As we say on our t-shirt: “Whoever we are, however we look, wherever we go, we all deserve safety and justice.”

Janis Broderick, Executive Director, Elizabeth Freeman Center

In keeping with WAM Theatre’s mission, we are thrilled that the WAM/Berkshire Theatre Group production of What The Constitution Means to Me will amplify the work and donate funds and other supplies to the Elizabeth Freeman Center (EFC). EFC which offers free and confidential counseling, shelter, legal advocacy, safety planning and teen dating violence prevention education right here in Berkshire County. WAM’s Director of Community Engagement Kaia Jackson interviewed Janis Broderick the Executive Director of the Elizabeth Freeman Center to find out more about their work.

Kaia: What drew you to working with the Elizabeth Freeman Center, and what do you find most compelling about this work?

Janis: For me personally, issues addressed through EFC’s work have always been central to my being. And like so many of us at EFC, I am a survivor. When EFC was looking for an Executive Director, I applied and here I am 15 years later. What I love about working here is that we are collectively on a mission, as an organization and with so many in our community. We are a passionate and driven crew that works hard to support individual survivors as well as to change the larger social and legal structures that support and promote domestic and sexual violence.

Kaia: What is it like to balance the day-to-day work with your larger organizational mission & vision?

Janis: This work is hard. It can also be dangerous. The situations staff see, the sacrifices and barriers to safety and recovery that survivors encounter, are often overwhelming. As survivors, we know that pain and those struggles. Working with and being part of community efforts to improve conditions and make change is a critical counterbalance to the every day work we do. These efforts sustain and fuel our hope that things can and will be better.

Kaia: Do you have a story, or a moment that transformed how you approach the work of your organization?

Janis: I don’t know that I can identify a story or “aha” moment. Instead it’s rather a progression. For the past several years, we have consciously worked to employ an equity-promotion strategy that links universal goals with strategies that specifically address the circumstances of those experiencing the greatest barriers to achieving those goals. As providers of domestic and sexual violence services, we are particularly focused on groups considered at highest risk – groups marginalized by race, ethnicity, age, language, ability, sexual and gender identity, and poverty. We seize opportunities to promote this. We employ staff and recruit board members that are racially and culturally diverse. We have developed specialized access projects and services for immigrant, disabled, LGBTQ, and child survivors of violence. We have robust economic and housing advocacy services. We work closely with organizations and groups representing and/or serving culturally specific populations, including in our work, outreach and collaborations. And we know that we have so much more work to do, within ourselves, our services, and our community.

Kaia: What do you want the community to know about you or your work, especially in light of the impacts of Covid-19 and ongoing societal shifts that are taking shape in the Berkshire region and beyond?

Janis: When COVID hit, we never closed our doors. We knew that the very necessary steps we took to stop the spread of the virus also created the very conditions that lead to increased violence. In March 2020, our phones were eerily quiet but by the end of that April, it was like a dam broke and it hasn’t stopped. Even now as the COVID pandemic crisis recedes for most, we are seeing calls to our hotline continuing to increase. We continue to see higher levels of danger, huge financial need, and horrific homelessness. In the year prior to COVID, 455 domestic and sexual violence survivors called our hotline. In just the first six months of this current fiscal year – July through December 2022 – 597 survivors called our hotline, an annualized increase of 17% over the year before, and an increase of 262% over the number of callers prior to COVID. During those same six months, we sheltered 77 survivors and children in danger in motels for 164 nights because no other shelter was available, spending over $19,000 compared to $1,283 for the same period the year before. We are changing locks and installing security cameras at incredible rates to try to help families stay staff. It is brutal out there.

At the same time, this past year we started a new transitional housing and emergency services program with Berkshire Immigrant Center and launched a new initiative with Community Health Programs to better reach and serve sexual assault survivors. We are working with area colleges in their implementation of the new campus sexual assault law and most recently Volunteers in Medicine, Berkshire Immigrant Center and EFC are meeting to develop legal resources to help the growing number of immigrants in our county.

Kaia: How can WAM and BTG audiences, and the larger community, support the work of Elizabeth Freeman Center?

Janis: We are so glad you ask!
Keep getting the word out that help is available 24/7 at 866-401-2425. Carry one of our palm cards in case you are with someone who needs help.
We can always use money. Checks are always welcome. Do a fundraiser, or better yet, join us for Rise Together for Safety and Justice. Register, form a team, raise funds from your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers (it’s easy peasy). Then join us at one of our six walks in September.
Like us on Facebook. Find out about events and come on out. If we have desperate needs, we’ll let you know on FB.
Donate time – we are always looking for energetic volunteers for one of our committees and we sometimes need childcare for groups, help organizing donations and more. if you have a truck, you can help us move families into new, safe homes. If you have special skills, let us know!
And if you really want to commit a lot of time, folks can take our training (50 hours plus shadowing) and work with survivors in our offices, shelter or court.

A portion of the box office for What The Constitution Means to Me will be donated to the Elizabeth Freeman Center [purchase your tickets here]. Additionally, WAM Theatre is collecting the following donations from the EFC wishlist (drop off Monday-Thursday 10am-3pm, at the WAM Theatre Creative Hub, 55 Main Street, Lenox):

• New underwear in a variety of sizes
• Cleaning supplies, such as laundry detergent, dish detergent, household cleaners, buckets, brooms, swifters, sponges, etc.
• New towels, dishware, pots and pans for survivors moving into new homes.
• Diaper wipes.
• Juice packs.
• Individual mac and cheese, oatmeals, or other nonperishable single serving or healthy snack items for clients being “motel-ed” or coming to the EFC offices.
• New pillows for families coming into shelter
• Reusable cloth bags
• Ziplock baggies for our physical response bags to hospitals and emergency needs