Oregon nonprofit provides resources for domestic abuse victims to gain financial independence

PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon-based nonprofit is providing resources to financially empower victims of domestic abuse. 

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence says between 94-99% of domestic violence survivors have also experienced economic abuse, which involves an abuser maintaining control over financial resources or preventing a victim or survivor from gaining financial independence as a means of control. 

Stacy Sawin and Asha Xu founded the nonprofit FinAbility in October 2020 to help victims and survivors escape the physical, mental and financial trauma inflicted by abusers. 

Sawin is survivor of stalking and Xu was in a violent relationship in her early 20s. Both of them know what it's like to fear for their lives. 

“It was honestly a very scary situation,” said Xu.

RELATED: 'It's two pandemics': Domestic violence is up during the pandemic but many survivors are unable to leave

Over the past several months, Sawin and Xu interviewed hundreds of people who've experienced domestic abuse to advocate for them and learn more about what they went through. 

Sawin explained that a large number of domestic abusers do things like limiting a victim's access to cash, credit lines and physical assets. 

“Without access to cash or credit lines, many survivors are facing an impossible choice between being houseless or living with their harm doer at high risk," said Sawin.

FinAbility's website allows survivors of domestic abuse to start with a financial assessment. Then they’re directed to local resources like credit unions or banks.

RELATED: During pandemic, communities asked to be watchful for signs of child abuse, neglect

“One of the biggest barriers for survivors isn’t the fact that there aren’t financial products available to them," said Sawin. "It’s that they can’t access the safety information to determine what might best suit them.”

In other words, it's not that survivors can’t apply for credit cards or open accounts. But if they do, their abuser could be tipped off through unsolicited mail from the bank. FinAbility would prevent that. 

"What we do is call up the credit union or financial institution, we talk to them to make sure that we have a clear understanding of what that process looks like," said Xu.

By 2022, FinAbility aims to help over a half million survivors access financial resources needed to permanently leave abuse, turning trauma into a shared mission to help survivors live their best and most fulfilling life.