Shared Safety Immigrant Faith Leaders’ Summit

5/24, 2023, 8:30am-4pm

In May 2023, a working group of Shared Safety, led by AFAHO and SEAMAAC hosted the Immigrant Faith Leaders’ Summit. This summit aimed to increase knowledge about domestic violence for faith leaders from various immigrant communities in Philadelphia. The presentations at the summit were filmed and edited to be available to communities that wish to learn more about domestic violence, how they can help, and resources.

Below are resources from the summit. If you would like to host a screening or discussion about one or more of the videos with your community, the Screening Guide linked below has discussion questions and resources for each video.

All videos have captions available in English, Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, and Indonesian. You can also adjust caption settings by clicking the gear icon and then selecting your preferred language from the list.

Screening Guide

This screening guide is a companion to these videos from the Summit. It is intended for any community group, but especially faith communities. 

 Use this screening guide to plan conversations about domestic violence with your community. 

Video 1: Impact of Domestic Violence on Survivors and Families

Featuring Emeka Nwadiora, Associate Professor, Temple University

In this video, Dr. Nwadiora defines domestic violence and discusses types of abusive behaviors (physical, sexual, emotional, economic, social, immigration abuse). He also discusses its impact on individuals and their children, and how to help someone experiencing domestic violence.

Video 2: Immigration Legal Resources for Survivors of Domestic Violence

Featuring Lina Duiker, Staff Attorney, Domestic Violence Initiative, HIAS Pennsylvania

In this video, Lina talks about legal services offered by HIAS Pennsylvania’s Domestic Violence Initiative. She also gives some basic information about immigration categories, how immigrants who have experienced domestic violence can get help, and how faith leaders can support them.

Video 3: Supporting Survivors: Skills of Empowerment

Featuring Richie Schulz, Community Education Supervisor, Lutheran Settlement House

In this video, Richie discusses how to support survivors of domestic violence with skills that will empower them. During the presentation, Richie plays a video clip from the Disney movie Moana, to illustrate the concepts of agency and empowerment. You can pause the above video and watch “I am Moana (Song of the Ancestors)” on YouTube to add to your learning experience.

Video 4: Intervening with the Person who Caused Harm

Featuring Tony Lapp, Executive Director, Courdea

In this video, Tony discusses intervening with individuals who cause harm. The presentation provides insight from the perpetrators’ viewpoint instead of victims of domestic violence.  He discusses how communities can come together to support and change abusive behavior.

Video 5: Protection from Abuse in Philadelphia

Featuring Maryellen Fields, Staff Attorney, Women Against Abuse Legal Center

In this video, Maryellen talks about the different ways victims and survivors of domestic violence can use legal services for help. Maryellen introduces Protection From Abuse orders (also known as PFA) and other protective measures.

The Summit, videos, and resources were organized by a Shared Safety working group in 2023. The working group project was led by staff from AFAHO (Cait O’Donnell) and SEAMAAC (Donna Backues). The working group included staff from the Office of Domestic Violence Strategies, the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities Services, the Philadelphia Sexual Assault Response Center, the Salvation Army New Day to Stop Trafficking program, the Philadelphia Department of Human Services Domestic Violence Unit, Women in Transition, HIAS PA, the Mayor’s Office for Engagement of Women, and faith leaders Pastor Aldo Siahaan and Pastor Fernando Loyola. Khadijetou (Khadi) Diagana, MPH (c) assisted on this project in completion of fieldwork for her degree. Khadi created the pre- and post- Summit evaluation surveys completed by attendees and authored the Lessons Learned document, as well as the Screening Guide for the videos. Videography was completed by Tommy Butler. In addition to the above videos, Interfaith Philadelphia facilitated an opening dialogue among the attendees. This project would not have been possible without the hard work of the working group members, presenters, and the many attendees who spent a full day learning about how to help people in their communities experiencing domestic violence.

This project was completed with funding from Shared Safety, awarded through the Philadelphia City Fund.

  • Richie Schulz, from Lutheran Settlement House, presenting on empowerment counseling

    “I enjoyed each segment, but the Basic Counseling Skills was informative and interactive. Richie gave a wonderful talk about empowering women and how we can offer support.”

  • Emeka Nwadiora, of Temple University, presenting on background about domestic violence

    “I feel more comfortable counseling and directing victims of abuse to the proper resources. I also made wonderful connections with faith leaders.”

  • Faith leaders discussing in breakout groups

    “My favorite part of the training was connected to the basic counseling skills for DV support. Also connecting with folks from different cultures and faith traditions.”

  • Mayor Kenney speaks to attendees

    "The skills taught today was awesome. I have tools."

  • Summit attendees pose with Mayor Kenney

    "I favoured all the topics learnt today. The Summit really opened the eyes to so many options to handle as a religious leader."

  • Tony Lapp, of Courdea, discussing how to help someone who has caused harm.

    “Courdea's perspective on helping those abusively powerful was the most different and striking. I worry about myself to degrees and found it personally insightful. It was valuable to hear the names and learn of the work of individual organizations.”