Leading with Purpose, Part 1: From Community Initiatives to County Partnerships

Written by Hayley Sayrs | Edited by Danielle Bissonnette

At Sayrs Consulting, we are driven by our unwavering commitment to making a tangible difference in the communities we serve, particularly in the lives of women and girls. The work we do not only addresses immediate project needs and demands but also fosters long-term resilience and growth.

From the launch of life-saving initiatives like Project Safe Haven, to our leadership in the LA County Women and Girls Initiative, our story is one of resilience, excellence, and relentless pursuit of equity. Learn more about how our founder, Hayley Sayrs, has been advocating for gender equity through work anchored in the belief that positive change starts at the community level.

Project Safe Haven: Creating a Safe Haven in a Crisis

Before founding Sayrs Consulting, I served as the Research Manager and Grant Writer at the Violence Intervention Program Mental Health Center, the largest provider of mental health and medical services for foster youth in Los Angeles County. In this role, I managed key initiatives supporting vulnerable populations, including being one of the site leads for Project Safe Haven, a critical effort launched in April 2020 to address the rising crisis of domestic violence and homelessness exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Project Safe Haven, part of the COVID-19 DV Hotel Program, involved the Los Angeles Mayor’s Fund, Mayor’s Office, and philanthropic donors to secure hotel rooms for domestic violence victims, allowing them to follow the County Health Order and stay safe from Coronavirus. As containment measures became more restrictive, domestic violence victims grew particularly vulnerable, with calls for help increasing even as overall law enforcement calls declined. Factors like children being home from school, financial insecurity, and limited mobility compounded the situation. With domestic violence shelter capacity full and 'shelter in place' orders limiting traditional exit options, Los Angeles County shelter organizations turned away 90 victims per week due to a lack of beds.

The project was a collaborative effort among domestic violence service providers, including Peace Over Violence, and Su Casa, supported by LA County, and generous donations by the Rihanna-founded Clara Lionel Foundation , and Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square. Their private support gave the project the added ability to provide shelter, food, and comprehensive services to over 2,900 survivors and their families fleeing violence, offering essential, evidence-based, and culturally relevant support.

Project Safe Haven provided shelter, food, and comprehensive services to over 2,900 survivors and their families in Los Angeles County during the first year of the pandemic.

As project lead for research and development, I directed both the internship program and volunteer management, providing the project with key data collection across all of our partner agencies. Our approach to various public health projects was influenced by rigorous surveying and data analysis, coupled with place-based frameworks such as asset-based community development (ABCD), to bring communities essential, evidence-based, and culturally relevant support. See our findings below from the first 10 months of the project.

These findings highlighted our niche within the public health sector and emphasized the importance of creating impactful interventions through collaboration and innovative thinking.

For example, in response to the discovery that 37% of participants were unemployed, we partnered with local employment centers to promote job opportunities and skills training. This project aimed to empower survivors towards sustainable independence. Our holistic approach not only addressed immediate needs but also facilitated long-term recovery and stability for those we served.

Our approach to various public health projects was influenced by rigorous surveying and data analysis to bring communities essential, evidence-based, and culturally relevant support.

Feedback from participants highlighted the program's significant impact, with many expressing gratitude for the security and stability it provided during a traumatic time. One participant specifically noted how the program offered crucial support when it was most needed. Our data revealed that 55.5% of participants were African American, 22.2% were Latina, and 73.3% accessed the shelter system for the first time, demonstrating the program's critical role during a crisis that exacerbated the prevalence of domestic violence and made victims more invisible to first responders.

As site lead for the entire project, our team coordinated thousands of donations across all partner agencies and worked directly with each site coordinator to understand what the unique needs were for their clients. Our qualitative and quantitative findings were utilized to secure additional resources including, a $250,000 grant to expand our Telehealth services from the Sierra Health Foundation, a $150,000 grant from the The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 for grocery gift cards to alleviate food insecurity, a new partnership with Sketchers who donated thousands of new shoes for clients of all ages, and a donation from Minerva Beauty for all the resources and materials for a textured hair clinic event in partnership with Beauty on the Streetz. Public partnerships were also essential for the project, including our collaboration with Public Library, which made it possible to provide participating families and their children with Amazon Fire Tablets. Their team also organized multilingual literature on how to navigate and access their digital collections. See some highlights from the project below.

At VIP, we had a motto: "How can I help you?" Whether it was securing additional funds to launch a new pilot program or getting volunteers to organize bags of change for clients using coin-based laundry, we were listening, documenting, and taking action. The pandemic also coincided with the implementation of a new and improved database management system at VIP, as clinicians worked to usher in new standards of care such as Telehealth for mental health, it enabled all of us to better serve our clients. The way departments within the organization came together during the crisis, taking on Project Safe Haven while keeping our existing programs operational, speaks to the overall rigor and pursuit of excellence that Dr. Astrid Heger continues to lead VIP with today.

Moving Forward from the Worst of the Pandemic Woes

As we navigated beyond the pandemic, it remained imperative to sustain and expand comprehensive services for those fleeing domestic violence in Los Angeles. Project Safe Haven exemplified the long-lasting impact of effective public-private partnerships and underscored my commitment to leveraging resources and identifying additional private partners for meaningful social change.

The pandemic taught me to seek solutions and remain focused on measurable outcomes despite challenges and limitations. Building on this foundation, I continued to work with community-based startups and transitioned to working with Los Angeles County as a consultant, specializing in public-private partnerships. Sayrs Consulting was established in 2021, and by the summer of 2022, we secured a contract with the Chief Executive Office (CEO) of Los Angeles County.

Read Part 2 here.

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