Breaking Barriers | Spotlight on Daya Houston #DVAM2018

As Domestic Violence Awareness Month wraps up, we have been honored to be in this community of movement makers with you. API advocates face criticism, threats, and ostracization from their communities and families. They work long hours with little recognition or compensation. They hold the stories of survivors and feel the vicarious trauma that comes with them. Thank you for your strength, courage, compassion, and dedication. You are agents of change, leaders in this movement.

Our Directory of culturally-specific API service programs lists over 160 agencies that support survivors in everything from English-language classes to childcare. This week, we honor advocates through spotlights of some of these amazing agencies, whose stories show the range and breadth of API community-based programs. If you work at or know of an agency you would like to add to our directory or to be featured, please contact Shirley Luo at [email protected].

Click here to view image larger

Daya empowers South Asian women and children in Houston to break the cycle of violence and reclaim their lives. Daya offers survivors an unparalleled level of support - serving as an extended family to support clients through crisis and on the journey to self-sufficiency. As a testament to the value of Daya, survivors who accessed services and were helped many years ago still stay in touch. Dr. Nusrat Ameen, Senior Director of Legal Services & Education, tells us of the multi-layered nature of overcoming abuse and the role that Daya's Legal Clinic plays in helping survivors achieve independence. Since its inception a decade ago, the Legal Clinic has provided free or subsidized legal representation to over 1500 survivors, assisting clients to make informed decisions about their lives and ensuring that fears around immigration, divorce, child custody, and differences in cultural dynamics do not prevent survivors from leaving abusive relationships and homes.

Daya incorporates a combination of direct services and education in its approach to end domestic violence. By providing a wide range of culturally-sensitive and language-specific services such as counseling, advocacy, and housing, Daya breaks down barriers and ensures that all of the survivors' needs are met. Raising awareness with community leaders; health, legal, and law enforcement professionals; educators; and social service and mental health advocates is essential to building a community that adopts a zero tolerance attitude toward domestic violence and brings Daya's vision of a South Asian community in Houston and beyond that is free from family violence closer to reality.

Click here to read more about Daya's work and to learn how you can support it.

This week, join us in sharing messages of support and gratitude with advocates like Dr. Ameen by downloading the sign below, writing in your message, and tagging us on Twitter or Facebook @apigbv. Use the hashtags #ShareSupport4DVAM and #DVAM2018 to share your messages with this amazing community of change makers!

Download a Template