Blogs

The history of Esperanza United with Elsa Vega Perez

Weā€™re celebrating! Formerly Casa de Esperanza, we are now Esperanza United and in honor of this change, weā€™re kicking off a podcast series looking at where weā€™ve been and where weā€™re going.  Nearly forty years ago, a group of persevering Latinas gathered in St. Paul, MN, to advocate for Latinas experiencing […]

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VOCA passed in the Senate!

The VOCA fix is about to become law! The VOCA Fix passed in the Senate yesterday and weā€™re thanking everyone who worked so diligently on this piece of legislation that will save lives by getting much-needed funds to victim services. In March of this year, The House of Representatives passedĀ H.R.1652Ā ā€“ VOCA […]

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Policy Manager Olivia Garcia looking up smiling at President Biden who is greeting her

The VOCA Fix: Bill Signing Day at the White House

By Olivia Garcia, Ph.D. Policy advocacy has two speeds: slow and really fast. Legislation and system change is typically a long game that can take years before a small, minor piece falls into place that allows greater movement. Yesterday was an exceptional day because, after years of advocacy efforts with lawmakers, […]

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Meet the Team: Jenny Lee

Meet Jenny Lee, Finance Director Where are you from?Ā  I was born in Australia and my father moved us to the United States (I was 5 years old) to be closer to family.Ā  We spent a couple months in California and came to Minnesota. Iā€™ve been in Minnesota since. Where do […]

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NLN member spotlight: Chicanos Por La Causa de Colores

As part of our series highlighting National Latin@ Network member organizations, meet an organization making a difference in the lives of immigrant survivors. In this conversation, we speak with CPLC De Colores’ Community-Based Program Manager, Marina Jessop. What brought you to the work of supporting survivors of gender based violence? I […]

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Bridgerton: A SAAM discussion

We are excited to share with you a conversation in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month on Netflix’s Bridgerton. In this episode, Founder of Leaders Ending Violence Jasmine Uribe joins Esperanza Unitedā€™s Leo Martinez and Cristina Escobar to discuss the ways media influences how Latin@s understand consent.

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My Experience with Sexual Assault Training

By Makeda Toure, Project Specialist Esperanza United (formerly Casa de Esperanza) In March, I took part in a 40-hour Sexual Assault Training hosted by the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA). Everything I have been thinking about since taking this training can be summed up into a 10-letter word: prevention. Itā€™s […]

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NLN member spotlight: Latinos in Virginia Empowerment Center

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and we want to highlight a Latin@ organization making a difference in the lives of sexual assault survivors ā€“ Latinos in Virginia Empowerment Center. They created a toolkit to provide organizations with linguistically and culturally appropriate tools to reach the Latin@ community during Sexual Assault […]

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Reflections from 2020

Join us for a conversation reflecting on the one-year anniversary since the COVID-19 quarantine began in the U.S. Esperanza United (formerly Casa de Esperanza) staff discuss how our work has shifted during the pandemic and how weā€™re adapting to meet the needs of our community.Ā 

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