She came to us
Dear {{first_name | Supporter}}
This week we welcomed Andrea Simon, the Victims' Commissioner for London, to our home in Dalston for a conversation about the women we serve and the change that is still needed.
It mattered that she came to us. She saw the work where it happens, in the space built by and for women of African and Caribbean heritage, and she listened.
We talked about what our research has shown us, drawing on the experiences of more than 2,200 Black women across England and Wales. We talked about the gaps in specialist support, and why a refuge built for our community is so urgently needed.
And we talked about Valerie's Law.
For over a decade we have campaigned for Valerie's Law: mandatory cultural competency training for police and statutory agencies, so that no woman of African or Caribbean heritage is failed by the people meant to protect her. It is named for Valerie Forde and her baby daughter, and it carries everything we know about what happens when a system does not understand the women it is meant to serve.
We are also proud to share that Sistah Space has been invited to join the Victims' Reference Group, the body that helps shape how victims' services work across London. That changes with us at the table, and we intend to make our presence count.
Meetings like this one are how our message reaches the rooms where decisions are made. But those rooms move when the public moves with us.
So here is what we are asking of you today.
Share Valerie's Law. Send our short video below to three people. Post it. Forward this email. Every share puts the case in front of someone new, and that is how mandatory training stops being something we ask for and becomes something that happens.
Thank you for standing with us. The table is bigger now. Let's fill the room.
With love and strength,
Ngozi,
The Sistah Space team