Shalom Task Force, Inc.

Mission Statement

The mission of Shalom Task Force, Inc. is to prevent domestic abuse and promote peaceful family relations in the metropolitan New York area, and more specifically a) to help access services for families who have suffered from domestic abuse; b) to provide other services as may be necessary, including without limitation, counseling, financial assistance, support services, and referral services; c) to provide educational programs about the problems of domestic abuse.

Shalom Task Force helps keep women safe everyday through our confidential domestic violence hotline for victims of abuse, free legal services, our extensive educational programs for young men and women, relationship education for couples, and training in domestic violence for community leaders, teachers, and mental health professionals.

Scope of Services

Shalom Task Force (STF) will provide telephone hotline services for victims of domestic violence through the confidential STF Domestic Abuse Hotline. The STF hotline is non-discriminatory and provides a compassionate, professional response to everyone who calls our telephone number. Trained volunteer advocates, who speak English, Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, Spanish, and Hungarian, keep the hotline open day and night, six days a week. Twenty-one of our trained volunteer advocates live in the Borough of Queens and answer calls from victims in one of the two STF Domestic Violence Hotline offices located in Queens, NY. The trained STF advocates will offer non-judgmental support, compassion, validation, and information as needed to ease the trauma experienced by the caller. Trusting in the confidentiality and anonymity of the call is vital for survivors concerned about disclosure and safety. The STF protocol and call-log guides the volunteer advocates to ask about the caller’s current safety concerns. Personal safety planning and privacy of information are both essential to the well-being of the victim. STF’s trained hotline advocates will answer calls, assess victim's general needs, provide crisis counseling, develop safety plans with victims, and refer clients for services, including counseling, legal services, shelter, financial assistance, social services, and police.

Shalom Task Force provides outreach to victims through advertisements in publications distributed in Queens and throughout New York City. STF also advertises the hotline on the STF website, shalomtaskforce.org, and by placing posters in various community institutions.