A WINDOW BETWEEN WORLDS
Art Transforming Trauma
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
According to the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, up to 70% of people will be impacted by trauma in their lifetime, and up to 43% experience trauma by the age of 18. Trauma is one of the biggest threats to the brain and well-being of children and adults, as well as the health and safety of the greater community. As more is learned about trauma and its long-term health impacts, the need for trauma-informed programs to promote healing in a safe environment is increasingly recognized. As a result, AWBW's accessible and transformative healing arts program is even more sought after.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Windows Program
By creating art in Windows workshops, participants are provided a safe environment to express themselves and tell their stories, build resilience, identify and name emotions, self-regulate, gain a stronger sense of self-worth and much more.
AWBW trains staff at partnering human service providers to facilitate these trauma-informed hands-on workshops. We support Windows Facilitators in a variety of ways, including access to over 600 workshops in our ever-evolving curriculum and ongoing consultations.
Facilitators share back successes, challenges and innovations in relation to the workshops they hold. This feedback contributes to the greater expertise of AWBW’s community of partner agencies and facilitators across the country.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Chamber of Commerce 2011
Chamber of Commerce 2013
Chamber of Commerce 2014
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of organizational partners
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Children and youth, Family relationships, Social and economic status
Related Program
Windows Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
AWBW partners with human service organizations throughout the country to deliver our healing arts curriculum to their communities.
Number of participants engaged in programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Windows Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
The number of adults and children who participated in at least one AWBW workshop in the prior year.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
AWBW follows a trauma-informed approach, acknowledging that trauma is prevalent and the impacts are far reaching. Our goal is to provide a resource & the opportunity to create art in a safe environment that can empower individuals and communities throughout the healing process. Creating art, particularly in community, can open windows of safety, self-expression and connection that those who have been affected by violence and trauma may not experience through other processes or in other settings. As art therapy is often not accessible or affordable in many places, we are a resource for human service agencies to provide art as a healing tool in a safe and productive way. Creating art is a great first step in the healing process. It helps participants safely open up about their experiences and begin to envision the possibilities for their futures. Participants often share they feel empowered to take concrete steps forward in their lives as a result of the art workshops.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
In order to provide workshops that are accessible, impactful and relevant to all participants, AWBW has cultivated a community of practice by partnering with human service agencies across the country. Staff already working at these organizations are trained by AWBW and receive ongoing support as they facilitate our arts curriculum. They also share successes, challenges and innovations back to AWBW, which are then shared with the rest of the network to strengthen our collective expertise. Our training and support includes the following areas:
1)Training opportunities: Increase number of training opportunities to include both two-day in-person, as well as virtual training options. We also provide enrichment trainings on special topics for ongoing facilitators.
2) Increase the number of training scholarships available to smaller, lower budget human service organizations.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
AWBW is a leading national organization offering comprehensive training and ongoing support to over 350 domestic violence (DV) and trauma service agencies implementing healing art programs for 76,000 child and adult survivors. AWBW occupies a unique niche in the compendium of services. Utilizing trauma-informed arts workshops, AWBW supplies a proven curriculum developed over 30 years of experience that improves service delivery, intensifies clinical counseling and often assists our partner agencies in serving their hardest to reach clients. By sharing innovations and best approaches to addressing trauma through the art process with these partner agencies, we are able to maximize the talents and experience of all, deepening and expanding our collective expertise.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since our founding in 1991 we have grown from partnering with one domestic violence shelter serving women, to now partnering over 350 human service agencies with a network of 900+ facilitators active in our program, to reach 76,000 adults and children ever year. We began our work with women and their children who were impacted by domestic violence. As the demand for our program has continued to grow, we now partner with agencies reaching survivors overcoming a variety of traumatic experiences including domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, substance abuse, foster youth, at-risk youth in schools, gang-impacted youth, incarcerated adults and youth, the homeless, survivors of sex trafficking, and many others.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
A WINDOW BETWEEN WORLDS
Board of directorsas of 01/19/2024
Shelley MacKay
Liberty Hill Foundation
Term: 2023 - 2025
Stacia Kato
Capital Group
Sunny Cho
City of Los Angeles
Yvonne Hsieh
Bruin Lake, Inc.
Richard Crowe
Asian Americans Advancing Justice
La Shonda Coleman, LCSW
Pepperdine University
LaVette Eaddy
Project Jumpstart
Evie Tuft
McKinsey Consulting
Zachery Scott
AWBW
Esperanza Evans
Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/15/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.