Photo Credit: Tori VandeLinde
The NFL’s Unsung Heroes event is a yearly celebration, held for more than a decade during Super Bowl week, honoring organizations and programs combatting sexual and domestic violence, and the RALIANCE team was fortunate to be able to once again attend this year.
On Thursday February 5, 2026, in San Francisco, California, we listened as women’s advocate Tommi Vincent interviewed sports journalists MJ Acosta-Ruiz and Erin Andrews about healing, hope, and safety in community. We were also thrilled to see Beloved Survivors Trauma Recovery Center founder Tina Rodriguez be honored for her decades of work in supporting survivors and her leadership in the anti-sexual violence movement.
Unsung Heroes shows the importance of meeting advocates and activists at the table, and RALIANCE takes that example to heart. Our grant program, an initiative made possible through our partnership with the NFL, allows us to support innovative violence prevention programming that would otherwise have limited grant funding opportunities. Over the last decade of this grant program, we’ve seen our grantees do some incredible work in their communities, and we know that this support has been equally transformative for those who help these programs run.
RALIANCE’s Project Coordinator, Julia Mallory, couldn’t help but remember the legacy of our grant program at this event and think about what we hope to accomplish in the next ten years. “Events like Unsung Heroes serve as a reminder that the courageous acts required to support survivors must be fueled by material support,” says Mallory. “Contributions to the IMPACT Grant Program represent what is possible with ongoing investment into the work necessary to create safer communities. It is our intention to invite other organizations and corporations to meet us on the field to generate more sustainable long-term funding. This work impacts us all, even when it is beyond our immediate view.”
At the event, Mallory met with two of our past grantees who have done critical work in supporting survivors and promoting safe and healthy relationships: NEWS and WEAVE, Inc. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet with organizations we’ve been so proud to support, and we hope to see many more organizations and businesses support their projects.
RALIANCE’s Project Coordinator, Julia Mallory, pictured with NEWS. NEWS (FKA Napa Emergency Women’s Services), RALIANCE 2016-2017 Grantee, operates in Napa, CA and partnered with On The Move to create the Childhood Sexual Abuse Innovations Project, a youth leadership development experience for survivors of child sexual abuse and their organizational allies to increase awareness, community connections, and to enhance quality and availability of services.
RALIANCE’s Project Coordinator, Julia Mallory, pictured with WEAVE. WEAVE, RALIANCE 2016-2017 Grantee, operates in Sacramento, CA and partnered with Wind Youth Services and the Sacramento LGBT Community Center to increase access to crisis intervention, safety planning, and psychoeducational support group services for homeless youth, homeless LGBT youth, and LGBT youth who have experienced sexual victimization.
RALIANCE’s Director of Consulting Services & Partnerships, Tori VandeLinde, has observed firsthand in her RALIANCE work how corporate investment in programs like these helps lift everyone up. “We’ve seen countless times over the years how mutually beneficial it is for companies, workplaces, businesses, and corporations to publicly and affirmatively support survivors and the anti-sexual violence movement,” said VandeLinde. “Businesses are such a critical cornerstone of communities, and when businesses go all in to support safety and healing in their communities, everyone benefits. From employees to consumers, from survivors, from social impact grantees, from community members, the impacts ripple and businesses play a key role in leading and sustaining that ripple.”
We were thrilled to attend this year’s Unsung Heroes event, but our work is far from over in connecting the sexual violence prevention movement with the business world. We encourage business leaders and organizations across industries to reach out RALIANCE to explore ways we can work together to support your journey in preventing sexual violence in your community
Together, we can make 2026 a year rooted in our mutual values: survivor safety, mutual respect, and true collaboration.
RALIANCE is a trusted adviser for organizations committed to building cultures that are safe, equitable, and respectful. RALIANCE offers unparalleled expertise in serving survivors of sexual harassment, misconduct, and abuse which drives our mission to help organizations across sectors create inclusive environments for all. Visit our website or our grant page for more information.