Map 2. Safety Landscapes
Survivors face an “economic ripple effect of violence.” Domestic violence creates financial hardship, poverty restricts survivors’ options for safety, and both are compounded throughout their life by structural inequities. The Economic Ripple Effect of Violence can help us understand the unique story of individual survivors we work with, but it also points to the structural inequities that put safety out of reach for many.
While abusive partners can create and exploit a survivors’ economic instability, poverty is largely determined by our local, state, and federal governments and systems. And it is not evenly distributed. How state policies and systems make economic resources, childcare, education and employment, and health and well-being available can determine whether survivors have access to safety or not.
The purpose of Map 2 is to share data on state population outcomes across five domains of safety to illuminate if survivors, and which survivors, have access to vital safety structures in the short and long-term. Data in each Safety Landscape helps to:
- Shift our gaze from looking at what individual survivors do, to the inequities they face.
- Examine which populations have more or less options for safety.
- Craft stories of what safety for survivors looks like and requires in our states.
- Identify what’s needed from programs, partnerships, and policy to create equitable safety landscapes.
“Survivors with informal employment, no immigration status…or dismissed because of their race/ethnicity have far less opportunities to focus on health, prevention, pursuit of economic stability or even socializing because they are too busy putting out fires…High barrier systems/services make it hard for them to access anything or attempt to gain power in their situation through court services and such. There is no energy or time for it.”
– advocate respondent to CSAJ’s Economic Impact of COVID-19 Survey
Safety Landscape Dashboards
Note: Dashboards are best viewed on a desktop or laptop computer. The layout and functionality may distort to fit smart-phone screens.
The Safety Landscapes in Map 2 were informed by the framework of the Economic Ripple Effect. It helps identify key areas of safety and how they connect. And it helps think about short- and long-term safety, access and outcomes. The five safety landscape topics were selected through a review of research that showed common neighborhood or structural factors that are associated with increased rates of IPV, as well as research and practice-based resources that evidence survivors’ top safety-related needs
View Methodology & Documentation Doc for a list of all terms, data, and data sources for each Safety Landscape.
Economic Security Landscape
Concentrated disadvantage, consumer burden, and economic stability of each state
Housing Equity Landscape
Housing accessibility and long-term housing stability in each state
Family & Child Well-Being Landscape
Access to childcare, child protection, and other family-related resources in each state
Education & Employment Opportunity Landscape
Education and employment opportunities and protections in each state
Physical & Mental Health Landscape
Access to healthcare and health outcomes of each state
Physical Violence & Safety Landscape
Return to Map 1 for the state landscape of domestic and sexual violence
Guiding Questions
As you explore the data, ask yourself:
- What does ‘safety’ look like for survivors in your state? Who has access to the resources, relationships, and infrastructure needed to be, get, and stay safe?
- Compare this vision of safety to what the actual safety landscapes look like in your state. In other words, are opportunities for economic security, housing, health, etc generally accessible to survivors? Are there differences in outcomes for different populations (ie. across race/ethnicity or disability status)?
- Are there gaps in data you could fill via program or other data?
- What’s upstream from this? What policies, funding, or other forces play a role in employment, poverty, etc in my state? What stories can you tell using the data here and elsewhere to fuel change?
Notes on Safety Landscape Data
Note: see each dashboard for specific instructions for use, guiding questions, and supplemental resources
- Most of the data in the dashboards are from the U.S. Census or other national, representing broader populations with a limited number of data indicators collected from survivors. See source lists.
- While we do not have much state-level data on survivors’ economic well-being, for example, we do strive to center the broader populations and communities of which they are a part, and across more levels of intersectionality. (ie. black, immigrant, lgbtq, disabled or all of these). The experience of IPV is not survivors’ full or only identity, so we also need to understand the needs of the full communities of which they are a part (ie. LGBTQ youth will have different housing needs than aging immigrant women). This data will help paint that broad picture, and advocates/programs and the survivors they work with will need to work together to make sense of it as it relates to survivors’ lived experience.
- The dashboard is not ‘the’ answer, but a tool. Use it to explore data for a baseline understanding of economics, housing, healthcare, etc in your state. Use the date to help tell the unique story of the economic ripple effect of violence in your state. Supplement it with other data and survivor stories and expertise to craft strategies and arguments for change.
- Engage with us! We will continue bringing the field together to expand the dashboard, gathering and adding data, stories, practical strategies, and policies to the map. Our aim is to transform the dashboard from a data tool to an advocacy tool.
Get Help & Get Involved
We’re here to help you understand, navigate, use, and even gather additional data to support your advocacy efforts.
Map 2 Dashboards Created by P. Stiger at Data Decoded
This project is supported by the Allstate Foundation
