances, I blamed myself for being a victim. If I had just been patient enough, if I had endured more, maybe things would have turned out differently.

Like myself, many victims will experience drastic life shifts, trauma, turmoil, and stigma. Some may never fully recover from the damaging consequences of domestic violence. It took me a long time to piece together the blank spaces of my story but through it, I have found my voice. My journey has made me wiser, stronger and more resilient. And though it may seem that some challenges are hard enough to break us, through beauty - that brings hope, love and life, the right support system, and determination, victims and survivors can grow through what we go through.

I founded the Foundation for Inspiring Victims of Abuse - IVA, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to uplifting victims of abuse in minority communities. IVA's approach is based on the notion that a problem shared is a problem half solved. Disclosure is one of the first steps a victim must take to see help. The race, religious, and cultural stigma that is rampant in minority communities hinders victims from seeking help, which in turn prevents them from gaining access to the resources and services they need to escape abuse. Through IVA, we will help victims and at-risk-individuals of domestic and intimate partner violence by bridging the gap between stigma and support and being their guide and best-friend on their journey from 'victim' to 'thriving survivor'.

Domestic violence is a national and global epidemic that knows no socioeconomic, religious or cultural bounds. 1 in 4 women in the U.S will experience severe domestic violence in their lifetime. One major reason why victims of domestic violence stay in abusive situations is due to fear of stigma and low self-esteem. Through IVA's inter-collaborative projects, we are focused on helping victims harness their inner confidence through beauty. Victims and survivors are judged by society at every step of the way … how could they fall for an abuser? Why don’t they just leave if it’s really so bad? How could they go back? A lot of what IVA hopes to accomplish is to break down these misconceptions and spotlight the underlying mental obstacles - unhealed trauma, societal stigma, lack of confidence – that victims face.

We hope to breakdown the myth that victims are weak and frail, which is the opposite – To endure any type of abuse means to be determined, strategic, and resilient. Harnessing each individual's potential for self-discovery, self-development and empowering them to overcome any obstacle is what IVA plans to accomplish.

Domestic violence is taking its toll in our communities, we need to unite as one to make meaningful change and we can begin by bridging the gap between stigma and support. Foundation for Inspiring Victims of Abuse (IVA) is dedicated to uplifting victims of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV) through counseling, life coaching, and mental health advocacy. By bridging the gap between stigma and support, IVA promotes healing, erases stigmatization, and reduces retraumatization in victims and at-risk-individuals. IVA's vision is to inspire and improve victims' quality of life through collaborative and innovative projects. 

A key activity of the organization is to advance a social connecting APP where users have the option of joining anonymously and connecting with survivor-advocates and licensed therapists. By working in collaboration with a trusted network of organizations and caregivers, IVA plans to simplify the task for victims seeking transformational resources towards living a healthy beautiful life, free of abuse.

We invite you to join us in our mission to inspire change, one victim at a time.

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Connect with IVA:
Web: https://www.ivafoundation.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivafoundationorg/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/iva_foundation
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ivafoundation/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ivafoundation/

Submitted by Bilikis Adebayo

Director, IVA Foundation