One Woman Offers a Way Out for Abuse Survivors

By Stacy M. Brown

Senior Global Correspondent

You can read the full story in the Washington Informer at www.washingtoninformer.com

One woman already knew where she needed to go. She had a young child, a safe place waiting in another city, and a reason to leave the abusive home where she was living.

What she did not have was a way to get there.

Giselle Crawford remembers that case because so little money, compared with the danger confronting the woman, stood between staying and getting out.

“Something that may seem relatively simple, transportation, was actually the barrier standing between her and safety,” Crawford said. “Once that barrier was removed, she was able to get away from her abuser and begin a new chapter for herself and her child.”

Crawford, 30, is the founder of the Giselle Cares Foundation, a nonprofit that helps survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault cover expenses that can become immediate obstacles to safety: gas, transportation, hotel rooms, clothing, food, safe phones, security deposits, and other costs of leaving.

This year, the organization began with less than $10,000 set aside for relocation assistance.

The money is gone.

Before the fund was fully committed, it helped three individuals and families with immediate relocation needs. Roughly 15 additional people sought help as the money became limited or unavailable, Crawford said. The foundation now tries to connect survivors with shelters, advocates, and other organizations when it cannot provide funds directly.

“The need does not stop when the money runs out,” Crawford said.

For Crawford, that reality has revealed an overlooked aspect of escaping abuse. A survivor may decide to leave and even identify a safe place to go, yet remain trapped because she cannot afford gasoline, a rental car, or several nights in a hotel.

In other cases, the cost is significantly higher.

A security deposit and first month’s rent can range from $1,200 to $1,800 or more, Crawford said. Someone fleeing suddenly may also need clothing, food, a new phone, or cash for necessities. The foundation is working to provide care kits for sexual assault survivors, including clean clothing, undergarments, toiletries, and other essentials.

“Sometimes a person already knows where they need to go and what they need to do,” Crawford said. “They just need someone to help close that final gap between being trapped and being able to leave.”

Building a business that could help someone else

Giselle Cares grew from the assistance Crawford once provided quietly and informally.

As The Giselle Collection, her business, began to grow, Crawford said she started questioning what she wanted that success to accomplish beyond selling products.

“I didn’t want success to only be measured by sales or how many products we could sell,” she said. “I wanted the business to be connected to something that could genuinely help someone else.”

Initially, people in trouble reached Crawford through word of mouth. If someone needed immediate help, she might simply give them money for a hotel, transportation, food, or another expense.

Eventually, she wanted something more permanent.

“I realized I didn’t want supporting survivors to be something I only did privately or occasionally,” Crawford said. “I wanted to create something intentional and lasting, something that could provide real resources, comfort, and support to people during some of the hardest moments of their lives.”

Today, survivors can contact Giselle Cares through its website to explain their needs. Crawford reviews the foundation’s available resources and, when it can provide direct assistance, tries to respond quickly. When it cannot, she said she attempts to find another organization that can.

The operation remains heavily dependent on Crawford and her business operations.

About 80% of the foundation’s funding has come through her business, with the remaining 20% coming from Crawford personally. A set percentage of business sales goes to Giselle Cares, so purchases of wine glasses, body-care products, and other merchandise help fund its work.

That model also limits what one entrepreneur can finance as requests keep coming in.

When someone needs to leave tonight

The exhaustion of the relocation fund has raised the question Crawford had hoped the foundation could answer: What happens when someone says she needs to leave tonight?

It has already happened.

Crawford said Giselle Cares now shifts from financial assistance to identifying the safest available option. That may involve contacting shelters, crisis organizations, or advocates with emergency housing or transportation resources.

“I never want someone to feel like an exhausted fund, which means there is nothing we can do,” she said. “We may not always be able to provide the financial assistance ourselves, but we can still help point that person toward resources that may be able to step in.”

Crawford is now seeking enough funding to scale the operation.

The foundation recently applied for the Callaway Women’s Impact Grant and continues to pursue additional grants. Crawford said another $50,000 could replenish and expand the relocation fund, cover transportation, lodging, deposits, safe phones, and clothing, and increase the number of sexual assault care kits it distributes.

With $100,000, she said, Giselle Cares could add prevention and education programs, including efforts to help women recognize signs of abuse and programs for young men on consent, boundaries, and healthy relationships.

With substantially more, Crawford envisions acquiring a discreet vehicle to transport survivors when simply getting away is the immediate priority.

“What Giselle Cares needs right now is capacity,” she said. “We need funding to replenish our relocation assistance, expand our care kits, strengthen our prevention and education programming, and build the transportation resources necessary to help more survivors safely.”

Searching for money while people search for safety

Crawford said another frustration has been the slow, uncertain search for grants, while the needs reaching the foundation are anything but theoretical.

“What has been most exhausting is not necessarily getting media attention; it has been constantly searching and applying for grants, funding opportunities, and programs that can help us build the resources survivors actually need and not hearing anything back,” she said.

Black media has a particular role to play, Crawford said, because many of the women the foundation serves are Black. Coverage can reach someone who recognizes her own circumstances in another survivor’s experience or who learns that assistance exists.

There is also a financial connection. Crawford said that Essence’s coverage of The Giselle Collection generated sales, which in turn provided resources to support the foundation.

But the woman and child Crawford helped relocate to another city remain the clearest example of what she is trying to build.

They did not need a new program designed around them. They did not need someone to make their decision for them. The woman had already decided to leave and knew where she could be safe.

She needed transportation.

Crawford wants businesses, donors, and others with resources to understand how often assistance can be that direct.

“Sometimes there is already an organization doing the work and a survivor who is ready to take the next step,” Crawford said. “What is needed is someone willing to help provide the resources that make that step possible.”