Home Alive - History

History

Following the rape and murder of a local singer, Mia Zapata, in 1993, a number of artists and musicians within Seattle began to meet and discuss the problems of violence within the community, and the lack of available resources such as self-defense classes, which were considered impractical and somewhat unaffordable.

A group of women, now recognized as the founders of the organization, pooled resources such as arts and music benefits in order to raise funds and study self-defense. Classes were provided to the community on a sliding scale basis, where no-one was turned away due to lack of funds. The group continues this work, providing classes to individuals, as before; but expanding to also educate establishments such as schools and businesses. With primary support still coming from the arts community, Home Alive continues to ground its self-defense education in a movement for social justice.

6/14/2010: The members of Home Alive’s Board of Directors, together with the instructor collective, decided in June, 2010 to close as a 501(c)(3) organization and to lay the Home Alive program dormant after 17 years in the community.

7/3/2012: Four Home Alive instructors, with the assistance of a few dedicated community members, publicly launched a new website, Teach Home Alive, a site dedicated to archiving and sharing Home Alive's curriculum.