Dear All, Our longtime colleague, activist, and domestic violence pioneer, Sue Dersch, will be retiring from the AWARE program on April 25th. Sue started the AWARE program in the 1990s and has helped AWARE flourish and grow, always centering the voices, strengths, and needs of survivor's of intimate partner violence. AWARE is the only hospital-based domestic violence program in the St. Louis area. Sue has served the SLEDSVN community as well, supporting initiatives such as the Anti-Racism Book club after Michael Brown's death. In addition to her commitment to survivors, Sue has worked tirelessly for unhoused people in the city of St. Louis and has spearheaded the Witnessing Whiteness program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Importantly, Sue remains a thought leader in our field and someone who is unrelenting in her pursuit of knowledge, is always up for an in depth discussion on how we can do better for survivors, and is a generous and kind colleague. I would love to have a "card shower" for Sue. If you have a moment, please drop an email to kvondelinde@gmail.com or send a physical card to 1 Ricardo Lane, St. Louis, MO 63124 and I will present these to Sue. Join me in sharing our gratitude for those who have paved the path for us all, especially, this month, to Sue! Katie VonDeLinde

Dear all, I have been working on a national taskforce to help improve options for survivors who have experienced coerced debt and we have some possible traction with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that will change rules around the ability to block debt from credit reports of folks who have experienced coerced debt (through fraud OR threats). We are trying to gather information about what folks are seeing around the country. If you have some time to answer this survey that would be incredible! Let me know if you have questions! Follow Link Below Katie VonDeLinde, kvondlinde@wustl.edu https://mailchi.mp/csaj/we-need-your-input-survey-on-coerced-debt-10136094?e=05b12ba5c2

SLEDSVN's DEI committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday, May 14th at 12:00 p.m. via Zoom. Please contact Katie VonDeLinde at kvondelinde@gmail.com if you are interested in attending and to get the zoom link. Thanks!

Hi all! I'd love to get the SLEDSVN subcommittee back up and rolling again! Do you have ideas about areas of focus important for our subcommittee? Are you curious about what we could do to increase anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion around IPV services, employment, advocacy and access? Join us! Please contact Katie VonDeLinde at kvondelinde@gmail.com or choose a good meeting time for you on this doodle poll. Thank you!