A letter from our founder:
For most of my life, I believed a story that wasn't mine.
I was criminalized as a teenager and charged as an adult, the state's response to the abuse I survived. And the person who abused me spent years telling me what that meant for my life: that my record had already decided who I could be, that college wasn't worth pursuing, that his violence was as good as it was going to get for me. And most of all, that dignity, safety and belonging simply weren't in the cards for me in this lifetime.
The system backed him up. Every job opportunity, every background check, every rejected housing application, every door that closed confirmed it, over and over. It always came back to my record and the barriers it created.
Eventually I began to believe the story he and the system built together, the same story that is actively shaping countless survivors' lives in this country right now.
This year, I led one of the largest survivor-led legislative campaigns Pennsylvania has ever seen.
I co-wrote a floor amendment to SB 45 that was adopted into law.
I sat in rooms with senators as their advisor, not as someone with a record to explain.
Needless to say, the old story is dead.
I got here through community, especially community with other survivors who've been violated by the same systems we are told will protect us. Being in those rooms, in those healing spaces, is what actually rewrote what I believed about myself. Not just telling the story differently. But actually living and being witnessed in a different one.
What gets said publicly about criminalized survivors isn't determined by us. It's decided by prosecutors, journalists, researchers, legislators, anyone but the survivor. Those stories go on to shape culture, laws, and how fellow survivors make sense of their experiences.
We learned many things during our policy campaign this spring, and the devastating impact of our voices not being included in the narrative was the biggest lesson.
It is long overdue that we reclaim the power of our stories.
This cohort compensates criminalized survivors to do just that. Over several months, a small cohort will build community and somatic healing practices together. Then we will explore political education, build policy advocacy skills and storytelling, shaping the public narrative we want to carry forward for years to come.
The cohort will determine its own public output, likely a community event or short film, something that puts this narrative directly in front of the people who need to hear it.
Our campaign against SB 45 showed what happens when survivors are in the room instead of just talked about. Things change and new precedents are set. This cohort is how we build that power into something enduring.
Why this matters:
Survivors' stories are usually told by other people. This cohort compensates criminalized survivors to shape their own.
At The Center just ran one of the largest survivor-led legislative interventions in PA history, entirely on an all-volunteer budget. We know how powerful our work is, we just need the resources to grow it.
Our policy work is moving forward, and we need lived experience leading every step of the way.
Every gift counts and means the world to us, as a grassroots survivor-led organization. All donations are tax-deductible and 100% of donations go directly to survivors. If you can't give right now, sharing this page matters just as much.
Thank you for being on this journey with us, and for investing in a future where all survivors are cared for, not criminalized.
In Solidarity,
Samara Sevush (she/they)
Founder & Director, At The Center
At The Center was born from the strength, wisdom & leadership of those who have firsthand experience of the intersections of interpersonal & carceral violence. With your support, we can continue creating spaces for criminalized survivors & sex workers to heal, lead & build new ways of justice and care that center our shared humanity.
We invite you to join us in this work, to support a vision of justice rooted in connection, care & mutual respect.