Making an IMPACT in Turbulent Times

Economic stress is all around us, from the federal government shutdown to higher grocery and health care costs. We have been incredibly grateful at IMPACT for the generosity of our donors as they are helping us continue our commitment to not turning anyone away for...

National Sexual Assault Conference 2025

Empowerment Self-Defense leaders from the east coast and west coast, from urban and rural areas, from cities and sovereign tribal land came together to connect, collaborate, and strategize. Empowerment Self-defense Alliance table with Shanda Poitra (Turtle Mountain...

Governor Healey, Stop Punishing Survivors!

We at IMPACT Boston were horrified to hear Governor Healey’s announcement that her administration is planning to build a new women’s prison complex estimated at $360 million. Shortly after that announcement, we learned that Massachusetts is cutting $7 million from...

Embracing Discomfort As a Source of Power 

Earlier this month, I attended the Massachusetts Women of Color Network’s annual “Superhero Effect” conference in Quincy, MA. This was one of many firsts for me since joining the IMPACT Boston team at the end of May, and it was a very memorable experience. Women (cis-...

Martial Arts Culture

When teaching classes for IMPACT, we often encourage students to decide for themselves whether they want to talk about what they learned to people in their lives. Some of our students might encounter friends or relatives who disparage the skills they have acquired...

Justin Baldoni and The Men Who Pretend to Care About Us

Justin Baldoni is just the latest man in the public arena to turn out to be a huge disappointment, but for me, this one stung. You would think that after Louis CK and Aziz Ansari I would have known better than to admire a male celebrity who was preaching feminism. But...

Note from the ED: Adaptive Sports Abuse Prevention

In 2017, at the height of the #MeToo movement, it was near impossible to look at the news without seeing a story about sexual abuse in sports. Whether it was an image of Larry Nassar in a prison jumpsuit or brave Olympic gymnast survivors finally being believed and...

On Working with Young Men

Teaching IMPACT skills to a group of young men who don’t really know what they are getting themselves into can feel like a wobbly tight rope walk. Young men come into our classes being told messages that haven’t been serving their safety for most of their lives and we...

Why I Launched #51donorsin51days

51 Donors in 51 Days Some birthdays are supposed to be milestones: 18, 21, 30, 50, 80, 100. Usually, it’s the ones that come with new legal rights or the ones you can divide by 10. I’ve been lucky to celebrate a lot of these, but there are times when other milestones...