$200,000 matching grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to launch Project Speak Out

The following is an excerpt from the latest New York Asian Women's Center (NYAWC) newsletter, describing the grants that make Project Speak Out possible.

NYAWC Receives $200,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
 
NYAWC recently received a $200,000 matching grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to launch Project Speak Out, a grassroots initiative to address domestic violence in New York City’s Asian-American community. 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 project 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. Project Speak Out will also help survivors become informed of their rights and available assistance and encourage them to seek help.
 
“We’re not just raising awareness; we are creating momentum for long-term community change,” says Alyssa Elser, Director of Shelters and Operations. “We will work with everyone—women, youth, elders, religious leaders, shopkeepers, students, housewives and men—to embrace traditional ideas about non-violence and harmonious homes that should make DV unacceptable. Our volunteers will craft and execute a plan of action that encourages people not just to be aware, but to take small but significant steps to send a clear message that violence against their mothers, sisters and daughters will not be tolerated.”
 
NYAWC thanks the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and our local funding partners for their support of Project Speak Out.
 
To volunteer for Project Speak Out, please contact NYAWC’s Project Speak Out Manager, Ms. Jerin Arifa, at jarifa@nyawc.org or 212-732-0054 ext. 163.