The executive director of Berkshire County’s primary domestic violence and sexual assault crisis center is stepping down. Janis Broderick has led the Elizabeth Freeman Center since 2008, and her relationship with the nonprofit dates back to the 1980s. With offices in Pittsfield, North Adams, and Great Barrington, the center offers 24/7 support for community members through a free hotline, emergency shelter, counselling services, and more. Broderick tells WAMC that as she ages, it’s time for the all-consuming work of running the center to pass to a new leader.
BRODERICK: Our organization is strong. We've been growing over the years, we're financially secure, we have fabulous staff and fabulous board and volunteers. So that's all great. I think the pressing issue down the line is, our facilities in Pittsfield, we've outgrown them, and we'll need to do something about that. But we have a group of board members and volunteers who are working on that as well. And so the new leader will have support in that effort.
WAMC: What do you see as the greatest accomplishments of your leadership leading the Elizabeth Freeman Center?
Let me just say, it always takes a team to do this work. I think when I came on, the organization was small and struggling. Good people came with me, and we had, again, really dedicated staff, people who are very passionate about the mission. And we stabilized the organization and we grew the organization, and I think we expanded our reach throughout the community and our reputation and trust.
Any regrets looking back over your time? Projects left unfulfilled or missions that you think you could have done more work on?
You can always do more work. [laughs] I don't have any regrets, really. Our needs and our visions are always greater than our resources. In the past three years, we've seen a real explosion in that need. Folks have stepped up to meet it, but we've had to in some ways cut back on our systemic work, and that might be a regret, but it was an unavoidable- It's an unavoidable need of the organization. I love working here. I mean, I love doing this job, I love working here, these issues are my passion, and I always feel very lucky and honored to be doing it with the folks at Elizabeth Freeman and all the great people in Berkshire County. It's been pretty incredible how the community embraces it and how the community works together.
How have you seen the mission of the center change over your time leading it?
So, I think what we've done over the years is we've really fleshed out our mission, vision, and values, and recognized the intersection of oppressions and our responsibility to address that. We are working much more closely with different community activist groups. We've developed special access projects for immigrants, LGBTQ persons, persons with disabilities, children, populations that are more vulnerable to violence, suffer higher rates of violence, and experience real different challenges to getting help. So, I think we've really grown in that respect. The other way that we've grown a lot is also recognizing that you can't just counsel your way out of trauma and out of a bad situation. We've been putting a lot of resources into doing economic and housing work, both to deal with the immediate crisis and looking forward to helping survivors recover and grow and achieve financial and housing stability.
Give us a sense of the timeline- From this juncture, when do you think your successor will be named and when is that transition going to take place?
Well, we'll start advertising probably in April. We're going through a process now of discussions, interviews, and focus groups. We do have a consultant helping the board in this process. We're looking forward probably to late summer, early fall, and then I would obviously stay on and help transition.
