CSVANW February 2018 Newsletter

February 2018 Newsletter

FEBRUARY IS TEEN DATING AWARENESS MONTH

#TDAM

One in three teens in the U.S. will experience physical, sexual or emotional abuse by their partner before adulthood.
Nearly 1.5 million high school youth acknowledge they have been hit or physically harmed in the last year by their
partner
Young people who suffer dating abuse are more likely to experience alcoholism, eating disorders, promiscuity, thoughts of suicide, and violent behavior
One quarter of high school girls have been physically or sexually abused.

Females between the ages of 16 and 24 are roughly 3 times more likely than the rest of the population to be abused by an intimate partner.

Half of young people who experience rape or physical or sexual abuse will attempt to commit suicide.

Partner with us this month as we aim to support Teen Dating Awareness Month (#TDVAM) campaigns. We invite you to participate in local and national social media campaigns, check out sites like loveisrespect.org, or donate to our youth work. If posting on social media, we urge you to use our hashtags, #CSVANW #CSVANWYouth

Our Native youth initiatives are youth-focused and designed to cultivate positive social responses while at the same time helping our Native youth to identify and support healthy avenues toward decision making and community involvement. By building awareness about violence in our Tribal communities, we are creating innovative and strategic approaches that work toward social change and mobilizing community-driven solutions and ensuring that the youth voice is at the table.

HONORING OUR RELATIONS

CSVANW Blog by Joannie Romero

Before we become absorbed in the consumerism of the month of February and Valentine's day, we must take a moment to reflect on love, kinship, and strength. Our connections to people through blood ties or clanship are the result of highly complex traditional knowledge systems, dating back to time immemorial. These belief systems on our relations are something that cannot be captured by definition or through conventional mainstream American norms on how family structures are composed.

The truth of the matter is that so much strength resides in traditional Indigenous knowledge and connections to all our relations. In Pueblo society, we gain new relatives, not only through baptism or marriage but also through ceremony, birth, as well as loss. These traditional teachings tell us that there is an interconnectedness of the sharing of our core values and through the coming together in times of need. It is about the journey. Take, for example, ceremony. Ceremony is not just being a participant, or gaining notoriety, it is about being completely engaged through the mind, body, and soul. It is an honoring of precious connections and an exercise of core values through sharing about the web of life. To read more click here!

THIS IS ME

CSVANW Blog By Abagail Tso

Hi my name is Abagail Tso, i am 16 years old I am from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and my tribes are Todích'íí'nii (bitter water) and Haltsooi (meadow people). I go to school at N.A.C.A (Native American Community Academy) And someday i hope to be a journalist. This school year I was very fortunate and had the chance to intern at C.S.V.A.N.W a fantastic place where the mood is always positive and happy, every Individual there is friendly and hardworking.

Why intern at C.S.V.A.N.W you may ask, well i had joined a club called peer education (now called N.A.C.A healing peers) in 10th grade this club was being monitored by Keiosha Peter and Becki Jones at the time i wasn't really interested in a internship because it wasn't required in 10th grade and i just saw this club as something to do, but as time passed i started to see peer education as well kinda a second home for me. To read more click here!

MOVE TO END VIOLENCE KICKS OFF ITS 4TH COHORT IN NEW MEXICO!

ALBUQUERQUE, NM

The NoVo Foundation selected Deleana OtherBull, CSVANW Executive Director, as one of 21 phenomenal leaders across the nation to participate in the cohort Move to End Violence, a 10-year capacity-building program designed to support those who are strengthening the efforts to end violence against girls and women. OtherBull is the only person selected from New Mexico in this 4th Cohort.

The first national cohort meeting took place in Santa Ana Pueblo at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa from January 22 to January 26, 2018, and brought all of the cohort members and faculty across the nation to New Mexico.

Deleana's two-year project, which comes with a $130,000 grant, is aimed at building the capacity of CSVANW, strengthening its vision and mission, and growing its impact across all sectors of its work. Read CSVANW's press release here!

ATTORNEY GENERAL HOSTS 2018 HUMAN TRAFFICKING CONFERENCE

ALBUQUERQUE, NM

The Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women attended the 2018 Human Trafficking Conference hosted by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office in conjunction with LifelInk.

The conference was aimed toward law enforcement, first responders, prosecutors and social workers. "It was important for us to be at the table to represent our tribal communities. We need to ensure we as agencies and organizations are accountable to our Native community, " Cheyenne Antonio, CSVANW Project Coordinator for Sex Trafficking.

BOOK DRIVE BENEFITS DOMESTIC SHELTERS

NEW MEXICO

This month we welcomed our newest organizational member, Esperanza shelter, to the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women by delivering the books our community members donated.

Esperanza Shelter primarily serves Santa Fe County and the eight Northern Pueblos. They occasionally shelter domestic abuse victims from other parts of New Mexico and even some from other parts of the U.S. when necessary. Esperanza Shelter has been committed to its mission for 40 years. To learn more about Esperanza or to donate...click here!

CSVANW SUPPORTS STRANGULATION BILL DURING THIS YEAR'S LEGISLATIVE SESSION

SANTA FE, NM

The Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women was honored to briefly attend and support Senate Bill 61 during the 2018 Legislative Session in Santa Fe. This bill seeks to add the terms "strangulation" and "suffocation" into the existing Family Violence Protection Act thus creating a criminal offense.

The existing Family Violence Protection Act is geared toward protecting victims of domestic violence. With the inclusion of these two terms-- we strengthen protection for survivors. New Mexico is one of only six states that does not have specific laws on strangulation. To read the bill...click here!

CSVANW SETS VISION IN THE MOVEMENT TO END VIOLENCE

ISLETA PUEBLO, NM

Three years ago CSVANW held our first strategic planning session under new leadership. At that meeting, intentions were set that we imagined would take years longer to accomplish, but with the support of you and our communities, we reached our goals in record time.

CSVANW and community partners gathered together in Isleta this month to map the next three years of our work. Ideas, thoughts and intentions were shared and we are excited to get to work! Thank you to the 25 individuals who joined us- our Board of Directors, CSVANW staff and community members- to help us strengthen the vision and direction of CSVANW.

STRENGTHENING SOVEREIGN RESPONSES TO SEX TRAFFICKING IN INDIAN COUNTRY

PALM SPRINGS, CA

Our Project Coordinator for Sex Trafficking, Cheyenne, as well as our Training and Education Manager, Kim, attended the first annual Strengthening Sovereign Responses to Sex Trafficking in Indian Country conference held in Palm Springs this January. The conference was hosted by Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition- a nonprofit advocacy and technical assistance organization based out of Minneapolis.

"Supporting and strengthening tribal communities' response to sex trafficking is essential in the work we do" Cheyenne said. Focused on supporting the building of local and community capacity around trafficking, CSVANW supported a full travel scholarship to send a member of the New Mexico Tribal Taskforce on Trafficking to also attend the conference.

CSVANW WELCOMES OUR NEWEST TEAM MEMBER!

ALBUQUERQUE, NM

We are excited to welcome Tam Davis to our team!. Tam joined us in January as our Office Coordinator and we could not be more thrilled!

Tam Davis, originally from the Midwest, has lived, worked, and served in the Albuquerque community for 30 years. She is a truly ardent feminist. A graduate of the University of Iowa and the University of New Mexico, with Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and Spanish, she plans to apply to the Master of Social Work program at New Mexico Highlands Highlands University in the fall of 2018. She has worked as a publicist and graphic designer in publishing and for local businesses for more than 20 years. She is responsible for coordinating and strengthening the Coalition's strategic, financial, operational, and administrative performance. Tam volunteers her time at the Agora Crisis Center answering hot line and warm line calls and chats for Agora, the National Suicide Prevention Line, and the Veterans Crisis Line.