Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault

Overview

One of MIRA’s priorities is to increase access to services for immigrant and refugee survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. We do this through budget and policy advocacy, as well as by promoting events and outreach though our members who provide support services.

MIRA recognizes that domestic violence and sexual assault are problems which impact every community; in the U.S., one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, and every two minutes someone is sexually assaulted. The barriers to safety and access to justice are particularly high for immigrant survivors. These include uncertain immigration status, differing languages and cultural norms, lack of financial resources, and trafficking and exploitation issues. MIRA works to lower these barriers and to improve immigrant and refugee access to domestic violence and sexual assault programs and services.

MIRA advocates for victim services via:

• State Budget funding for Refugee and Immigrant Safety and Empowerment Program, or RISE, which funds domestic violence advocates across the state to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services to immigrant survivors.

• MIRA co-chairs the Multicultural Immigrant Coalition Against Violence (MICAV).  MICAV is a statewide coalition of domestic violence agencies, social service organizations, state agencies and immigrant service providers working to support and promote prevention and intervention services for immigrant survivors of domestic and sexual violence.