Unsilenced Activism Network
Unsilenced is a nonprofit organization dedicated to stopping institutional child abuse by empowering self-advocates to promote lasting social change. The Unsilenced Activism Network was built as a community-powered extension of the organization to help further the impact we can attain by allowing the community to assist in the organization's efforts.
We bring together determined institutional child abuse activists dedicated to helping the Unsilenced team in the collective fight against abusive programs within the Troubled Teen Industry (TTI).
Together, we raise awareness, advocate for reform, facilitate legal advocacy, and investigate programs to create the lasting social change needed to keep the youth of America safer.
Be The Change You Want To See
The Unsilenced Activism Network is made up of 6 collections of spaces that are separated by the types of work carried out in each of them:
Advocacy: This collection is for survivors with lived experience and allies. This is where our Project SPEAK (Survivor Prevention through Education, Awareness, and Knowledge) is housed, which is our attempt to Educate communities & change mindsets around the institutionalization of youth. This is also where our Survivor Empowerment Initiative is housed, which provides Independence Packs for survivors battling homelessness and our online support groups for the community. Types of work to expect in this collective:
Public speaking within your community
Researching community-based alternatives
Speaking with parents struggling with the decision to send kids away
Networking to find partners to promote awareness and give presentations
Receiving and delivering Independence Packs to survivors battling homelessness
Communications: The Communications Collective is responsible for all social media communications on all platforms (Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook). Our social accounts are where we force transparency through education and call out programs by facilitating bad publicity. Types of work to expect in this collective:
Writing copy for socials (IG, TikTok, Facebook)
Graphic design work in Canva (social posts, fliers, events, branding, merchandise etc.)
Sharing social posts to spread awareness
Content Creator Coalition from all social platforms that have TTI-focused content and want to boost the audience for specific CTA's
Fundraising: This collective helps Unsilenced with fundraising efforts to support the organization. Types of work to expect in this collective:
Brainstorming new events for Unsilenced + Community
Networking to reach new potential donors (corporate, foundations, and individuals)
Peer to Peer fundraising efforts
Investigations: The Investigations Research collective is responsible for conducting investigations into facilities (both open and closed) and creating reports about the Troubled Teen Industry. They create Experience Surveys to illustrate alleged past abuse and the effects of abuse seen at the programs and facilities. These reports allow us to assess potential abuse patterns, collect employee names or incidents, and better understand facility environments to help direct investigations. Types of work to expect in this collection:
Online research and investigations into individual programs and their staff
Writing record requests and FOIA requests
Compiling data from record requests to create reports
Tracking license changes of programs
Creating and analyzing data from our Experiences Surveys we do for programs facing potential litigation.
IT: The IT collective helps with adding to the archive database. Types of work to expect in this collective:
Online research and searches for program information, links, lawsuits, etc. to include in the archive
Website maintenance (using WordPress)
Posting of blog posts
Maintaining the Program Archive
