We are in the News! New York Nonprofit Press: “Project Speak Out” Creates Pan-Asian Voice Against Domestic Violence

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“Project Speak Out” Creates Pan-Asian Voice Against Domestic Violence

Four Asian American domestic violence agencies recently received funding to launch Project Speak Out, the first large-scale pan-Asian community education and domestic violence prevention campaign in New York City. The New York Asian Women’s Center (NYAWC), the lead agency, was awarded a $200,000 matching grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Local funding partners including the Asian American Federation, The Grace and Mercy Foundation, Korean American Community Foundation, Ong Family Foundation and Tiger Baron Foundation have contributed matching grants totaling $150,000 so far.

Distributed over two years, the grants will enable NYAWC and its partners—Garden of Hope, Korean American Family Service Center and Sakhi for South Asian Women—to recruit volunteers from the community to foster attitudinal change about domestic violence and engage in a community-wide movement to stop abusive behavior.

NYAWC estimates that 100,000 Asian women in New York City will be abused by their significant others in their lifetime.

“Because domestic violence is viewed as a private family matter, the community is often silent in response to abuse,” says Tiloma Jayasinghe, Executive Director of Sakhi for South Asian Women. “This perception ends up condoning violence and discouraging women from speaking out or seeking escape. When they do try to seek help, they are often punished with blame, stigma and shame.”

With a combined 72 years of experience and expertise in working with domestic violence survivors, the four agencies will challenge the way in which the Asian American community views and reacts to domestic violence. Project Speak Out will recruit volunteers from within the pan-Asian community to involve groups and individuals in this grassroots initiative. With a shared understanding of the nuances of domestic violence in the Asian culture, this network of activists will send a clear message that violence against their mothers, sisters and daughters will not be tolerated. Project Speak Out will also inform survivors of their rights and available assistance and encourage them to seek help.

“Project Speak Out is an extraordinary program made possible by extraordinarily visionary funders,” says NYAWC Executive Director Larry Lee. “Through this initiative we will be able to prevent and reduce domestic violence and give hope to abused women and their children. Together, four Asian domestic violence agencies will make a concentrated, coordinated effort to encourage our many Asian communities to lend their voice to often silent victims. And, by speaking out, members of our communities will reinforce Asian traditions of non-violence and respect for and protection of all family members.”

To volunteer for Project Speak Out, please contact NYAWC’s Project Speak Out Manager at jarifa@nyawc.org or 212-732-0054 ext 163. For more information about NYAWC’s services for women, please call its 24/7 toll-free multilingual hotline at 1-888-888-7702.

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