Be Radical
Our systems are, at face value, supposed to protect us. When our house is on fire, we expect firefighters to come.
And yet, following 9 months of federal chaos, the 2026 Michigan budget passed earlier this month with devastating losses for victims of violence. Statewide, the budget fell short of filling federal funding gaps to the tune of $45 million for domestic and intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking programs. Now, on average, Michigan victim service agencies, including YWCA Kalamazoo, are slashing their programs by 20%.
YWCA Kalamazoo had additionally asked the state for funds that would fill YWCA’s profound federal grant disruptions. This plea, too, was left unrecognized in the final state budget. Not only were these asks removed from the budget draft, but so too were the appropriations we had historically received to support our infant mortality reduction work.
It was not for lack of trying, for lack of following the process, nor for lack of champions. Our local representatives were inspiringly ferocious in their advocacy. And, in this moment, ferocity is not enough to counter greater powers at play.
Now, YWCA Kalamazoo preparing to dramatically reduce its life-saving programs by more than $2 million, at precisely the time that this community needs us most.
This system will not protect us.
Years ago, the domestic violence movement arose from grassroots origins. Women rallied alongside one another, contributing what resources they had to the protection and survival of victimized neighbors. Bucking a system that devalued women’s and children’s lives, these movement-builders were labeled “radical,” “hysterical,” and “man-hating,” as they took victims of violence into their own homes to protect them from harm. The system would not protect them then, so they protected each other.
Today, I am asking you to reignite this radical spirit and take personal action to protect babies and victims of violence here in Kalamazoo. Our government has turned its back on survivors, but our community can make a different choice.
Help us create a groundswell of local support that would pay for those essential survival expenses – emergency shelter, food, clothing – that allow survivors to flee with their children, and that prevent babies from dying in homelessness and food insecurity. This fund, dollar for dollar, will be spent precisely on these costs. No overhead, no frills – just survival.
I am asking you, our community, to become monthly recurring donors, to provide steady, reliable, life-saving funds that our neighbors can depend on.
We must not wait for a politician to save us. We are the ones we have been waiting for.
For every community member who has been assaulted, for everyone who loves someone who has suffered abuse – now is the time. Please, become a recurring donor to YWCA Kalamazoo’s solidarity fund, and share this movement widely with your networks. Community solidarity in the face of systemic failures is radical. Let us show them just how radical Kalamazoo can be.
To become a recurring donor to YWCA Kalamazoo’s solidarity fund, click here:
Radically Yours,
Susan Rosas
Chief Executive Officer
