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Between Friends
Maitri Quarterly Newsletter
January, 2024
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Your trust and partnership have been a cornerstone in our collective efforts to shape a future where peace, love, and kindness abound. Please accept our sincere gratitude for being an invaluable ally and partner with Maitri.
Today, we are witnessing horrific acts of war, violence, and trauma all around us. Gender and power-based violence continue to wreak havoc in the communities we live in. In this backdrop when injustice, inequalities, and oppression around us challenge our faith in humanity, it is the indomitable spirit, courage, optimism, and persistence of our resilient survivors and the support of our allies that gives us hope and inspiration to move forward.
In this new year, we aspire to see a groundswell of new allies joining us to strengthen the violence prevention movement. With collective effort, let us vow to create a culture that fosters empathy, care, dignity, and equity for all.
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Policy Advocacy in October
Throughout October, Maitri staff and volunteers made rounds at local City Councils to meet policymakers stressing the need for prevention funding, effective services for victims and survivors, language access, immigration reform, and other intersectional issues that affect many lives each day. We received the Domestic Violence Awareness Month Proclamation from the City of San Jose, the City of Santa Clara, the City of Menlo Park, and the City of Livermore.
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Candlelight Vigil
Maitri staff and volunteers joined with Narika, North American Islamic Shelter for the Abused -North American Islamic Shelter for the Abused - NISA, Safe Alternatives to Violent Environments, many community members, advocates, service providers, and Govt. Officials to commemorate Domestic Violence Awareness Month through a candlelight vigil. Thoughtful reflections, poetry, music, sisterhood, and solidarity made this event soulful. More here.
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Art & Poetry Fest
We published a heart-melting art campaign album during Domestic Violence Awareness Month created by community youth. Messages of love, compassion, and peace were expressed through beautiful artwork and poetry. 88.5% of participants said this activity motivated them to have a conversation about healthy relationships with their friends and family.
Enjoy the album here.
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Wellness Days
Maitri continues to host wellness days for our transitional housing residents. In December, residents celebrated the holidays by making their own Christmas tree ornaments and decorating their living spaces. Following our annual tradition, transitional housing staff put up Christmas trees with lights in each unit and placed gifts for both mom and kids under the tree.
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Udaan
The Second issue of Udaan, the one of a kind Survivor and Advocates Magazine is published. This is the bond that not only ties us together but lets us be our best selves in artistic expression
Read the magazine here.
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16 Days of Activism
We celebrated 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence with narratives, poetry, inspiration, and commitment to social change from survivors of domestic violence, Maitri advocates, and violence prevention movement builders.
Please see the campaign album here.
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Quarterly Update on Program Stats | |
- Total Survivors Served: 232
- Total Helpline Calls: 361
- Total Transitional Housing Bed-nights: 1052
- Total Legal Advocacy Sessions: 179
- Total Economic Empowerment Program Sessions: 29
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Domestic Violence Conference
At the 30th Annual Santa Clara Domestic Violence Conference, Zakia Afrin, Director of Survivor Advocacy, and Shabana Ansari, Legal Advocacy Coordinator hosted a panel - Lawyering for DV Survivors: Best Practices from the Field.
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Presentation for Rotarians
The Rotary Club of Dublin, CA invited Maitri to learn about our work. Nandini Ray, Sr. Manager, Outreach, Prevention & Policy Advocacy talked about the accomplishments and challenges in our crisis intervention and prevention work.
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Presentation with SABA
The SABA Foundation Learning Lab and Maitri collaborated on a presentation on the intersection of immigration and domestic violence. Zakia Afrin represented Maitri. Sharing the video here.
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A Learning Session
Maitri staff and volunteers heard from Barrister Quazi Maruful Alam on how impactful legislation in Bangladesh may have been to address domestic violence and what challenges remain for the legal community and general public in this regard. Watch the presentation.
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Corporate Outreach
Last quarter we had a wonderful experience with corporate outreach. Maitri was invited to events organized by the employees at VISA, Google, Agilent, and Oracle office buildings. Volunteers at Zoom and Cisco decorated a holiday tree adorned with wishes from the clients we serve and Cisco employees fulfilled that wish list. We are thankful for this community support. For individual or corporate engagement with Maitri, please email us here.
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Maitri in Media
Check out our policy priorities in this Op-Ed at the California Health Report written by Zakia Afrin, Maitri, Director of Survivor Advocacy.
Watch Nandini Ray’s interview at the Non-Profit Stories Podcast discussing Maitri’s work combating domestic violence and community engagement efforts in prevention work.
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Saadat Hasan Manto was a Pakistani writer, playwright and author. Manto was much ahead of his time in analyzing society and writing about the hypocrisy existing within it. Manto’s ground-breaking work and his interest in tabooed topics, portraying women’s power and agency classifies it as feminist literature. More here. | |
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Youth Convention
Join us to attend a robust community discussion with Keynote speaker, Julia Weber, and community youths on the issue of Understanding the Intersection of Firearm and Domestic Violence. This event is free and open to all but registration is required. Please register here.
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Maitri Gala 2024
Please register to attend the Maitri Gala 2024 on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at the Crown Plaza Hotel, Palo Alto. A great opportunity to get to know your community and support survivors of domestic violence and abuse! Follow our social media pages for more information about the event!
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Welcoming New Staff
It is a pleasure to introduce Nidhi Satyagal as she joins us in the role of Prevention Program Associate. Nidhi is a recent graduate from UC, Santa Barbara. She completed multiple courses and reading programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels about South Asian history and Asian American Studies. Passionate about writing and community building, Nidhi is an ardent supporter of women’s empowerment and Maitri’s cause.
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To Our Funders
We are grateful for the support of our programs that were funded in whole or in part by our funders. Please see the list here.
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A Big Shout Out
Los Altos Sunset Rotary Club for donating funds to purchase brand-new laptops for our clients!
Indian International Student Union of Binghamton University for donating proceeds from their annual culture show back to Maitri!
Cisco employees for graciously hosting a Maitri Giving Tree at their office this year, brightening the Holiday Season for those we serve.
If you, your organization/company would like to host a special fundraiser for Maitri, please email us here.
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Our heartfelt gratitude to our Gala Sponsors Saba Decor and Lahori Ram Foundation (Dwaraka Organic and Hathi Brand Trade Mark) for their support! | | | |
This project was supported by Grant No. 2017-UW-AX-0007 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women | | | | |
