About ETC

Community is the bedrock of change. Without community we cannot hope to endure or sustain the steps necessary to ensure our survival.

Empowerment through Community was imagined in 2018 and officially founded as an LLC in 2023. We were dreamt up by Victoria Copeland, who believed that there needed to be more spaces dedicated to creating the world we want to live in. This world does not rely on surveillance tactics or carceral systems and logics, rather, it prioritizes building trusting relationships and collaborative knowledge to resist and thrive in society.

Our work is built from and within the Black Radical Tradition, Decolonial Praxis, and DisJustice. We have focused on issues pertaining to the carceral ecosystem, more specifically the family policing system and criminal legal system. Our consultants have produced multiple forms of research and participated in various speaking engagements on topics including: the harms of mandatory reporting laws, data use in the child welfare system, social work ethics, and abolition. Visit the “our work” page for direct links.