Beyond Crisis Response: It’s Time to Build a Movement That Matches the Magnitude of Gender-Based Violence
Co-authored by Lynn Rosenthal and Rosie Hidalgo (BWJP MOSAIC Initiative) and Kandice Louis Wilson (Centre for Public Impact) Every day,…
Beyond Crisis Response: It’s Time to Build a Movement That Matches the Magnitude of Gender-Based Violence
Co-authored by Lynn Rosenthal and Rosie Hidalgo (BWJP MOSAIC Initiative) and Kandice Louis Wilson (Centre for Public Impact)
Every day, the headlines tell the same devastating story. Domestic violence. Sexual assault. Human trafficking. Technology-enabled abuse targeting women and girls. The numbers should shock us into action: 45% of women in the United States have experienced contact sexual violence in their lifetimes. 34% have experienced physical assault, contact sexual violence, or stalking by an intimate partner.
This is not just a criminal justice issue or a social service concern. This is a public health epidemic impacting individuals, families, communities, and society at large. It has far reaching implications across many different systems, including healthcare, housing, economic security, education, law enforcement, and legal systems. Yet for too long, our responses have been fragmented, siloed, and designed to treat symptoms rather than root causes. Intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and additional forms of gender-based violence are not inevitable; it's a choice made by those who perpetrate harm, and it's a choice by our systems and communities that too often fail to support survivors and prevent this violence from happening in the first place.
The time for incremental change has passed. What we need now is a fundamental shift: a whole-of-society approach that recognizes this truth: ending gender-based violence requires all of us, working together, across every sector and at every level of community life.
In October 2025, we witnessed what becomes possible when people across different sectors come together with honesty, urgency, and shared purpose. In Chicago, the Battered Women's Justice Project (BWJP) and the Centre for Public Impact (CPI) convened survivor leaders, advocates, culturally specific organizations, Tribal partners, researchers, funders, government officials, and practitioners, all united in the urgent call to end intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and every form of gender-based violence.
The timing was no accident. Federal funding faces uncertainty. AI-generated abuse and technology-facilitated violence are escalating faster than available protections. Frontline workers are burning out amidst chronic underfunding. Many survivors, particularly those in immigrant, Black, Indigenous, Latina, API, and LGBTQ+ communities, still cannot safely access the systems that should be available to help them.
Yet instead of despair, we were reminded of the value of collective commitment and vision. As our report "Beyond Silos: Harnessing Collaboration to End Gender-Based Violence" captures, survivor leaders didn't just participate, they reshaped the entire direction of our conversations in real time. Culturally specific organizations reminded us that community members hold the solutions.
The Summit in Chicago became our laboratory for what coordinated, survivor-centered action can achieve. Chicago’s Citywide Strategic Plan to Address Gender-Based Violence and Human Trafficking proves that transformation is possible when city government and civil society share genuine commitment to change.
The MOSAIC Framework: Your Roadmap to Coordinated Action
The MOSAIC Initiative was inspired by the US National Plan to end Gender-based Violence: Strategies for Action and was built as a flexible, scalable framework that meets communities where they are and empowers them to chart their own course toward ending violence.
MOSAIC advances a whole-of-society approach rooted in seven interconnected keystones: prevention that starts early and continues across generations; survivor health and well-being that prioritizes healing alongside safety; housing and economic security that addresses root causes of vulnerability; legal and alternative justice responses that center survivors' agency and choice; online safety that protects against AI-enabled abuse; emergency preparedness that ensures survivors aren't left behind in crises; and research and data that drives learning, not just compliance.
What makes MOSAIC different? It's co-designed with survivors, culturally specific organizations, practitioners, researchers, and government partners. It’s a comprehensive approach centering public health and safety across the lifespan, grounded in the wisdom of communities and the lived experiences and leadership of survivors.
This isn't about adding more programs. It's about fundamentally reimagining how we work. Prevention becomes everyone's business. As Tony Porter from A CALL TO MEN told us, "We believe in Black love and Black joy. And you don't have to be Black to get involved." Schools partner with gamers and influencers to promote healthy masculinity. Faith communities create spaces for boys and men to understand how fostering healthy relationships supports everyone's well-being, including their own.
Culturally specific, community-based organizations should be funded and centered as the experts they are. As Carla Gutiérrez from Mujeres Latinas en Acción reminded us, "We can't heal in spaces where we feel invisible." These organizations offer pathways to healing, safety, and well-being that mainstream systems cannot replicate.
Survivors must be compensated for their expertise and given genuine decision-making power. Survivor leader Christina Love shared with us that "Healing is not hard, it's soft. You will know healing by the way it feels." Survivor leadership and the complex realities of those with lived experience must shape every policy, every program, and every community response.
The Urgency of This Historical Moment
Most recently, MOSAIC joined forces with BWJP’s Center on Global Rights for Women, UN Women, and the University of Miami Law School Human Rights Clinic to host an event during the annual convening of the UN Commission on the Status of Women titled "Justice Beyond the Courtroom: A Whole-of-Society Approach to Ending Gender-based Violence." A multinational group of speakers emphasized that achieving justice for women and girls requires moving beyond an over-reliance on traditional legal systems and broadening justice to include cross-sectoral approaches and community-based solutions. Advancing this common vision requires increased movement collaboration at the local, national, and global levels!
This movement needs you, exactly as you are, wherever you are, in whatever role you hold, and in whichever sector you work. Below are some action steps you can take:
- Visit the MOSAIC portal at thelearningcommunitytoendviolence.org/mosaic to access tools, training, and best practices that will help you understand how your sector connects to comprehensive GBV prevention and response. Use MOSAIC's online portal and access resources and support to map your local landscape, identify cross-sector partnership opportunities, and learn about integrating efforts across the seven keystones that guide coordinated action.
- Remember that everyone has a role to play in the whole-of-society approach to ending gender-based violence. Whether you work in government, direct services, policy advocacy, in faith-based organizations, health care, housing, economic justice, technology, research, the corporate sector, or philanthropy, among others, you can make a difference. Review the report to learn more about key recommendations, goals, and next steps.
- Join us for a virtual convening on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, to discuss key recommendations from the MOSAIC report and next steps in harnessing collaboration to end gender-based violence.
The MOSAIC summit demonstrated what becomes possible when we come together with honesty, courage, and care. Participants centered shared values of safety, healing, dignity, and justice and brought collective commitment to building systems and communities that reflect these principles.
In remembering Chicago, we return to the words that captured the spirit of our gathering, spoken by Karla Altmayer: "Remember your purpose: ending GBV always, and don't be afraid to take up space."
That is precisely what this moment demands: that we take up space, advance social transformation, and hold fast to the belief that safety, healing, and the right to live free from violence are not aspirations but achievable realities when we build the future together.
About the Authors
Lynn Rosenthal is Co-Director of the MOSAIC Initiative at BWJP, former White House Advisor on Violence Against Women, and former chair of the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the U.S. Military.
Rosie Hidalgo is Co-Director of the MOSAIC Initiative at BWJP, former Director of the Office on Violence Against Women at the U.S. Department of Justice, and former White House Senior Advisor on Gender-Based Violence where she helped lead the development of the first U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.
Kandice Louis Wilson is Interim Senior Director at the Centre for Public Impact providing research and policy guidance to improve safe access to services nationwide.
Read the full report: "Beyond Silos: Harnessing Collaboration to End Gender-Based Violence" and visit BWJP at bwjp.org and CPI at centreforpublicimpact.org