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OVERVIEW OF ALIANZA INITIATIVES AND ACTIVITIES
Through support from the Department of Health and Human Services/Office
of Community Services, Alianza has been able to develop several initiatives
and to organize and carry out a series of events and activities that are
enabling it to meet its mission of promoting understanding, sustaining
dialogue, and generating solutions that will help prevent and eliminate
domestic in Latino communities.
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In November 1997, organized the National Symposium on La Violencia
Domestica: En Emerging Dialogue Among Latinos, which was held
in Washington D.C. The Symposium brought together an interdisciplinary
group of forty Latinos and Latinas including advocates, community
activists, practitioners, lawyers, researchers, and domestic violence
survivors to: initiate a national dialogue about domestic violence
in Latino communities—needs, concerns, assets and to begin to make
recommendations for what actions needed to take place.
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Published and disseminated several thousand copies of the report
of the proceedings and recommendations of the
National Symposium on La Violencia Doméstica: An Emerging
Dialogue Among Latinos.
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Held a Strategic Planning Meeting in 2000 to concretize its goals
and objectives; this led to the development of a proposal submitted
to DHHS that resulted in a multiple year grant, making possible
the hiring of staff and the implementation of several initiatives
and projects. At this meeting, the group selected the Violence Intervention
Program, Inc., in New York City to serve as its host agency during
Alianza’s initial phase of operation.
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In June 2000, the Alianza organized the First National Latino Policy
Summit on Domestic Violence. The Summit brought together 75 representatives
from more than 50 national and regional domestic violence and other
organizations that provide leadership and services in Latino communities
to begin to plan a collaborative response to domestic violence in
Latino communities. The Policy Summit marked the first time a national
dialogue of this magnitude had taken place between experts from
the Latino domestic violence community—community activists, advocates,
practitioners, researchers, and survivors—and leaders from such
diverse fields as immigration, women’s and children’s rights, public
health, substance abuse and mental health, civil rights, religion,
and the elderly. The Summit brought the Alianza one step closer
to developing a National Latino Domestic Violence Policy Agenda
that will provide a blueprint for organizing important initiatives
at the local, regional, and national levels that will help prevent
and end domestic violence. Download
a pdf version of the Executive Summary of the Policy Summit Report.)
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Alianza, in partnership with the National Compadres
Network, which heads its Training and Techical Assistant Component,
organized a two-day national dialogueForum on Latinos Who Batter:
Hope for Those Who Hurt Others. The Forum, which took place
in April 2001, in Pasadena, CA, presented and discussed seven models
that work with Latinos who batter:
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Cultural Competence in Connecticut: Evolve Program -- Fernando
Mederos and Oliver Williams
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National Compadres Network: El Hombre Buscando Su Balance --
Ricardo Carrillo, Rolando Gouboud-Reyna, Samuel Martinez, and
Jerry Tello
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CECEVIM: A Culturally Appropriate Model for Working with Latino
Abusers -- Antonio Ramirez
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Caminar Latino: A Comprehensive Intervention for Latino Families
Affected by Domestic Violence--Julia Perilla and Felipe Perez
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Poder y Control: Tácticas de Hombres que Abusan/Power
and Control: Tactics Used by Abusive Men:
The Duluth Curriculum in Spanish--Luis Aravena
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CORIAC Intervention Model in Mexico (Men Renouncing their Violence)--Roberto
Garda
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The National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Organization (LLEGÓ): Love that Kills: In Search of a Theoretical
Model to Work with Latino Gay Men Who Batter Their Partners--Luis
Nieves-Rosa & Martín Ornelas-Quinter
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The Forum also explored cultural approaches to working with Latinos who
batter, helped broaden the vision beyond criminal justice solutions, and
promoted a vision of women and men working together to put an end to domestic
violence in Latino communities. Alianza has written a Report of the proceedings
which is being edited and soon to be published. You can view video clippings
on our Training and Technical Assistance web
page.
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Alianza helped organize the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Service’s Family Violence Prevention and Services Program’s Multi-Cultural
Form on Violence Against Women: The Millennium Continuum held
in July 2001 in Puerto Rico. This forum brought together anti-domestic
violence advocates from across the United States, the Virgin Islands
and Puerto Rico to discuss how combating domestic violence must
be done with cultural competence and sensitivity to allow for the
realities of cultural difference. Advocates discussed and shared
their varied approaches to the problems of domestic violence.
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Alianza has created a Community Education
and Development Committee (CE&D) which is made up of
20 members, including four persons from Alianza (Adelita Medina,
Sandra Camacho, Patricia Castillo, and Martin Ornelas-Quintero);
representatives from three major partners (the Hispanic Radio Network/Self-Reliance
Foundation; SoBe Planning, a Miami-based corporation that does strategic
corporate marketing, brand planning, and consumer research; and
the National Domestic Violence Hotline). Also serving on the Committee
are the former editor of VISTA Magazine; a Public Health Consultant;
a representative from Coordinadora Paz Para la Mujer in Puerto Rico;
representatives from several local, regional, and national DV organizations,
and two college students. The Board Members’ collective expertise
and skills include: marketing, fundraising, conducting focus groups,
community outreach and education, direct services, and public health
education, and print and electronic media. They are all providing
pro bono services in their respective fields and are in the process
of seeking additional experts and resources to help plan, finance,
and implement the campaign.
The CE&D Committee is developing a national campaign with culturally
relevant prevention and intervention messages, including a bilingual
informational kit with fact sheets, list of programs and services,
key websites, hotline numbers, etc.
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The Alianza has also created a Policy Advocacy Committee
modeled after its successful Community Education and Development
Committee. Fifteen individuals have responded to Alianza’s invitation
to form part of the committee and held their first conference call
on November 26, 2001. The Committee will continue to conduct business
via periodic conference calls, and plans to convene a meeting in
the spring of 2002 in New York. The primary objectives of the Policy
Committee are to:
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Review the Alianza Policy Summit Report to select and prioritize
key recommendations that came out of the Summit and strategize
about how best to implement them;
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Participate in efforts to continue defining a comprehensive
National Latino Public Policy Agenda that will engage Latino
organizations and individuals in the overall movement to end
domestic violence;
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Provide input and guide the efforts of Alianza staff to monitor
and disseminate information about domestic violence policies
and legislation; and
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Help to ensure that Latinos/as have a say in developing policies
that significantly affect and address the needs of our communities
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On March 14 and 15, 2002, Alianza, in collaboration with Georgia
State University in Atlanta, organized a national Research Forum
(Encuentro). The Research Forum brought together some 50 academic
researchers, college students, domestic violence advocates and practitioners,
and members of government agencies, to begin to create an agenda
for El Centro that will lead to the development of research that
heals, understands, supports, and transforms Latina/Latino communities
and society in the area of domestic violence. Specific objectives
included:
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Identifying gaps and models/assets in current literature regarding
domestic violence in Latino/Latina communities;
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Promoting culturally competent/relevant research by establishing
basic criteria and guidelines;
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Promoting a paradigm shift on how research is conducted and
how community services are provided to bring about social change;
and
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Establishing collaborative partnerships and ongoing dialogue
between academic researchers, service providers, advocates,
and community member
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The Forum was unique in bringing to the table the voices of people not
usually present at research gatherings and in the way it did this. The
format included no formal presentations from experts. Instead every participant
contributed experiences, ideas, concerns, and suggestions for the types
of research needed, for how research could be conducted, and for building
concrete collaborations.
Alianza/El Centro will publish the proceedings as a way of beginning
to bring Research findings and information back to the communities; it
will also to help develop and publish guidelines for building collaborations
between those entities represented at the forum and others in the field
(researchers and domestic violence providers, advocates, students, and
community activists).
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