Empowering Survivors Through Community innovation and economic security

Shirley Human is a passionate, grassroots coalition of expert survivors dedicated to healing and transforming how we respond to gender-based and domestic violence in Northeast Georgia.

Our mission is to provide comprehensive support focused on economic empowerment to individuals facing financial insecurity due to abusive relationships.

Local violence education and community accountability alongside financial assets for survivors can create long term safety and dismantle the barriers that keep us trapped in cycles of violence.

99 % of violent relationships include some form of economic abuse

& the costs are STAGGERING….

$1,280* stolen by their abuser each month

$15,936* fraudulent debt and credit accrued per year

$23,076* in lost yearly income

$17,770* in yearly property damages 

The amount survivors tell us they would need RIGHT NOW to get and stay safe? $730

Sadly, only 5% of survivors will ever get financial support from existing victim services.

(*)  Kirkley Doyle, Amy Durrence & Sonya Passi. (2020). Survivors Know Best: How to Disrupt Intimate Partner Violence during COVID-19 and Beyond. FreeFrom.

Where?

Royston, GA

Upon the ancestral lands of the Cherokee, Yuchi, Muscogee, and Miccosukee….

OUR WORK:

  • Shirley Human’s social enterprise is how we employ, train, and professionally support one another to create and sell unique fashion and interior goods.

    From our online shop (COMING SOON!!) you can buy products created and sold exclusively by survivors.

    100% of the profits from our sales are fully reinvested back into the hands of our survivor team.

  • Our coalition meets both online and in local Northeast Georgia physical spaces where individuals can access vital resources, gain from other survivors, zoom in on community accountability models and enact legislative change.

    What We offer

    Direct Survivor Services. Learn More

    Community Accountability and Outreach. Learn More

  • At SH, we recognize that informed advocacy stems from rigorous research. Our commitment to understanding the nuances of gender-based and domestic violence drives our initiatives.

    Details on Our Inaugural, Annual Report:

    (Est. Publishing: April, 2025)

    “Northeast Georgia Gender, Intimate Partner, and Domestic Violence Financial Hardship Review”

    This report will rely heavily on survivor surveys from Georgia’s Tenth District, Northern Circuit area and is aimed at understanding the short and long term wealth inequities and economic destruction of those harmed by gender, family, sexual and intimate partner violence in our rural communities. Conclusions will include our proposals and local solutions and will be available for public viewing .

    ________________

    Future Think Tank research will be driven by community engagement and the voices of survivors. Systems based, carceral, or judicial solutions without local insight and testimonies are unhelpful, at best, and lethal, at worst. We intend for our in-depth survivor safety and ecosystem reporting to directly inform local systems changes at all levels of violence prevention programming.

    Read More about Our Topics for Future Think Tank Research, Reports, and Advocacy

Our Philosophy

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Grounded in Historical approaches to Liberty, Equity Revolutions and Community Wisdom

Our work is deeply rooted in philosophies that prioritize reparations, equity, and relentless demands for community accountability. We draw inspiration from indigenous models of community organizing and values of decolonization. We recognize the importance of honoring diverse histories and experiences. We employ the tools created by historically BIPOC-led movements and advocate for alternatives to traditional systems of justice that often fail survivors. Our commitment to grassroots organizing is unwavering, as we believe that real change emerges from the ground up.

The state of things in Georgia?

49th out of all 50

..in state policies affecting survivor financial wellbeing…

From the brilliant work at Freefrom.org we utilize this tool that outlines the existing laws impacting a survivor’s ability to build and maintain financial security, and provides state-specific policy recommendations that will ensure that all survivors have access to the financial resources and support they need to thrive and live free from abuse.

“We cannot even begin to address economic abuse (which occurs in 99% of intimate partner violence cases) without properly defining it in state laws and policy reform.” (Freeform.org)

Georgia is failing survivors by not including the impacts of economic abuse as the devastating crime it is.

 Source: The National Survivor Financial Security Policy Map And Scorecard. FreeFrom, May 11, 2021. https://mapandscorecard.freefrom.org. Current as of: December 15, 2024 (Freeform.org).


Contact Us

Our forms are encrypted and your info is safe.

If you are a survivor, please feel safe sharing below. We are NOT mandatated state reporters. Anything you share will be kept absolutely CONFIDENTIAL.

ATTENTION: We do not provide short term, crisis care. Anyone that needs crisis services can use the national emergency violence hotline available on THIS SITE. Or the Northeast Georgia hotline found HERE.