[Partner] ALLICE 2022 “A-List” honors front-liners
/In response, the all-volunteer nonprofit ALLICE Alliance for Community Empowerment, in collaboration with the Town of Colma and Philippine International Aid, has produced and published the newest edition of the ‘A-List’, a free directory of service providers to promote healthy relationships. Copies will be available in June at the Colma Town Hall and both Recreation Centers, at the ALLICE table at the Colma Community Fair on July 9. For more information, contact malou.aclan@gmail.com.
The 68-page booklet presents 48 family and relationship service providers. It recounts the history of ALLICE and the impetus behind the A-List. True to the all-volunteer organization’s mission, educational material such as the Definition and Forms of Domestic and Intimate Partner Abuse, the Cycle of Abuse and Devising a Safety Plan are provided.
The “A-List” contains information about 48 community-based resource providers as well as a guide to understanding relationship abuse and safety planning.
Valuable Tool
The 2022 edition is dedicated to front-liners and essential workers whose sacrifice of time with their loved ones at the beginning and height of the coronavirus pandemic enabled the public to receive assistance through the worldwide crisis. They risked their lives to save lives, fulfilling their duty to heal, give comfort and hope though the confusion and desperation, especially to survivors of intimate partner and family abuse, whose situation the emergency situation compounded through the shelter in place mandate and work shutdown.
ALLICE Resource Provider Committee chair Malou Aclan, RN, mothered the project at its inception in 2013 with then-co-chair public health nurse Jeannette Trajano. They researched, interviewed and listed pertinent area agencies that have agreed to be included in the resource guide. These organizations may have a 24-hour hotline, the gateway to information. Most have free services or sliding-scale fees for services such as counseling, legal help, education or training on domestic violence or collaborate with other community agencies to assist in addressing the survivors’ needs.
“This document is a valuable tool for individuals and families who are experiencing challenges, and it is also for people who wish to help those in troubled situations,” says Aclan, a 40 –year registered nurse who recently retired as a care manager with Kaiser Permanente in South San Francisco.
Her team composed of Paulita Lasola Malay, Elsa Agasid, Ofie Albrecht and Blessy Valera listed the agencies according to their capacity to serve Filipino American clients. Founding president Bettina Santos Yap designed the booklet. Voltaire Yap provided the cover photo. Founder- executive director Cherie Querol Moreno wrote the narratives and directed the project.
Last year the Colma City Council approved a $1,500 grant for ALLICE outreach projects. Council Member and longtime Kumare Joanne del Rosario, who had encouraged the team to apply for the grant, was unable to attend because she was out of town.
ALLICE Kumares Introduce the newest edition at the AAPI Picnic in South San Francisco, (from left): resource provider manager Malou Aclan, SSF Vice Mayor and ALLICE 2022 vice president Flor Nicolas, Allen Capalla and Elsa Agasid.
Shared Mission
“I’m touched by my Council colleagues consistent support for ALLICE projects,” lauded the four-time Mayor. “Keeping the community safe is our shared mission.
The nonprofit’s 2022 president Junior Flores thanked the Town of Colma for supporting the project.
“Colma has set the tone for community responsibility by shining the light on an issue that affects everyone. If you suspect someone you know is in an abusive relationship, the A-List is a lifeline for them,” he added.
Experts define intimate partner violence as a pattern of behavior where one partner asserts power and control over the other through coercion, fear and intimidation, often including the threat or use of violence. These attacks may be emotional, psychological, economic, sexual as well as the obvious and visible— physical. Intimate partner violence can happen to anyone, regardless of age, income, race, ethnicity or nationality, education, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or immigration status, who enters in a relationship with someone who is abusive.
Advocates for abuse prevention call the issue a community matter best deterred by education, a philosophy ALLICE shares with its fiscal sponsor Philippine International Aid. Known by its initials, PIA was founded over 35 years ago by philanthropist Mona Lisa Yuchengco first to provide streetchildren of Manila a gateway to a brighter future through a safe environment, nurturance and education. The nonprofit foundation has built a high school in Manila and expanded programs to include scholarships for gifted underprivileged students in California.
The booklets were unveiled at the team’s 18th Free from Violence, presented for the first time in a classroom setting by the Skyline College Ethnic Studies Professor Rod Daus – Magbual, the Mayor of Daly City. His Filipino/a/x Community Issues class discussed intimate partner and family abuse as a manifestation of intergenerational trauma resulting from colonialism.
A few days later the booklets were displayed and given out at the ALLICE table at the Asian American and Pacific Islander Picnic in West Orange Park in South San Francisco.
“When I flipped through the pages to show visitors, I saw their surprise to learn about the various resources available to those experiencing IPV (intimate partner violence),” said Kumare Elsa Agasid, who led the team staffing the ALLICE table. “They commented that our A-List contained valuable information.”
“We got overwhelmingly positive response from the public,” added ALLICE Kumare Allen Capalla. “Visitors were happy to take a copy home to keep or share.”
San Francisco Bay Area-based Cherie M. Querol Moreno learned empathy, courage and responsibility from her journalist parents. The Positively Filipino and Inquirer.net correspondent is executive editor of Philippine News Today.
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