Alianza is pleased to announce its next national conference La Violencia Doméstica: From Emerging Dialogues to Social Transformation: Celebrando 10 Años de Esfuerzos Unidos y Mirando Hacia el Futuro (Celebrating 10 Years of United Efforts and Looking Toward the Future).

In November 1997, the National Symposium on La Violencia Doméstica: An Emerging Dialogue Among Latinas/os, was held in Washington, D.C. This symposium was the first of its kind to bring together an interdisciplinary group of Latinas and Latinos from across the nation and Puerto Rico, including survivors, advocates, community activists, practitioners, lawyers, and researchers to initiate a national dialogue about domestic violence in Latino communities and to begin to make recommendations for what actions needed to take place. One of the major recommendations that emerged from the Symposium was the creation of a national organization for ongoing dialogue, education, and advocacy. And, thus, Alianza was born. The Symposium was organized by a National Steering Committee which later became the board of Alianza.

This groundbreaking conference, From Emerging Dialogues to Social Transformation, will be both a celebration of 10 years of collaborating efforts and successes addressing domestic violence in Latino communities and an opportunity to explore needed strategies for the next decade. The goals of the conference include:

• Offering opportunities for participants to learn about promising practices for the provision of culturally and linguistically specific services for Latina/o families and communities;

• Recognizing the advances of the “Violence Against Women’s Movement” in Latino communities;

• Promoting domestic violence as a social justice/human rights issue (including sexual assault and human trafficking) and exploring its implications for Latino communities; and

• Creating tools for community organizing and community engagement initiatives that interconnect our efforts to end domestic violence with broader efforts for social transformation affecting our families and communities.

Participants and presenters will represent a multidisciplinary body of the following sectors: survivors, youth, women, men, elders, service providers, community activists, therapists, counselors, trainers, artists, healers, law enforcement, judges, advocates, legal experts, policy makers, elected officials,researchers, etc.