What is our big picture view of violence and self-defense?

IMPACT is based on an understanding of violence, particularly gender-based violence, as a widespread social problem perpetuated by imbalances of power and disrespect for others. We share an understanding that intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, age, national origin, disability affect how an individual may be targeted and respond to violence.

We believe that regardless of age, size, and physical abilities, people are powerful and capable of self-protection. We believe that IMPACT self-defense training is an essential part of a broad vision and comprehensive strategy to prevent abuse, respond effectively to violence, support healing, and create social change.


What kind of an organization are we?

We are a nimble organization. We are mission-driven with clear manageable goals. We are efficient, effective, and selective – meaning we minimize work that does not clearly push our mission forward or is not required for fiscal solvency. Our mission and programming are at the center of our work. Our organizational structure spreads out responsibility for the work required to keep our mission and programming going across three key groups: Board, Instructors, and Administration.


What human resources do we need to maintain our success and to grow?

The three major leadership structures (board, administration, and instructors) and the functions IMPACT Chicago needs to keep going are depicted in our organization chart (more on this in August!). An intrinsic part of our smooth functioning is that one or more people in leadership positions have a big picture view of the organization, understanding the important contributions each part makes and the interconnections among the leadership structures and functions and how they all combine to maintain our programs and mission.


Our Mission Statement

We are committed to ending violence and building a non-violent world in which all people can live safely and with dignity. By teaching self-defense, we provide women and girls with the tools they need to prevent, minimize, and stop violence. With that, IMPACT Chicago is committed to making its programs accessible to people of all economic, racial/ethnic, and social groups. IMPACT Chicago encourages the personal growth of people within the organization and supports their creative efforts to end violence and build a non-violent world.

Our key values are that both individuals and communities are responsible for safety and violence prevention. We believe that women and girls are powerful and have the right to control their own bodies and set boundaries. We also believe that men are and can be allies. We implement our mission by creating female-male teams led by female instructors. We work with diverse groups of people – across gender, race, class, sexuality, age, and physical abilities – and create classroom environments in which people learn individually and collectively. We serve women and girls (cis and trans). We do outreach in various communities, offer financial assistance to individuals, and offer workshops for organizations serving low-income groups.

Rape Victim Advocates and IMPACT Chicago

In an effort to better educate ourselves and help connect with Rape Victim Advocates (RVA), the IMPACT Chicago board participated in a workshop at the RVA headquarters downtown in March 2011. RVA has been around 30+ years, and sets the gold-standard for rape survivors, their families, and loved ones. They do support work, legal and medical help, counseling, and, perhaps most well-known, their emergency room advocacy.

Their ER advocates receive 56 hours of training to be a responder to survivors of sexual assault. Once trained, advocates are on call (on a rotating basis) for 24 hour periods, and are called/paged to respond to participating Chicago area hospitals when a rape survivor shows up in the emergency room. Needless to say, we are happy to be forming a connection with RVA.

Eva Ball was our instructor/facilitator for the two-hour period. She was fantastic – full of energy, helpful, and charismatic. We talked about systems of oppression and power differentials in our society, including how language for sexually active women. We also watched and discussed a video of images of women in popular media (music, music videos, film).

The final part of the training was reviewing RVA’s materials to see the shift to a “pro-consent” approach from an anti-rape approach. Board members and instructors will discuss how best to incorporate these ideas and materials into our classes and on our website.

The next step is for IMPACT to provide training for RVA. We are looking forward to continued collaborations.

Rob Babcock
IMPACT Chicago Board member and instructor

For more about IMPACT Chicago and its Board of Directors, visit http://www.impactchicago.org/about.html

For about the IMPACT Chicago mission, see IMPACT Chicago Director Martha Thompson’s blog “IMPACT Chicago: Committed to Ending Violence”

What do Class Assistants Do?

IMPACT class assistants are an additional resource for women in the Core Program. They participate in creating an emotionally and physically safe environment in some of the ways listed below:
• Make sure the space is safe, such as clean and secure mats.
• Follow the lead of the female instructor.
• Project a warm, supportive demeanor.
• Exhibit competency and 100% commitment in scenarios, drills, and other physical work.
• Listen in a nonjudgmental way.
• Observe women on the line and in drill groups and notify instructors if anything is unusually stressful for a class participant.
• Videotape each mugging so that instructors can track the progress of each woman and the participants can see the development of their own self-defense skills.
• Keep records of any injuries in the class.

Class assistant leadership for course tasks
The female instructor is the team leader, but the suited instructors and class assistants also take leadership for different aspects of the course. Class assistants take leadership in:
Make sure a box of tissues (the symbol for the importance of feelings) is available
Post direction signs
Nametags
Distribute, collect, and organize paperwork
Duct tape students with injuries
Make sure students' jewelry is removed
Write up injury records during class-if someone was injured and how
Video the scenarios
Set up TV/VCR for viewing
Set up and dismantle mats with the help of others
Wash mats first day of class and other times if needed
Duct tape mats if needed

Are you interested in becoming a class assistant? E-mail naomi@impactchicago.org to learn more!

Looking Ahead to New IMPACT Chicago Leadership

2010 was another exciting one for IMPACT Chicago. As we look toward the future, many changes are ahead, but this year we began to assure that these changes would be nothing but positive for the organization.

After 2012, IMPACT Chicago will be a different place, and we are planning for that eventuality. Martha Thompson, for many of us the heart and soul of the organization, will step down as Executive Director at the end of 2012. She will not be gone, by any means—those of you who’ve had the privilege of knowing Martha know that! She will continue with her first love, working as an instructor for IMPACT.

This means that IMPACT Chicago must begin to plan now the transition leading up to the day when Martha will no longer be Executive Director. In 2010, we started to restructure the Board and our work to bring on new people and new structures. A few of our long time Board members left us in 2010, to pursue other interests as they continue to help their communities: Liz Pfau, our long standing Treasurer, and Maureen Dunn, our Board Secretary. In those positions, Katie Skibbe has taken over the Treasurer’s position and Lisa Amoroso has become IMPACT Secretary. Amanda Crawford, Associate Director from September 2009-December 2010 also stepped down from the board. The Board thanks Amanda, Liz, and Maureen for helping the Board help IMPACT.

In June, we also constituted several standing committees: Graduate Relations, Publicity, and the Executive Council. Interim chairs are Martha Thompson for Publicity and Debborah Harp, board member, for Graduate Relations. As Chair of the Board, I work with Lisa and Katie as the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. We believe these changes will allow us to continue to improve IMPACT Chicago and bring in even more women.

New to 2011 will be the Task Force on the Executive Director Transition. We intend to plot out the path leading to the day when Martha will become “emerita” Executive Director. As a final word, we are always looking forward to volunteers to help us in our various endeavors. We look forward to hearing from you, and to your energy as we plan for the future.

Clara Orban, Chair, Board of Directors

IMPACT Chicago: Committed to Ending Violence

What is the IMPACT Chicago mission?
IMPACT Chicago is committed to ending violence and building a non-violent world in which all
people can live safely and with dignity. For more about the IMPACT mission, visit http://
www.impactchicago.org/about.html.

What is IMPACT?
IMPACT is a personal safety, assertiveness and self-defense training program. It is part of
a comprehensive effort to prevent sexual assault and other acts of interpersonal violence and
boundary violations. IMPACT is an international affiliation of independent chapters. Each
IMPACT chapter has its own organizational structure and programmatic focus. For more about
IMPACT International, go to www.impactselfdefense.org

What does self-defense have to do with violence prevention?
Our key values are that both individuals and communities are responsible for safety and violence
prevention. We believe that women and girls are powerful and have the right to control their own bodies and set boundaries. To prevent violence—whether against oneself or others—individuals must have confidence in their awareness, assessment, and verbal skills in order to set and maintain boundaries and to deescalate potentially explosive situations. IMPACT is based on the idea that confidence in one’s own body and physical tools is the foundation for all other self-defense tools.

Why are men involved in a women’s self-defense organization?
We believe that men are and can be allies. We implement our mission by creating female-male
teams led by female instructors. Our female and male instructors demonstrate the possibilities for women and men to work together to end violence.

Is IMPACT just for women and girls who are physically fit and have money?
We work with diverse groups of people--gender, race, class, sexuality, age, and physical ability
and create classroom environments in which people learn individually and collectively. We serve
women and girls (including transgendered people identifying as female) ages 14-70. We do
outreach in various communities, offer financial assistance to individuals, and offer workshops
for organizations serving low-income groups.

Why does IMPACT make it a priority to work with other organizations?
Although we are effective, no one organization can singlehandedly combat sexual assault and
domestic violence, therefore, we work collaboratively with other organizations that directly
address violence, its roots, or consequences. Our vision is that self-defense training is an integral
part of violence prevention and to be most effective must be offered in conjunction with other
support services.

What did IMPACT accomplish in 2010?
IMPACT Chicago served over 1500 people during 2010 through our program offerings
(Core Program, Core Skills, Advanced courses, and workshops) and through social media (e-
newsletter, Facebook, and Twitter). Through our programs, almost 700 participants learned a
range of self-defense skills and through social media another 900 participants had access to self-
defense information that increased their awareness of violence and self-defense strategies. With
over 23,000 visits to our website, IMPACT Chicago also provided people not affiliated with our
programs access to up-to-date self-defense information.

What are IMPACT Chicago goals for 2011?
For 2011, IMPACT Chicago will be mission-driven:
•Increase the number of women and girls in Chicago who have the tools to prevent, minimize, and stop violence.
• Increase the accessibility of our programs with a focus on increasing the numbers of African American women who participate in IMPACT self-defense training.
• Increase professional development and personal growth opportunities for staff, instructors, and volunteers.
• Make explicit a collective philosophy, standards, and system of support and accountability for internal interpersonal communication.

Martha Thompson, Director and Instructor
IMPACT Chicago