Families who do not speak English or who come from different cultural backgrounds often do not feel represented as they navigate community resources. Sadly, a lack of representation is also a common barrier to safety and care, as abusers convince their partners that no one will understand them or accept them, thus they have nowhere to go. This powerful control tactic diminishes a victim’s confidence to reach out for help.
Now imagine if a victim reaches out for help and one of the first things they see is a poster that reads, “You are welcome here” in several languages, including their own. It is then their trust is increased and they feel empowered to take steps toward safety and healing.
From the moment you enter Rose Brooks Center’s doors, we want to make sure you feel valued and comfortable. Our new signs (pictured) also support one of our strategic plan’s objectives,
which is to “advance equity and inclusion in all aspects of policy, practice, communication, and environment.”
The new signs represent Kansas City as well as the individuals we serve in shelter and throughout each program. After pulling the historical data of those Rose Brooks Center serves, after English, the most common languages spoken among clients are Spanish, Arabic, Burmese, Somali, Swahili, Mandarin, Kinyarwanda, and ASL. We then looked at the most common languages in and throughout Kansas City, and overall it also included Vietnamese and French.