Our Work
Consumer Rights For Survivors
Enhancing consumer legal advocacy & building partnerships for economic justice.
Mapping and Advancing Equity Project
The Mapping and Advancing Equity Project is a national project that builds the capacity of the domestic violence field to engage in systems change that addresses the racial and economic inequities facing survivors.
Research and Policy Work
Research that reflects survivors’ lives & policy advocacy with real impacts
Survivors’ Access to Justice
Addressing the costs & inequities that block survivors’ access to justice
Racial & Economic Equity for Survivors
Helping programs identify and address the structural inequities facing survivors
Demonstration Site Work
Fostering organizational and community change & putting the spotlight on innovation
Our Impact
For many survivors, options for safety are out of reach. Nearly all survivors experience economic abuse, and those in poverty, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ are twice as likely to experience domestic violence. CSAJ works to ensure all have equal access to safety.
serving 32,000
We train nearly 1,000 on-the-ground advocates each year, who in turn help meet the economic needs of over 32,000 survivors.
NYC advocacy organizations
Partnered to create a policy agenda on Economic Equity for Survivors and secured a hearing with NYC Council on coerced debt.
federal law recognizing “economic abuse”
Our Coerced Debt Working Group helped enact federal policy that recognized “economic abuse” for the first time.
See our work in action
Here are some highlights of our projects and work. Click the links below to learn more or to contact us for training or to partner on economic justice initiatives.
Trainings & Conferences
In 2019, we teamed up with Lisalyn Jacobs and the Texas Council on Family Violence to discuss racial and economic equity for survivors at NNEDV’s Economic Justice Summit. Based on our REEP Project, we shared findings from Listening Sessions, our own internal and organizational work, and strategies to effect systems (and long-lasting) change.
District Alliance for Safe Housing
In 2020, we partnered with DASH to integrate economic advocacy into their survivor centered & culturally specific housing advocacy model and programs. It started with an in-depth organizational assessment to “map the economic ripple effect of violence” facing survivors in Washington DC.
Mapping Equity
From 2018-2020, we conducted a 3-part study to explore how statewide coalitions understand and address issues of equity. The findings and innovative practices from Equity Mapping, Content Analysis, and In-Depth Interviews with five coalitions were shared in a report. CSAJ Research Fellow, Kristen Mejia, presented findings at the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Annual Conference.
Explore our resources
CSAJ develops and shares resources to support individual attorneys, advocates, and organizations and to inform systems and policy change. Check out our one-of-a-kind Resource Library, which includes everything from training guides, advocacy tools, organizational best-practices, factsheets, and research reports, to public comments and testimony on a range of economic advocacy issues.
In January, 2025, the Coerced Debt Working Group conducted a national survey of attorneys, advocates, and programs to assess…
Researchers, Adrienne Adams, Ph.D., Angie Littwin, J.D., and Angie Kennedy, Ph.D., have created two, one-page (front and back), policy…
In their own words
We share survivors’ economic realities, embolden advocates’ work, and promote strategies with an impact.
“The resources and technical assistance that our coalition has received from CSAJ have been invaluable to moving our work forward. We’ve really been able to deepen our perspectives and knowledge base, and broaden our networks.”
Krista Del Gallo & Mona Muro, Texas Council on Family Violence
“I just want CSAJ to know how much we value your work… it informed our [organization’s] decision a few years ago to focus on economic security and empowerment.”
Webinar Attendee
“CSAJ’s work submitting comments on payday lending to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau helped partners all around country understand specific needs of intimate partner violence survivors and to also affect change within the CFPB.” –
Katie VonDeLinde, CSAJ Expert Advisor
“Working with CSAJ…we identified housing and education as key issues, and are now piloting a housing project that provides free rent, free tuition, and a whole bunch of coaching, advocacy, etc.” –
Women’s Resource Center, CSAJ Pilot Site