SCHUMER, GILLIBRAND ANNOUNCE $300,000 IN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR NEW YORK ASIAN WOMEN’S CENTER
Department of Justice Funds Will Support Culturally Specific Counseling, Advocacy & Support Services to Asian Child Victims of Sexual Assault & Abuse
U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $300,000 in federal Department of Justice (DOJ) funding for the New York Asian Women’s Center. The funding was allocated through the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women and is authorized through the Sexual Assault Services Program. The funds will be used to support Asian child victims of sexual assault and abuse.
“Sexual assault is never acceptable and we must do all we can to both prevent it in the first place, and to take care of those who are victimized by it. Fortunately, there are organizations like the New York Asian Women’s Center, dedicated to providing resources to help stop these terrible attacks,” said Senator Schumer. “I will continue doing everything I can to ensure organizations like this have the resources they need to combat these horrible crimes.”
“This critical federal funding through the Department of Justice will help facilitate a wide range of programs to better assist domestic violence survivors,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Domestic violence is a serious problem and we need to work towards creating a safe environment for individuals and families. By increasing accessibility to services for survivors we can help provide the support and resources they need to be protected and put their lives back together.”
The New York Asian Women’s Center began in 1982 as a grass-roots community effort to raise awareness about domestic violence. The organization has dedicated itself to helping Asian women and children overcome language, cultural, and socioeconomic barriers that leave them especially vulnerable to abuse. With this funding, the organization will provide culturally specific counseling, advocacy and support services to Asian child victims of sexual assault and abuse and their non-offending caretakers in order to begin or advance their process of recovering from the trauma. Specifically, the organization will provide individual, group, and family counseling as well as advocacy and referral services; provide parenting counseling and support services for non-offending caretakers of child victims; enroll child victims aged 5 and up who wish to participate in group activities into one of the mentoring programs; and conduct community engagement, and outreach to Asian child survivors of sexual abuse.
The goal of the grant programs through the Office on Violence Against Women is to create sustainable change within and between organizations that results in accessible, safe and effective services for individuals who are victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking and accountability for perpetrators of such crimes. The Sexual Assault Services Program provides intervention, advocacy, accompaniment, support services and related assistance for adult, youth, and child victims of sexual assault, family and household members of victims, and those collaterally affected by the sexual assault.
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