Sharon Turner
Activist, Coach, Advocate and Champion
Sharon Turner, activist, coach, advocate and champion began her work as a community organizer on the West Side of Chicago during the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement. There, at the foot of community elders she learned the value of listening to the wisdom from those who are most impacted by the problems they were trying to solve—for so often they had answers. She also learned about having a vision for the future, and the importance of being part of a community of love and accountability. It was at the insistence of the elders that she go out and experience all that the world had to offer and to bring those gifts back to the community. Those early seeds of hope, love and expectation were the launching pad for a lifelong journey into social justice movements and more importantly, working to prevent violence against women and girls. For more than twenty years she worked in small villages and communities in Venezuela, Zambia, Kenya, Jamaica, Brazil, India, and throughout the United States. Much of her work involved working with communities to design and implement small economic enterprises that enabled women and youth to become economically self-sufficient. It was in those villages that she experienced the devastating impact of women being undervalued and her privilege as an American black woman.
These experiences eventually led her to STAND! For Families Free of Violence in Contra Costa County where after 24 years she recently retired as Client Services Director. During her tenure at STAND! she filled many roles, including Regional Director of Residential Services, Prevention and Clinical Programs. Sharon is most proud of the various community partnerships that she was involved with, including the Collaborative Response to Victims of Crime project, a multi-faith and service provider initiative to minister to social and spiritual needs of crime victims, The Faith Community Taskforce of CCC, a multi year effort of victim service advocates and faith leaders from Judaic, Islamic, Christian, and Buddhist traditions that provided education and training to the community on addressing the Role of the Faith Community in preventing family violence and the DELTA project, an initiative which engages men in preventing family violence . Before leaving STAND! she directed The Kaiser Resilience Project, a trauma informed care in schools initiative. Sharon also served on the Board of Directors for the California Partnership for seven years and is a proud alumni of the Strong Field Against Violence Initiative and the Network Weaving Leadership Lab. Currently Sharon provides coaching and consulting services to the next generation of social justice leaders.
