Where are They Now?

This series is dedicated to highlighting the inspiring stories of how our grantee partners are making a difference after their grants have been awarded. Join us in celebrating the achievements of these grantee partners and discover how, together, we are creating a ripple effect of positive change across Seattle. Stay tuned for more content!

Project Be Free provides crisis response to people affected by domestic violence. The organization offers an innovative approach with wraparound mental health services and support for the entire family—survivors and abusers. Impact 100 has been with Project Be Free almost since day one. The organization won a $28,500 grant in 2022, $30,000 in 2023, and finally, $100,000 in 2024. According to Co-founder and Executive Director Katya Wojcik, There was something Impact 100 saw in us. It’s gratifying to be seen.

Forging a Partnership for Domestic Violence Response

Project Be Free was born out of an unlikely friendship. Katya Wojcik and Joel Thomas met in 2017 when she was a mental health therapist at a nonprofit and he was a police officer. Both were frustrated. Katya, herself a survivor of domestic violence, was discouraged by the complexity of domestic violence and the difficulties of reaching people who were often homeless or living with abusers. Joel was frustrated that police responding to domestic violence calls could make arrests but couldn’t offer any other form of help.

Over the course of several years, Katya and Joel coalesced around a potential solution: What if licensed mental health providers could go on the scene with officers responding to domestic violence calls? This idea became the foundation of Project Be Free.

The organization’s big break came in 2022 when the City of Renton forged a partnership with Project Be Free to pilot their co-response model. Around the same time, Impact 100 awarded the nascent organization a grant based on the strength of its concept. It was the first grant application I’d ever written; I put it together the week before it was due, recounted Katya. It’s been quite the journey.

After a year of therapists and police working together, Project Be Free received a $135,000 grant from the Association of Washington Cities to solidify this alternative policing model in Renton. Partnerships in Newcastle, Kent, and Auburn followed as the organization expanded its geographic reach. The Association of Washington Cities recently renewed their grant to fund the organization’s work in Kent and Renton.

A Problem That Affects Everyone

Katya stresses the scope, scale, and complexity of domestic violence. It is rampant and affects everyone. It’s in the biggest, nicest houses and the tents of homeless encampments. The culprit is often intergenerational unhealthiness and trauma, said Katya. As of July, Project Be Free had received 41 calls about an abusive parent in the household and 57 calls where youth were the perpetrators. Sometimes we’re dealing with verbal or emotional abuse. In these situations, the tension is mounting.

Project Be Free’s team mirrors this diversity of need. The team serves all demographics. They speak 19 languages—language can often be a significant barrier to people getting services—and their board and staff are people of color. The organization’s first responders are all mental health providers and trained domestic violence advocates.

People are referred to Project Be Free’s Advocacy Program by co-responder police officers, prosecutors’ offices, and the King County Domestic Violence Helpline, as well as other nonprofit organizations throughout the county. The organization offers a range of services including counseling, parent and survivor groups, youth mentorship, resource navigation, language translation, connections to housing, and help navigating the legal system. The organization also offers tailored coaching for youth ages 11-21. Young people who are struggling with domestic violence need assistance to navigate life and get on a healthy path. Counselors meet youth at homes, in schools, or elsewhere in the community.

The Money Lets Us Sleep at Night

Over the past three years, grants from Impact 100 have provided foundational funding for Project Be Free. This includes support for operations, adding staff and contractors, providing space for leadership to write grants, and getting the youth mentorship and behavior health programs off the ground. Impact 100’s support has also provided a track record and credibility for other funders.

The 2024 grant will allow Project Be Free to continue their vision of growth, looking for new partnerships in new cities. The organization is on track to serve 1200 families by the end of the year. The organization can also pay its staff enough to live in an increasingly expensive region. According to Consumer Reports, a living wage in Seattle is $87,146.08 and in Tacoma $68,357.87.

Adequately compensating staff is something Katya feels passionate about; she consistently advocates for her staff’s mental health and well-being. Our team does really hard work, Katya shared. I shouldn’t ever ask a staff member to live in poverty or tell them ‘you’re not getting paid’ because a partner was late with funding. Impact 100’s funding lets us sleep at night.

Exploring New Partnerships, Increasing Stability

Katya and her team are excited for the coming year. Project Be Free is exploring partnerships with King County to deepen its work with youth and children, who often don’t get support or services in domestic violence situations. The organization is staffing up to do this work; they hope to add three staff roles. Katya looks forward to stability, growth, and continuing to support families in the four cities where they work. They’re also running a fundraising gala this year in Renton in October.

Even as Project Be Free matures, the organization maintains its creative, unconventional approach. Katya shared the story of a pregnant woman who had been the victim of strangulation and was being supported by three staff members. The woman has a hard time answering her phone, so one of Katya’s team went to her house to talk her through options for support.

We needed to keep at it. Domestic violence is complicated. Breaking its cycle requires working with whole families and disrupting unhealthy traits and patterns. It requires organizations that are willing to say ‘yes’ rather than ‘no’ and work in out-of-the-box ways. That’s why people should support us, declared Katya.

"We needed to keep at it. Domestic violence is complicated. Breaking its cycle requires working with whole families and disrupting unhealthy traits and patterns. It requires organizations that are willing to say ‘yes’ rather than ‘no’ and work in out-of-the-box ways. That’s why people should support us."