In the 2nd quarter of fiscal year 2018 (FY18), Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC) staff and board continued their work to further the organization's mission to empower victims of all crimes to achieve survivor-defined justice.

Keep reading to learn how NVRDC made a difference from January - March 2018!
Feb. 2018: several staff don orange to raise awareness about teen dating abuse.
Impact Snapshot:
January through
March 2018

  • 13.4% increase in new clients across all programs compared to the previous quarter

  • NVRDC advocates responded to the hospital 114 times

  • Over 1/4 clients who received advocacy services at the hospital self-identified as college students

  • 59 safe rides to or from the hospital provided

  • NVRDC's Legal Services staff added 88 new cases to their caseloads

  • That is in addition to 65 continuing cases from previous quarters

  • NVRDC worked with a total of 397 clients between January and March 2018—that's a 15.7% increase over the 1st quarter of FY18
Grant from DCBF
NVRDC has again been awarded a private grant from the DC Bar Foundation (DCBF) that will provide general and project support for 2018! Learn more from DCBF's press release.
Karin's Visa Fund
Late in March, NVRDC learned they could sponsor an H-1B visa for bilingual case manager, Karin, if they could raise the $4,310 fee. Thanks to you, the goal was quickly exceeded!
6 th NCVRW Award
NVRDC received a 6th consecutive year of funding for a Community Awareness Project during National Crime Victims' Rights Week in April. Read the press release for more details.
Legal Program Updates
Pro Bono Program
During the 2nd quarter, NVRDC's pro bono program trained 26 attorneys. Pro bono attorneys also picked up seven direct services cases, providing assistance to survivors in both Civil Protection Order and crime victims' rights matters. If you are interested in attending NVRDC's pro bono trainings or offering legal assistance to survivors, please contact charlotte@nvrdc.org.
Know Your Rights Clinics
Between January and March 2018, NVRDC staff presented five Know Your Rights Clinics at colleges and universities in the District, including two clinics at American University geared toward graduate students and senior athletes. NVRDC staff also presented at a joint Career Panel- Know Your Rights Clinic at Georgetown University and, in February, began clinics at The George Washington University (GWU). The first clinic hosted at GWU was for both the NROTC and the GW Students Against Sexual Assault organizations. In total, NVRDC presented to 114 studen ts—ran ging from freshman to law students —during the first months of the Spring semester .
Anja's Story
Anja* first contacted NVRDC in October 2017 after experiencing sexual harassment and assault in her workplace. She was going through mediation and the EEOC process at work, but Anja still did not feel safe and needed extra support. Anja received immediate assistance from an NVRDC case manager and had an initial consultation with an NVRDC attorney, but she wasn't ready to begin legal proceedings. Anja soon began attending NVRDC's Peer Empowerment Group, connecting with other survivors and receiving invaluable support from both peers and NVRDC facilitators. Through these support structures, Anja began to regain her power and reclaim her own experience.

As a result of the Peer Empowerment Group and consistent support from NVRDC, Anja gained confidence, finally building up the courage to pursue legal protections. Anja's case manager referred her to a staff attorney in NVRDC's legal services program, who also asked Anja's permission to include pro bono counsel on her team. With her legal team and support team in place, Anja began preparing for a possible CPO trial. Her legal team spent many hours listening to her story, preparing her for the trial process, and helping her get to a place where she was ready to tell her story in open court. When Anja's hearing finally arrived, the respondent would not consent to a CPO being entered against him, and Anja and her team began trial that same day. For two days, Anja sat in the same room with the respondent and relived several traumatic experiences, explaining to the Court why a CPO was necessary for her safety. At the end of these two grueling days, however, the judge granted Anja a CPO and afforded her the protections she needed for the upcoming year.

Anja deeply appreciated her whole support team: her two attorneys, her case manager, a partner from the pro bono law firm, and a legal intern from NVRDC. Leaving the courthouse with her CPO, Anja remarked that she was excited to go out to dinner for the first time in a long time, finally feeling that she could begin returning to her life. At the Peer Empowerment Group the following day, Anja recounted the trial and her subsequent dinner, describing how Anja 2.0 had been born through the experience of reclaiming her power, control, and agency. Anja's post-trial dinner felt like a birthday celebration for her new empowered self, and she now has two birthdays to celebrate each year. 

*Name has been changed to protect client’s identity.

Increasing Our Impact While Setting the Stage for Expansion
This quarter, VLNDC continues to create impactful connections between crime victims and available, appropriate legal services to meet their needs while setting the stage for expansion of services. With increasing demand, the network served an additional 40 individuals with 98 legal needs. Twenty-one individuals were referred by member organizations, and the remaining 19 were intakes conducted by Ms. Smith, the VLNDC Navigator. ...Read the full update.
#WearBlueDay
On January 11, we joined the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign  by wearing blue to raise awareness during January's Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
Serving Victims of Financial Crimes
In January 2018, all NVRDC advocates and attorneys received training on screening and assisting victims of identity theft. Many survivors of financial... ...Read more here.
NVRDC Blog
Catch up on NVRDC's latest blog posts! Some of our recent posts include: To Believe Or Not to Believe?...,
Collaborating to Help Survivors of Elder Abuse
NVRDC's 2017 Annual Impact Report
View it on issuu.com!
Policy Updates
 from Naida Henao, Strategic Advocacy Counsel
NVRDC FY2018
Policy Priorities

NVRDC's FY2018 Policies will focus on the continued protection of crime victims' rights, demanding stability and consistency of Title IX processes for student-survivors, and increasing survivor access to resources and support. For more information, click here.
Abby Honold
Act

In January 2018, Co-Executive Director, Bridgette Stumpf, and Strategic Advocacy Counsel, Naida Henao, met with Senator Amy Klobuchar's Chief Counsel to offer NVRDC's support of the Abby Honold Act.
Testimony in Support of DC Bill 22-0193

Naida Henao testified on March 22 regarding the Temporary Protection Order Firearm Relinquishment Amendment Act of 2017, which would require subjects of DC civil protection orders to relinquish their firearms. NVRDC feels this bill will provide further protection for survivors and their loved ones.
Testifying before the DC Council
On February 8, the DC Council's Committee on the Judiciary & Public Safety held a public performance oversight hearing on DC’s Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants (OVSJG). Testifying on behalf of NVRDC and in support of OVSJG were Director of Advocacy & Case Management, Lindsey Silverberg, and Co-Director of Legal Programs, Matt Ornstein.
NVRDC's Quarter 2, FY2018
Staff & Board
Staff
Jabeen Adawi
Kristin Eliason
Sarah Foster
Leise Gergely
Amanda Gould
Naida Henao
Sofia Kaut
Charlotte Keenan
Kris Klassen
Vi Mai
Audrey Meshulam
Ashley Morse
Merry O'Brien
Matt Ornstein
Ruth Perrin
Maggie Schmidt
Alex Scott
Stephanie Shea
Saron Shiferaw
Lindsey Silverberg
Alexandra Smith
Karin Tovar

Co-Executive Directors
Nikki Charles
Bridgette Stumpf

Board of Directors
Ryan Guilds, Chair
Christopher Ekimoff, Secretary
Marc Filer, Treasurer
Blair Decker
Amit Juneja
Jane Lee
Monica McHugh
Liam Montgomery
Miranda Petersen
Thank you, Stephanie!
Our Spring 2018 Legal Intern was Stephanie Daigle. Stephanie is a 2L at American University Washington College of Law, where she is currently in the process of getting her Juris Doctor degree and a Masters degree in International Affairs. She supported NVRDC's legal team in its representation of crime victims by performing legal research and assisting with case preparation. 

Interested in gaining experience in crime victims' rights work by interning at NVRDC? Keep an eye on our Internships page at nvrdc.org!
Help us make a difference!
We at the Network for Victim Recovery of DC are committed to providing victims of all types of crime with a safe and supportive place to advocate for their rights and define justice for themselves.

We could not do the work we do without the support of our donors and we would love to add you to the list of generous people who are lifting up survivors and making our services possible. Click below to make a gift today!
You can also support our work by purchasing donations from our  Amazon Wishlist , which has items we often provide to survivors whose clothes are collected as evidence or to survivors who are homeless without access to basic toiletries. 
NVRDC's staff and board thank all of those who contribute time, financial support, energy, & love to empowering victims and survivors of crime in DC.
202.742.1727 |  info@nvrdc.org   |  nvrdc.org
6856 Eastern Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20012