Did you miss our conversation, “Caught Between Two Fires: The Uncomfortable Reality of Criminalized Survivorship”? The recording is now available.
Too often, Black survivors are navigating more than violence alone. They are also navigating systems—legal systems, child welfare systems, and institutional responses—that can create additional harm rather than protection.
This conversation explored the intersections of survivorship, criminalization, advocacy, and accountability while challenging us to think more deeply about how we build responses rooted in care, dignity, and nuance.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for this important discussion. If you weren’t able to attend live, we invite you to watch the recording and continue learning alongside us.
Click the link in our bio to watch.
Ujima is honored to be a sponsor and partner of “Screaming in Silence: Unveiling a Model Law to Address the Epidemic of Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls” taking place on May 18 in Washington, DC.
Hosted by the M.O.C.H.A. (Mental Outcomes and Comorbidities in Women’s Health and Advocacy) Lab and researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, this important convening is being presented in partnership with Ujima, DC Justice Lab, The Brittany Clardy Foundation, the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, and Tiffany Garner, a Children and Health Policy Advocate.
This gathering will introduce a model law to establish a state office dedicated to addressing the epidemic of missing and murdered Black women and girls.
We’re also proud that Ujima’s own Gretta Gardner, Chief Legal Officer, will be participating in this important discussion.
Too often, the realities facing missing and murdered Black women and girls are underreported, overlooked, and excluded from broader conversations around safety and justice. Events like this help deepen awareness, strengthen advocacy, and move conversations toward meaningful change.
This event is sponsored by the Bloomberg American Health Initiative.
📍 Hopkins Bloomberg Center, Washington, DC
📅 Monday, May 18, 2026
🕙 10 AM – 4 PM
Register through the link in bio.
“Caught Between Two Fires”: A Conversation on the Uncomfortable Reality of Criminalized Survivorship
On May 13, we’re coming together for an important conversation on criminalized survivorship and the difficult realities many Black survivors face while navigating domestic violence, legal systems, and child welfare systems.
Too often, survivors are not only harmed by violence—but also punished by the systems meant to protect them.
This conversation will explore the intersections of survivorship, criminalization, advocacy, and accountability while challenging us to think more deeply about how we support Black survivors with care, dignity, and nuance.
This is a space for advocates, practitioners, community members, and anyone committed to building more informed and compassionate responses for survivors.
May 13, 2026
Register through the link in our bio.
Let’s continue building community, knowledge, and care—together.
Today, we honor the women who hold families together, pour love into communities, and carry generations forward with strength, care, and resilience.
We also recognize the villages that help raise us all: grandmothers, aunties, chosen family, mentors, caregivers, neighbors, and community members whose love creates safety, support, and belonging.
To the Black mothers and the villages beside them: we see you, we thank you, and we celebrate you today and every day. Happy Mother’s Day everyone!
May is going to be a great month at Ujima!
We’re holding space for conversation, creativity, and community—while continuing to center the realities and resilience of Black survivors.
This month’s programming brings together advocates, practitioners, and community members to engage deeply with the work:
May 7 — The Cookout: Poetry in Motion
A writing workshop centering healing, survivorship, and the role of culture and community in advocacy. Led by Lachetta Johnson, this space invites reflection and creative expression. Register here: https://bit.ly/4sioV2I
May 13 — “Caught Between Two Fires”: A Conversation on the Uncomfortable Reality of Criminalized Survivorship
A critical conversation on criminalized survivorship—exploring how domestic violence intersects with legal systems and child welfare, and how we can better support those navigating it. Register here: https://bit.ly/4sioV2I
May 28 — Supporting Black Survivors in Rural Communities
A capacity-building session focused on the unique challenges and strengths within rural communities, with strategies for culturally specific safety planning.
Register via the link in our bio.
Each of these spaces is designed not just to inform—but to deepen our practice, challenge our thinking, and strengthen how we show up for survivors.
If you’re in this work, adjacent to it, or looking to better understand it—we invite you to join us.
Let’s continue building community, knowledge, and care—together.
#Ujima #BlackWomen #Advocacy #DomesticViolenceAwareness #CommunityCare
We had an amazing time with our #SpartanFamily at Norfolk State University for Denim & Donuts during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. So inspired by the students, faculty, and staff we met and honored by all the invitations to come back. Thank you for having us!
The headlines may be driving this conversation, but this crisis is not new.
In this video, Gretta Gardner shares why this moment calls for collective action and why we hope you’ll join us for Beyond the Headlines: The Crisis Facing Black Women.
Too much is at stake to look away.
Monday, April 27th 6pm ET
Register at the link in bio.
On April 21, Ujima HBCU visited Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana.
We joined “Survivors Voices: Stories of Strength,” a Sexual Assault Awareness Month program centering survivors, community, and accountability.
During the visit, LeTesha Davis Pyke met with Project Director Andranell Williams to discuss grant progress, challenges, and next steps.
Grateful to be in community and continue the work.
"Call it what it is: Black femicide.”
This powerful piece from EBONY names what we are witnessing in real time—the targeted and disproportionate killing of Black women—and calls for it to be recognized as the crisis it is.
Featuring insights from Ujima’s CEO, Karma Cottman. Thank you @genevasthomas for naming this with clarity and care.
🔗 Read more at the link in bio
In the wake of these recent tragedies, this interview featuring Ujima’s CEO Karma Cottman speaks to the ongoing and urgent realities of domestic violence impacting Black women, children, and families as a whole.
It underscores the need to recognize patterns of harm early and to invest in the support systems that can help prevent violence before it escalates. This is not isolated. It is a pattern and it demands collective awareness and action.
Tap the link in our bio to watch the full interview and learn more about how we can show up, intervene, and protect our communities.
Happening tomorrow.
Consent doesn’t stop when we log on. It moves through our group chats, our DMs, our posts—and the ways we engage with each other every day.
Join Ujima for a conversation on what it means to practice consent across digital and in-person spaces, and how we can show up with more awareness, clarity, and care.
We’ll talk power, boundaries, and what it takes to navigate online harm in real time.
Be in the room.
🔗 Register at the link in our bio
🗓️ Tomorrow | 4–5:30 PM ET
