Dandelion Initiative

This year for #iwd2021 we are celebrating, amplifying and supporting women and feminists who work to build a future where women, girls, 2spirit and trans people are equal, safe, heard, honoured, valued and prioritized. Meet Faye and the brilliant feminists at Gantala Press We are honoured to donate to Gantala Press so that they can continue the radical, critical, collective driven and creative liberation work they all do, together. ... Read more about Gantala Press and their Herstory here: www.dandelioninitiative.ca/iwd-honoured Thank you Faye and everyone at Gantala Press we love and support you all. #DontRebuildOnOurBacks #IWD2021 #ChooseToShift #FeministRecovery #EmpoweringWomen #SurvivorsThrive

We LOVE Hard Feelings and this initiative to bring tools and connection to folks during this time. Thank you Katie and all the incredible mental health workers offering this support

Please consider donating to this amazing initiative

So grateful for the feedback we receive from participants, the voice they share with us, the learning they take with them and the teachings they provide to us. It makes doing this work the most meaningful. Our intersectional feminist and survivor centric approaches, couple trauma care with gender-based violence prevention and response education, creating spaces safer for learning and reflections that challenge misogyny and gender-norms. ... Thank you for your continued support and dedication to learning, if you are interested in working with us please email [email protected] or visit our website to learn more www.dandelioninitiative.ca

December 10th marks World Human Rights Day the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR).Today also brings the global #16daysofactivism campaign for the elimination of gender-based violence (GBV), to a close. These 16 days are just the preamble as we commit to create a safer world for the women, girls and feminized people in our lives. Our intention as an organization is part advocacy and education but also ...project-based initiatives which partner with cross-sector supporters and promote internationality, community and survivor-centred practices. Through our partnerships with the @cityofto and @women_canada_femmes (Women and Gender Equality Canada), we were funded from July 2019-2020 to host and deliver a year of free workshops and resources for survivors of gender-based violence. We wanted to create something that celebrates survivors' ability to reclaim and thrive across experiences. Topics ranged from healing the body, surviving trauma, thriving in community, and reclaiming our voices, stories, and truths. They highlighted the expertise, knowledge, healing, power, skill, and advice of community leaders and survivors. At the end of our series, community knowledge was translated into: * Our online Resources for Survivors package (found under Survivor Supports on our website). This curated guide offers diverse supports, resources, and services for all survivors of gender-based and sexual violence. This is a living document that we will be updating and maintained with community input. * This Survivors Heal + Thrive Book, which is a curated combination of art, affirmations, and facilitator knowledge for survivors. This means that facilitators are able to share their knowledge and the Dandelion Initiative is able to amplify their skills beyond the people who attended each workshop. Please visit our website to view and download the PDF version of our Survivors Heal + Thrive Book under Survivor Supports. To all survivors, You matter. We believe you. You are so valuable. You are the reason we do what we do. #16daysofactivism #survivors

Trigger/Content Warning: This post contains a toolkit detailing safety planning tips that may trigger survivors of gender-based violence. Survivors, if you are feeling triggered or overwhelmed breathe. Take a step back and walk away. Call a friend or any of these crisis lines and supports: https://www.dandelioninitiative.ca/resources. For us at the Dandelion Initiative, and like many of our sister and partner organizations, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have ...received an increase of requests for safety planning tools and resources. Survivors continue to face a double pandemic, in and out of their own homes. Safety is not easy to obtain in today’s climate, especially considering the province of Ontario has lost more than a million jobs since the start of the pandemic. Loss of employment, income, and housing create additional barriers for survivors trying to find a sense of safety in this new reality. The City of Toronto’s housing crisis exacerbates these barriers. Last month, Social Planning Toronto released a study which found that 1/3 of Torontonians are in unsuitable housing conditions, which includes overcrowding. This becomes amplified for racialized individuals, whose rate of living in unsuitable spaces is three times higher. Individuals who identify as Filipino, South Asian, West Asian, and/or Arab and who live in rental dwellings have the highest rates of unsuitable housing, affecting 49% or more of individuals in each group. The pandemic has certainly reiterated to us that safe, decent, and affordable housing is a fundamental human right and is essential to public health and safety. If you don't have to think about safety daily, that is a privilege, not the norm. How are you checking in with the women and feminized folx in your life? Survivors: Remember that you can call certain organizations and shelters who will help you with safety planning for your specific situation and needs. This post contains a compact guide of quick safety planning tools. The entire booklet and tools can be found in the link mentioned above. We believe you. You are not alone and this is never your fault. Please remember to reach out for support.

Another contribution to the #16daysofactivism campaign this year comes in the form of our policy recommendations and advocacy to keep survivors of domestic and family violence safer at work. We are pleading with all employers to consider providing and reinstating paid domestic violence leave and supports. Domestic Violence is a workplace issue. This is not a private, family burden, as we had been taught, this is a collective and social issue that we play a role in. The effect...s of domestic violence ripple through the workplace and workplace culture, ignoring the signs only adds to the harm. Can you recognize the signs of abuse? Do you know what your role is? As an Employer you have duties to report informally and formally, depending on your role, and as a survivor and employee you have rights, protection and options for support. We have worked hard to create a domestic violence policy and practice that is in compliance with the code, OSHA and provides survivor-centered processes for receiving these disclosures, preparing the paperwork and providing the resources. This policy and solution is such a small investment into the long term health and safety of your workforce and community. Prepare for a rebuilding and sustaining that prioritizes the gendered impacts of living through a double pandemic. Don't rebuild on our backs, prioritize the safety of women and feminized workforces now. Read more about domestic violence being a workplace issue: When Domestic Violence Comes to Work: https://www.shrm.org//domestic-violence-workplace-nfl-ray- Canadian Labour Congress: https://canadianlabour.ca//how-does-domestic-violence-imp/ Public Health and Safety Association of Canada- https://www.pshsa.ca//addressing-domestic-violence-in-the- Ontario Federation of Labour: Domestic Violence goes to Work Everyday: https://ofl.ca//OFL_DV-booklet_nov2016_v02-PR_single-pages Workplace Equality and Respect Video: https://workplace.ourwatch.org.au//why-is-domestic-and-fa/ #16daysofactivisim

The global 16 days campaign calls for the elimination of gender-based violence (GBV). It is time to accept this collective opportunity to create a prevention-focused, solution-based future where we stop accepting femicide and gender-based violence as the norm, but rather, a virus we have the cure for. Talking about gender-based violence can be difficult and silence kills! How can you break the silence as a survivor, as a family member, as a friend, as a coworker? The time is... now to reach out to the people you trust, you’re not forgotten. Now is the time to check in with the women and feminized people in your life, to let them know they’re not alone. #16daysofactivism #dontrebuildonourbacks

Today we want to reiterate that any undertaking to end gender-based violence must include an honest conversation about the role that misogyny and the overarching patriarchal system play in its perpetuation. That conversation is the beginning of the end; what follows next is action. We want to share with you how you can start your own conversation with those around you. And if you have already started these difficult conversations, we want to know what you do to identify, chal...lenge, and disrupt misogyny. Stop and Think: What role do you play in the prevention and elimination of gender-based violence? Let us know by commenting on this post, reposting, sharing, and/or tagging us. Take on the challenge #16dayschallenge #16daysofactivism #16dayscampaign #ratifyilo190 #dontrebuildonourbacks #choosetoshift #notwithoutus