Bakersfield held its first-ever Angel Walk this week, an event built to honor people lost to domestic violence while giving survivors a visible path toward hope. At the center of it is Angel Lee, a survivor turned advocate who says she wants to make sure women trapped in abusive situations know they are not alone.
Lee founded the Angel Family Crisis Prevention Network after surviving domestic violence that included physical, emotional and financial abuse, according to KGET 17 News. She described the abuse in stark terms: “It included grabbing my hair and banging my head against the wall – and strangulation.” At her most frightened moment, she said, she did not believe she would survive. “I thought I wasn't going to make it – when he was strangling me,” Lee said.
A Quiet Escape While He Slept
Lee's path out of the relationship was not dramatic in the moment — it was quiet and deliberate. As her abuser slept, she packed up without warning and left him for good, the station reported. She has since said she hopes that sharing her story will encourage other women to leave abusive situations, and that her ultimate goal is for women to live free from domestic violence.
Lee moved to Bakersfield in 2016, where she met and befriended Heidi Shubin, a manager at Dress For Success who is also a domestic violence survivor. Shubin has described her own experience in blunt terms, saying she was “emotionally and mentally broken” and did not want to simply continue existing. Shubin has said domestic violence victims have access to many resources and deserve both safety and a sense of worth.
What The Angel Family Crisis Prevention Network Does
The organization Lee founded is dedicated to empowering survivors of domestic violence and other forms of abuse, according to the Angel Family Crisis Prevention Network. Its stated mission is to provide comprehensive support to break the cycle of abuse and foster self-sufficiency among survivors and their families. The network also emphasizes strategic partnerships and community collaboration as part of its approach.
Among its programs is the I Am A V.I.C.T.O.R. Training Academy, described as a survivor empowerment program offering education, resources and healing pathways. Lee herself holds credentials as a Human Trafficking and Human Rights Consultant, Domestic Violence Counselor and NOVA National Credentialed Advocate, according to the network's team page.
The Scale Of The Problem Statewide
The need such programs are built to address is significant across California. A one-day survey conducted on September 10, 2025, found that 97 of 162 identified domestic-violence programs in the state participated, reporting that they served 4,826 victims during that 24-hour window, according to the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Of those served, 2,829 adults and children found refuge in shelters, transitional housing, hotels, motels or other housing arranged by local programs, while hotlines logged 1,167 contacts — nearly 49 every hour.
That same survey counted 605 requests for help that programs could not meet because of insufficient resources, funding or staffing, with roughly 47% of those unmet requests involving emergency shelter or other housing. Programs also managed to provide 48 educational sessions and trainings to 1,247 members of the public during the same period, the report found.
Separate data from the California Policy Lab shows the broader trend lines are troubling. The state recorded about 163,000 domestic-violence calls for assistance in 2024, with 61% reporting the use of a weapon — a figure that has climbed 44% over the past decade. At the same time, domestic-violence convictions statewide fell 29% between 2015 and 2023, amounting to roughly 6,600 fewer convictions in 2023 than in 2015.
Kern County sits squarely inside that pattern. From 2015 through 2024, annual domestic-violence call rates ran at 750 or more per 100,000 people in Fresno, Kern and Ventura counties, per the same policy lab analysis. Kern was also among seven counties — alongside Butte, Fresno, Kings, Madera, Shasta and Tulare — that averaged more than 100 domestic-violence convictions annually per 100,000 residents between 2015 and 2023.
For Lee, the numbers underscore why an event like the Angel Walk matters in a city like Bakersfield. By honoring those lost and standing alongside survivors, organizers say the goal is simple: encourage anyone still trapped in an abusive situation to believe there is a way out, and that help exists on the other side of it.
