Material Listing

Many women, regardless of race or ethnicity, choose to continue to live with partners who have been (or continue to be) abusive. Traditional domestic violence intervention approaches have emphasized women leaving abusive relationships, but the applicability and acceptability of this approach for women from culturally diverse backgrounds, including immigrant and Latina survivors of IPV, is not well understood.

The time that Latinas spend in shelter provides a great opportunity to expand their existing supports; and domestic violence agencies must be instrumental in creating community-based support systems. This article explores the elements of survivor-centered advocacy from a culturally specific perspective.

The Líderes program was created in 2003 in response to Latinas in the Twin Cities of MN asking for leadership opportunities in their communities. In 2006, Casa de Esperanza developed a curriculum for the Líderes and in 2011 it was adopted by Caminar Latino in Atlanta, GA, and adapted for women survivors of domestic violence.

A diagram of the framework of Casa de Esperanza’s Latina Advocacy based on more than 30 years of direct work.

This article highlights a culturally-based organizational structure developed from the perspective of culturally specific organizations. Additionally, the article explores cultural foundations for leadership development, management/administration, governance and organizational accountability using a lens that integrates cultural realities and considerations.

This manual describes the community engagement process that was the foundation for Casa de Esperanza’s changes in philosophy and strategy. It encourages individuals to think critically about their approach to community engagement and the process that will be most effective for their organizations and communities.

Many survivors of domestic violence find themselves with criminal records. Oftentimes this is due to coerced criminal acts, experienced at the hands of their partner. Sometimes, this is a result of a misguided criminal justice system response to their partners abuse (for example, a dual arrest). Whatever the reason, survivors who have a criminal record face enormous challenges in accessing employment and economic security. If you are an advocate working with a survivor who has a criminal record and is seeking employment, this tool may be helpful to you.

This publication is designed to help survivors with a criminal record to better understand their employment rights, and offer tips and resources as survivors prepare for the job application and interview process, attend job interviews, and hear back from the prospective employer.

In the past decade, it has become increasingly clear that addressing trauma requires a multi-agency, multi-pronged approach. Public education, prevention, early identification, and effective trauma assessment and treatment are all necessary to break the cycle of trauma and violence. Significant progress has been made in creating organizational cultures based on knowledge of trauma and its impact (trauma-informed approaches), strategies to prevent or reduce rates of violence and trauma, and effective treatment interventions (trauma-specific treatments).

The Start Strong evaluation consisted of two parts: an outcome evaluation and a policy evaluation. The overall purpose of the evaluation was to assess the overall impact of Start Strong by looking at: the effectiveness of the program among students and teachers; and the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of TDV prevention policy efforts in Start Strong sites. The baseline findings of the student outcome evaluation were released in March 2011 in a report called Middle School Matters.