Survivors of gender-based violence say they need an average of $1,567 just to meet their needs and stay safe. But they often have dramatically less to work with, reporting a median of zero dollars in savings. That precarity was detailed to the national organization FreeFrom, which works to create pathways to financial security for survivors of gender-based violence, in response to a series of optional questions the group asked in late 2020 as it distributed $533,839 worth of unrestricted cash grants to nearly 2,200 people in need, according to a new report. Some 776 survivors completed a follow-up survey.
Survivors largely identified as people of color, and often reported being disabled and queer+, according to the report. Almost all said they’d been subjected to economic abuse. “Having $0 in savings means having absolutely no safety net to fall back on and no ability to safely plan for the future,” Sonya Passi, the founder and CEO of FreeFrom, said in an email. “Even a small emergency, like a parking ticket or copay for a hospital visit, isn’t affordable. We heard from many survivors who received cash from us that this cash meant they didn’t have to reach out to their harm-doer for financial help.” The pandemic and inflation have only made that worse, Passi said. While surviv …