We will present at National Organization for Women (NOW) National Conference about Project Speak Out

We are excited about the following workshop at the National Organization for Women (NOW) National Conference; hundreds of activists from across the nation will attend.  There were many workshop proposals on violence against women and immigrant rights; we are honored they included our proposal.

http://www.now.org/organization/conference/2011/workshops.html

Breakout Session II: Friday, June 24, 2011, 3:45pm - 5:15pm

Anti-Immigrant Sentiment, Domestic Violence, and Families: A Narrative of Liberation

Salon B

This multi-faceted workshop will address a series of urgent problems confronting women immigrants and their feminist allies. Panelists will review the extent of anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. and related laws, such as the harsh new Arizona law, SB 1070. They will also comment on the DREAM Act, Violence Against Women Act and the U Visa for battered immigrant women. Panelists will then discuss barriers that battered immigrant women face with abusers' threats, language differences and fears of deportation. Additional topics will cover stressors affecting Latinas and counseling strategies for empowerment. Finally, speakers will describe Project Speak Out being used by Asian-American agencies in New York to prevent domestic violence.

Maria del C. Rodriquez (Moderator), Jeanette Ocasio, Jessica Moreno, N. Jerin Arifa

Sincerely,
N. Jerin Arifa
Project Speak Out Manager
New York Asian Women's Center (NYAWC)

Volunteer posts a call to other volunteers on Japanese newspaper

Thanks to volunteer Komi Kaoru for publishing the following article in the Japanese newspaper NY Syukan Seikatsu, asking others to join her as volunteers.  The article below describes Project Speak Out, and asks for interested people to contact us for volunteering opportunities. 

http://viewer.nyseikatsu.com/viewer/index.html?editionID=353&directory=../editions&page=19

You can also help by publishing an article in a newspaper in your language, or volunteering to go out into the community to change community attitudes and behaviors toward domestic violence.  You can also help us with administrative work, such as helping us translate window signs and flyers - one of the goals of Project Speak Out is to be as language-accessible as possible to Asian-Americans.  Please contact us below if you are interested.  Thank you.

Contact:
Project Speak Out Manager, Tel: (212) 732-0054 ext 163, Email: projectspeakout@nyawc.org

Action Alert: Ask your senators to help domestic violence victims by extending length of stay in shelters

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE CALLS AND SIGN PETITION!!  PLEASE DO THIS BY FRIDAY!  Try to get your friends and co-workers to make the calls.  We need numerous calls per location. 

We must continue the fight to extend the length of stay in domestic violence shelters to 180 days.  This legislation has already passed in the Assembly.  Now it needs to pass in the Senate.  We are urging you to call (and ask all of your friends/co-workers to call) the Senators below and sign the petition below.  PLEASE HELP!!

PHONE CALLS

Senator Patrick Gallivan – Chair of the Social Services Committee (518-455-3471)

Senator Daniel Squadron – Ranking Member of the Social Services Committee (518-455-2625 or 212-298-5565)

Senator Dean Skelos – Majority Leader (518-455-3171)

Sample script:  "I am calling to urge Senator ___, to vote S.973 out of Committee.  This important piece of legislation will save victims' lives by allowing them to stay in emergency domestic violence shelter for 180 days.  This additional time will mean better housing outcomes, increased safety, and self-sufficiency.  This legislation is cost neutral."

PETITION

To sign the petition, click here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/help-domestic-violence-victims-stay-safe-in-new-york-city?share_id=JdkBknndSL&pe=d2e

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!

Announcing our logo contest winner: Anum Awan

A big thanks to Anum Awan, www.anumawan.com, who designed our logo. She worked on various versions to come up with the final one you see as our profile photo. Anum is a designer and artist from Pakistan currently based in Boston, attending Massachusetts College of Art and Design for a BFA in Graphic Design. Congratulations to Anum on wining our logo contest. http://ow.ly/58AfQ

Action Alert: Don't Let Guns into the Hands of Abusers

From NOW-NYC:

Don't Let Guns into the Hands of Abusers  
Anti-Violence Bill A.698B/S.4244A

Guns are the #1 weapon used in DV murders. It's already federal law that domestic abusers cannot buy guns, but some abusers in NYS are falling through the cracks. We need to fix our state's reporting requirements to the FBI to make sure guns are kept out of the hands ofall convicted batterers. Your Assemblymember needs to hear from you!

This act will align our state's reporting with the FBI, so that the federal law keeping guns out of the hands of abusers can be enforced. Convicted domestic violence abusers attempting to buy a gun will be flagged in the required background check and their application will be denied. Read more. 

Call Today!  

This bill's fate will be decided within the next few days.
Call: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (518) 455-3791

Codes Committee Chair/Assemblyman Joseph Lentol (518) 455-4477
Do you have 5 extra minutes? Then also call your Assemblymemberand push for him/her to pass this critical bill.

What you can say:   Hi, I'm [name] from [neighborhood & borough]. I'd like to urge you to support the passage of Assembly bill 698, which will prevent convicted batterers from buying guns. Please pass this bill - which could literally save lives.

If you have more time to devote to this issue and want to get involved with our phone lobbying, please call (212) 627-9895. 

FREE training on how to reduce & prevent domestic violence

Two different opportunities: Saturday 5/21 & Tuesday 5/31.  We will provide lunch.

In less than 2 months, there were 12 domestic-violence-related murders in NYC.  Help bring the number down to zero.

Project Speak Out is a new initiative in which four Asian-American domestic-violence agencies in NYC (New York Asian Women’s Center, Sakhi for South Asian Women, Korean American Family Service Center, and Garden of Hope) are working on a unique project to reduce and PREVENT domestic violence in NY’s Asian-American communities.  http://nynp.biz/breaking-news/5707-project-speak-out-creates-pan-asian-voice-against-domestic-violence-

Instead of organizations going into communities to talk about domestic violence, volunteers themselves will interact with their fellow neighbors, friends, and families to change individual & community attitudes & behaviors toward domestic violence.  As Project Speak Out volunteers, these community members, who might speak the language or share the culture of their audience, will make sure that three core messages are passed on:
1.    Domestic violence DOES EXIST in our communities
2.    Women are not to be blamed for the violence perpetrated against them
3.    YOU as an individual/group CAN TAKE ACTION! (and suggest ways to take that action)

We will train you on what domestic violence is and how to engage and mobilize individuals and groups in communities to take action!

We will go over the following topics during the training:
•    Bringing in the Bystander: A Prevention Workshop for Establishing a Community of Responsibility
•    Domestic violence
•    Asian-Americans and domestic violence
•    Project Speak Out
•    Outreach and Activities: Role of Volunteer, Resources

You do NOT need to speak an Asian language to volunteer

**Please note: quite a few of the New York Asian Women’s Center employees started as volunteers.

Contact: Project Speak Out Manager, Tel: (212) 732-0054 ext 163, Email: projectspeakout@nyawc.org

Facebook Page: ProjectSpeakOut        
Twitter: @ProjectSpeakOut  
Blog: projectspeakout.blogspot.com

New York’s largest group of neighborhood newspapers covers our event

Yournabe.com, part of New York’s largest group of neighborhood newspapers, covered our community forum to end domestic violence, where we introduced Project Speak Out.  



Asian-American panel views domestic violence
By Connor Adams Sheets
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 1:54 PM EDT


The seemingly intractable scourge of domestic violence among Asian Americans was front and center at a panel discussion last week in Flushing.

The April 14 conference, called “Out of the Darkness: Confronting Domestic Violence in Our Community,” brought together representatives of academia, community organizing groups, the corporate world and law enforcement in an engaging conversation about ending abuse in the Asian-American Diaspora.

As panelist Jerin Arifa, the manager of the New York Asian Women's Center's Project Speak Out program who is also active in the National Organization for Women, said, Asian communities are sometime especially vulnerable to the ravages of domestic violence and the silence that all too often accompanies it.

Whether they avoid confrontation as a result of fatalism, immigration concerns, the belief in karma or other cultural issues, many Asian domestic violence victims never leave their abusers or seek help, Arifa said.

And with that reluctance comes a toll. Last year the NYPD took 247,000 calls about domestic violence incidents, and 75 people — 24 of them children — were killed as a result of domestic violence, according to NYPD Sgt. Stephen Kurz.

“The pan-Asian community must get out the message that violence will not be tolerated against our mothers, our sisters and our daughters,” Arifa said, echoing the statements of other panelists.

The panel members and attendees are working hard at their varied organizations to bring domestic violence out of the shadows, get the word out about ways to get help and educate the Asian population about its dangers.

“One way that all of us can get involved, can get engaged, is by educating ourselves and knowing what resources are available in the community for domestic violence victims and survivors,” said CUNY School of Law Professor Donna Lee, the discussion’s moderator.

Larry Lee, executive director of the New York Asian Women’s Center, which hosted the event at the YWCA, at 42-07 Parsons Blvd., put it simply. He said there are a couple of things he wishes everyone knew about domestic violence to begin the process of stopping it from continuing in the future.

“There’s domestic violence in the Asian-American community. The victim is not to be blamed. And there are places where you can get help,” he said.