Home Alive was established in 1993 as an organic response to the rape and murder of local singer Mia Zapata.  Mia was a living, thriving, raging testimony of the power of unleashed artistic expression.  In the aftermath of Mia’s death, local artists and musicians gathered to discuss issues of violence and safety in their community.  They sought options for their community, including self-defense classes.  They found that self-defense classes were prohibitively expensive, and focused on tools and tactics that did not fit with the reality of their daily lives.  Home Alive was born when a group of nine women decided to address these inequities by using their resources (arts/music benefits) to raise money, study various methods of self-defense, and create a flexible, option-based anti-violence curriculum.  They began providing classes to the community at large on a sliding scale basis so NO ONE would be turned away for lack of funds.  Eleven years later, Home Alive continues the work of these founding members by providing more and more classes to individuals, organizations, schools and businesses.