Esperanza United

Family advocacy - family advocacy offers direct support for latin@s and their families who are experiencing gbv in the twin cities metro areas. The organization provides a variety of options to best meet our families' needs including: el refugio (emergency shelter), a bi-lingual crisis line, transitional housing support, mobile advocacy (our latina family advocates meet survivors wherever they feel safe, to help them create safety plans, navigate legal systems, and accompany them to school, court, or medical appointments), and help with referrals to other resources. During this last year, our crisis line received over 1200 calls, family advocates worked with 600 survivors and their children, and el refugio provided safe housing for 45 residents.

Prevention and social change (psc) our psc team focuses on developing the leadership and community capacity of latin@s to end gbv. Over the last year, 800 latin@ youth and adults built new peer relationships, gained confidence in their roles as community leaders, and took action to promote healthy relationships through participation in our psc programming. Our amig@s initiative trains and supports 75-80 latin@ youth and young adults each year to help shift beliefs and behaviors within their own social networks. Amig@s develop and lead community action projects that reach thousands of community members throughout the twin cities area. The work of the youth amig@s culminates each year in a day-long conference that they organize to raise awareness of teen dating violence.

Training and technical assistance (tta) -the organization's training and technical assistance department provides education, consultation and strategic support to multi-disciplinary professionals and organizations across the country. Our leadership in the field has been recognized by the u.s. department of health and human services (hhs), which designated our organization as the culturally specific issue resource center on domestic violence and latin@ communities. The organization has received funding from the u.s. department of justice, office on violence against women (ovw) to be the technical assistance provider for organizations receiving ovw grant funding who serve latin@s. the organization also received american rescue plan funding from hhs to administer a capacity building grant program for 28 latin@ culturally specific domestic violence and sexual assault organizations. Over the last year, the training and technical assistance department provided 47 training programs, 517 technical assistance consultations, and published podcasts, newsletters, and educational materials.

Research and evaluation through a partnership with the university of new haven, the organization conducts community-based participatory research on the intersections of domestic violence and latin@ identity. The research and evaluation team conducts literature reviews to support the training and technical assistance department with the provision of evidence-based best practices assistance to organizations nationwide. During the last year members of the department published one peer-reviewed journal article, published one abstract in a peer-reviewed journal, submitted or revised three additional articles for peer-reviewed journals, received irb approval for a new study, and made nine presentations at national scholarly conferences.

Public policy the public policy team works to ensure that policies nationwide are responsive to the needs and realities of latin@ communities, advocating for enhanced rights and protections for survivors, immigrants, and latin@s. over this last year the public policy team participated on advisory councils, submitted testimony to government bodies, and published nine policy briefing documents.