News and Blog

John originally joined Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence’s Board of Directors in 2005, took a four year hiatus, and returned in 2023 to help ensure that NDS is positioned financially to expand to meet the increased need for services in our community due to the impact of the pandemic.

When a Stanford pediatrics resident realized “there were things that weren’t taught in medical school” and reached out to Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence (NDS), the result was a series of presentations to residents at the nonprofit’s permanent shared housing about nutrition, healthy eating, reproductive health, managing the stress of raising children, and domestic violence awareness.

The Links Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation established in 1946, committed to enriching, sustaining, and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry. The San Jose Chapter of the Links Incorporated “Desserts for Charity” event has supported Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence since 1994.

In Memoriam: Bea Robinson Mendez, Founder | January 31, 1934 - January 13, 2023 Local Activist and Founder of Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence, Bea Robinson Mendez passed at the age of 88 on January 13, 2023.

This month (National Domestic Violence Awareness Month), Community Health Partnership, in collaboration with Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence, launched a training program for local community health centers and other community-based organizations to be able to identify and respond to intimate partner violence, commonly referred to as domestic violence.

On Oct 7, 2022, Next Door Solutions held the annual Light Up City Hall Wal, from Circle of the Palms Plaza in downtown San Jose to City Hall, where walkers and attendees were greeted with a resource fair. The evening included notable speakers, cultural performances, and food, and concluded with a candle-lighting ceremony and the lighting of the City Hall’s Tower and Rotunda in purple to honor lives lost from domestic violence.

Next Door Solutions (NDS) understands the lasting negative impact the oppression of women has on an individual, a family, or a community. Iranian women are being oppressed, criminalized, and murdered by the Islamic Regime in ways that are difficult even to imagine. Women have been kidnapped and murdered by the government police for singing in public, not properly wearing a hijab, and a myriad of other unjustified reasons. 

Cheryl Halloran has been an active member of Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence’s Board of Directors for three years. She is a major donor and Development Committee member who fundraises in order for Next Door Solutions (NDS) to continue meeting the growing needs of survivors.

Cake4Kids is an organization founded by volunteers who sought to bring their baking talents to those in need. Since 2010, over 37,000 cakes have been baked, donated, and most importantly, enjoyed! Cake4Kidshas been a supporter since 2014. Over the years Next Door Solutions has received over 270 cakes from Cake4Kids.

Next Door Solutions works with survivors who may be at extreme risk of violence, injury or death due to firearms. Research shows that more than two-thirds of mass shootings are domestic violence incidents or are perpetrated by individuals with a history of domestic violence.

Next Door Solutions stands in solidarity with survivors, reproductive healthcare providers and advocates in the reproductive justice movement. Every survivor and person deserves the right to bodily autonomy. Safe and equitable reproductive healthcare is essential to family and community health, safety, and wellbeing.

Next Door Solutions’ programs and services are based on a survivor-defined model; we recognize the survivor is the most knowledgeable person in regards to their life and all the circumstances surrounding and flowing through it. It also means that we don’t “tell” the survivor what they should or should not do. That includes their reproductive decision making.