The People's Money (2022-2023)

What problem would you like to solve?

In 2010, our founder Rana Abdelhamid, was walking down a street in her Queens neighborhood when someone attempted to rip off her hijab. Escaping the incident, she promised herself that if this were to occur again, she would be prepared. Now, with a black belt in karate, she has kept that promise and provided self-defense and bystander intervention training to communities across NYC through Malikah. Our goal is to reach more Queens residents and continue to provide them with the tools they need to protect themselves. We know that COVID-19 brought what the UN has called a “shadow pandemic” of rising domestic violence and an increase in hate-based violence. In 2020, 233,006 domestic incident reports were submitted, and 93,235 calls were made to the city’s domestic violence hotline---stark increases from previous years. With 70 percent of New Yorkers feeling less safe than before the pandemic, we have experienced a 150 percent increase in demand to provide anti-violence programming in self-defense and mental health. It is clear that now, more than ever, the need to expand our program's reach is critical for the safety of our communities.

Why is it important to solve? Why is it relevant for the community?

The right to live in safety is every human’s birthright. More than ever, we have to give our communities the tools to address challenges of safety head-on. Self-defense and mental health services help build strength for our neighborhoods to confront the reality of both public and domestic violence. This improves public health outcomes and individual confidence in navigating public spaces, like subways and parks, and facilitates a positive culture of community safety and power.

What idea do you have to address the problem?

To address this problem, we are expanding our anti-violence programs to reach more community members. We will hold self-defense, de-escalation, bystander intervention training and workshops, and healing justice spaces. We plan to equip 5,000 people with the necessary tools to de-escalate and heal from hate and gender violence over the next year. We will do this by hosting 4-day training boot camps to increase the number of self-defense trainers available through Malikah. In addition, our staff trainers will run two concurrent ten-session-long programs, one for US citizen-holding women and one for immigrant women These trainers will bring our 90-minute self-defense and healing workshop to their communities. These stipended programs will focus on fulfilling all four of Malikah’s programmatic pillars: financial literacy, advocacy, self-defense education, and mental health. The training they receive will serve as a foundation for them to build community safety.

Who would that help?

Our services and programs will be open to all. Safety, mental health, and anti-violence programs are essential to communities across Queens. Our self-defense trainers have worked with the AAPI community in the face of anti-Asian violence, with school administrators thinking about their safety plans, with women survivors of domestic violence and religious institutions fighting religion-based attacks. Our trauma-informed mental health providers have facilitated hundreds of community conversations, from anti-Blackness to the fight for maternal health justice; we know how important it is to bring a diverse range of communities together to unpack timely conversations for overall community wellbeing. Our work centers on those most vulnerable and impacted by an intimate partner, domestic, hate, gender, and public violence. In particular, we hope to serve low-income, immigrant, Black, and Brown women and girls who are often most vulnerable to violence.

What NYC borough would benefit from your idea?

Queens