New Beginnings A Women's Crisis Center

The mission of New Beginnings is to provide direct services in Belknap County, including short-term refuge and a supportive place for sexual assault survivors, battered women and their children; to educate survivors about the choices they have; and to educate the community about the history, causes, and methods of confronting violence against women, including physical, emotional and sexual assault, thereby promoting change. We recognize that men are not excluded from victimization and we therefore seek to provide direct service and peer support to men who have experienced domestic and sexual violence. We choose to use non-hierarchical structure that promotes equity and empowerment.

No one deserves to be beaten or raped or to live in fear of being beaten or raped. Domestic violence, including emotional, physical and verbal abuse, as well as sexual assault are intolerable and must be abolished from our society.

We are committed to confronting domestic and sexual violence by: 1) providing direct service and support to victims of violence; 2) educating women about the choices they have; and 3) educating the community about the history, causes and methods of confronting domestic and sexual violence.

It is our belief that violence has its historical roots in a hierarchical structure that promotes inequality, thereby promoting violence. As a result, we at New Begininngs are committed to the convictions of non-hierarchical flat structure and choose to make all our decision through the process of consensus, which emulates this view.

We acknowledge and support a woman's right to make her own choices in her own time and in her own way; and that she is valued and respected for her experiences.

Lastly, we come to this work offering our strength to women seeking assistance. Although many of us working to end such violence are women, we encourage the assistance and participation of all who join in this struggle. Domestic and Sexual Violence is not a woman's issue but is ultimately a human rights issue. We build on our experiences to help and empower each other to make a difference for us all.

New Beginnings acknowledges domestic and sexual violence and stalking as expressions of gender based oppression in our society and societies around the world. We acknowledge that gender based oppression is systemically connected to other forms of oppression experienced by individuals and communities. People may experience oppression based on not only their gender but also their race, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, class, ability, age, ethnicity, immigration status or religion. While each form of oppression has unique elements and effects, we recognize that each functions similarly through explicit and conscious prejudice and discrimination and through the unconscious attitudes and behaviors of a society that presumes a specific cultural norm.

We acknowledge that our clients may be simultaneously disenfranchised by multiple systems of oppression and are committed to providing services and education that meet their unique needs. We value the lived experience of each individual and the power that each person and community possesses to create change. We base our services upon a concept of humanism which views individuals as subjects in their own work toward liberation rather than as objects of our philanthropy. As Paulo Freire wrote in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, “A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle, than by a thousand actions in their favor without that trust.”

We recognize the importance of having a variety of social group identities reflected in our staff, board and volunteer make-up and in our outreach materials. We are committed to training our staff, board and volunteers not only on issues of cultural competency in services but also on issues of self-awareness, privilege and social group identification in order to recognize their own experience or collusion in oppression and thus, build better communities from the individual outward.

New Beginnings is committed to working with agencies in Belknap County that work to eradicate various forms of oppression so that we, as a community, may forge a solid effort to address oppression on all fronts. We seek to share ideas and approaches so that we may collaborate to make real, long-lasting change. As long as racism or ageism or homophobia, etc exists, gender based oppression will also exist. In order to accomplish our mission to eradicate domestic and sexual violence and stalking, our mission must be to eradicate all forms of oppression.





	Mission Statement The mission of New Beginnings is to provide direct services in Belknap County, including short-term refuge and a supportive place for sexual assault survivors, battered women and their children; to educate survivors about the choices they have; and to educate the community about the history, causes, and methods of confronting violence against women, including physical, emotional and sexual assault, thereby promoting change. We recognize that men are not excluded from victimization and we therefore seek to provide direct service and peer support to men who have experienced domestic and sexual violence. We choose to use non-hierarchical structure that promotes equity and empowerment. Adopted by Board of Directors 10.4.93 Statement of Philosophy No one deserves to be beaten or raped or to live in fear of being beaten or raped. Domestic violence, including emotional, physical and verbal abuse, as well as sexual assault are intolerable and must be abolished from our society. We are committed to confronting domestic and sexual violence by: 1) providing direct service and support to victims of violence; 2) educating women about the choices they have; and 3) educating the community about the history, causes and methods of confronting domestic and sexual violence. It is our belief that violence has its historical roots in a hierarchical structure that promotes inequality, thereby promoting violence. As a result, we at New Begininngs are committed to the convictions of non-hierarchical flat structure and choose to make all our decision through the process of consensus, which emulates this view. We acknowledge and support a woman's right to make her own choices in her own time and in her own way; and that she is valued and respected for her experiences. Lastly, we come to this work offering our strength to women seeking assistance. Although many of us working to end such violence are women, we encourage the assistance and participation of all who join in this struggle. Domestic and Sexual Violence is not a woman's issue but is ultimately a human rights issue. We build on our experiences to help and empower each other to make a difference for us all. Adopted by founding members in 1991 Statement of Commitment to Anti-Oppression Work New Beginnings acknowledges domestic and sexual violence and stalking as expressions of gender based oppression in our society and societies around the world. We acknowledge that gender based oppression is systemically connected to other forms of oppression experienced by individuals and communities. People may experience oppression based on not only their gender but also their race, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, class, ability, age, ethnicity, immigration status or religion. While each form of oppression has unique elements and effects, we recognize that each functions similarly through explicit and conscious prejudice and discrimination and through the unconscious attitudes and behaviors of a society that presumes a specific cultural norm. We acknowledge that our clients may be simultaneously disenfranchised by multiple systems of oppression and are committed to providing services and education that meet their unique needs. We value the lived experience of each individual and the power that each person and community possesses to create change. We base our services upon a concept of humanism which views individuals as subjects in their own work toward liberation rather than as objects of our philanthropy. As Paulo Freire wrote in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, “A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle, than by a thousand actions in their favor without that trust.” We recognize the importance of having a variety of social group identities reflected in our staff, board and volunteer make-up and in our outreach materials. We are committed to training our staff, board and volunteers not only on issues of cultural competency in services but also on issues of self-awareness, privilege and social group identification in order to recognize their own experience or collusion in oppression and thus, build better communities from the individual outward. New Beginnings is committed to working with agencies in Belknap County that work to eradicate various forms of oppression so that we, as a community, may forge a solid effort to address oppression on all fronts. We seek to share ideas and approaches so that we may collaborate to make real, long-lasting change. As long as racism or ageism or homophobia, etc exists, gender based oppression will also exist. In order to accomplish our mission to eradicate domestic and sexual violence and stalking, our mission must be to eradicate all forms of oppression. 7/26/05