October 2023 Newsletter

Greetings CSVANW Relatives and Supporters,

This Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM), CSVANW invites you to join the movement to break cycles of violence to build safer and healthier communities. This month, we honor the Cycle Breakers in our lives who continue to break the silence by sharing their stories and advocating for survivors and the community. Their fierce commitment to improving outcomes through activism is what we uplift and admire.

This month, CSVANW is excited to share our partnership with Northwest Strategies (NWS), an Alaska Native woman-owned brand marketing and community agency based in Anchorage, Alaska. Through this partnership, our goal is to increase awareness of domestic violence and intimate partner violence in Tribal communities.There are so many ways to break cycles of violence this October.

LEARN MORE ways you can get involved with CSVANW, learn more about our 2023 DVAM campaign, and meet our partner, NWS. Please stay tuned throughout the month for content and resources focused on domestic violence awareness.

Together, we can break the silence and build a safe and healthy generation!

#DVAM2023 #HonoringCycleBreakers

National Hotlines:

StrongHearts Native Helpline

1-844-7NATIVE (762-8483),

StrongHearts Native Helpline is a 24/7 safe, confidential, and anonymous domestic, dating, and sexual violence helpline for Native Americans and Alaska Natives, offering culturally-appropriate support and advocacy

National Domestic Violence Hotline

800-799-7233

The National Domestic Violence Hotline free, confidential, compassionate support, crisis intervention information, education, and referral services in over 200 languages.

Sincerely,

CSVANW

Sep 6-7 On September 6th-7th 2023. CSVANW held the first MMIWR pilot advocacy training in New Mexico. We were able to share this sacred space at Poeh Cultural Center in Po-suwae-geh territory with over 25 community advocates and leaders. This training created a network of trusted MMIWR advocates who hold institutional and healing knowledge to inform better responses to the crisis utilizing a trauma-informed approach. We would like to share a heartfelt gratitude to the MMIWR Advisory Committee who co-created the framework alongside the Coalition's Land & Body Violence programming. Special thanks to Deiandra Reid, Tara Trudell, Dr. Christina Castro, Chastity Sandoval, Reyes DeVore, and David Adams.

Sept 14 - CSVANW showed up for land, water and community today at the NM Climate Strike. Thank you @yucca and all our young relatives for organizing and for making space for community to march at the front line down the streets of Albuquerque to demand the end to fossil fuels, call for urgent climate change & help bring awareness on our message of how extractive industries bring violence into our communities and contribute to violence against Native Women, children, 2SLGBTQ+ and #MMIW #MMIWG #MMIR #MMIWG2S.

Sept 18 - CSVANW was invited to participate in the 2023 Pueblo of Laguna Parade for the Pueblo of Laguna St. Joseph's Feast Day. The theme was "Honoring Athlete's Past and Present." CSVANW also tabled after the parade, which was full of laughter, engagement, and networking. Many community members stopped in and had valuable conversations with the CSVANW staff. The Pueblo of Laguna are Tribal level members, and CSVANW is happy to be part of the community, thank you Pueblo of Laguna.

Sept 28 -On Thursday, September 28th 2023, CSVANW hosted their 2nd Sexual Violence (SV) in Tribal Communities Training Day this year. Thank you to all 35 participants for showing up for your community to learn about how SV is harming our communities and engaging in the trainings to further our education on how to best support survivors and their needs in tribal communities and beyond. This training discussed the History of SV in Tribal Communities & MMIWR by CSVANW Staff, Sexual Assault (SA) Care and Safety by Gail Starr, The Story of Ashlynne Mike and Awareness to Prevent Child Abduction by Chelsa Seciwa, Safety Planning by CSVANW Staff, Karma Star Prayer Bead Workshop lead by Tara Trudell and virtual resource visits by Changing Women Initiative, and Indigenous Women Rising! Our grounding, meditation and support during this training was lead by Kateri Walker in a culturally informed and trauma informed way. We are extremely grateful for our presenters and support staff for making these trainings happen.This training was for CSVANW Members, Advocates, Legal Professionals, Tribal & Non-Tribal Law Enforcement, and other Sexual Assault Community Partners alike.

Our next training will be held in the Spring!

See you there.

Sept 29 - Friday September 29th, CSVANW came together for a team building day. Thank you to TEWA Roots Society for hosting and creating a space for CSVANW to peacefully come together. TEWA Roots Society provided a safe and welcoming environment. The day was spent with staff engaging in activities that promote team building and strengthening relationships between employees. We recommend to any organization to reach out to TEWA Roots Society for any organization in need of team building to reach out. Another big shout out to Dorothy’s Catering for the delicious food provided to staff

“You all made the right choices because you are alive today. What we are talking about today is deadly violence, make no mistake.”

-Quote from our LCSW facilitator, who provided support during our focus groups

Ma k’u wam Greetings Everyone,

We hope everyone is doing well and feeling safe this month. As we think about October, the awareness of domestic violence comes to our minds. We have been working hard to learn what our Indigenous survivors need as far as policy changes that need to be made.

We held a series of focus groups with Indigenous women living in New Mexico with intent for healing and sharing what state and tribal leaders should know in order for us to provide much needed policy change. We are holding the domestic violence stories in our hearts and honoring their confidentiality. These are their voices and the recommendations of 10 Indigenous women who were a part of the Focus Group on Domestic Violence. Please enjoy the graphic notetaking we had come out of our talking circles, we hope you feel empowered after hearing the voices of our survivors.

Join CSVANW for an all-day Domestic Violence Awareness Month event for Advocates. This event will focus on specific areas of Domestic Violence featuring presentations on strangulation and stalking, a panel discussion from advocates who work in the DV field and a healing talking circle to dive into this topic area. Open to Members and Advocates, then community, so be looking out for open registration. We invite all our Advocates and Tribal Communities to become members, so that you will have priority registration to all our trainings.

Please join us!

The harm celebrating Oñate creates: What people were asking for in Española before the shooting - Source New Mexico

Before an extremist shot Jacob Johns (Hopi, Akimel O'odham) in Española on Sept. 28, community members spent the morning together for a sunrise prayer ceremony and the afternoon together for a celebration of sorts.

'We don't want Oñate elevated' - Source New Mexico

Community members are hoping to have a dialogue about the symbolic meanings of the red hands left on colonial monuments across New Mexico.

Suicide Prevention

People threaten and attempt to take their lives for many reasons. Too often, they are successful. Both verbal threats to commit suicide and actual suicide attempts can be seen as calls for help. More than 90% of suicide victims have a diagnosable psychiatric illness, most commonly a mood disorder.

New Mexicans Demand End to Fossil Fuels in Historic New York Climate March

Center for Biological Diversity: NEW YORK- A delegation of more than 50 Indigenous, environmental, youth and frontline advocates from New Mexico joined more than 75,000 people from across the country and world today to march in the streets of Manhattan and demand that the U.S. end its extraction and use of fossil fuels.

Real conversations with family taught me about life after loss - Source New Mexico

I learned about suicide through my young childhood curiosity when I wondered out loud why my mom's father was never around.

NM delegation announces over $800,000 in funds to support victims of violent crime - Rio Rancho Observer

Four members of New Mexico's congressional delegation to the United States House of Representatives and Senate announced more than $800,000 in federal funs to help support victims and survivors of violent crime Tuesday. U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández and Melanie Stansbury announced $821,294 in federal funds [...]

New Mexico AG to investigate Gallup-McKinley school district for harsh discipline of Native American students

Native American students in New Mexico are expelled far more often than members of any other group. One school district, Gallup-McKinley County Schools, is responsible for most of that disparity.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is opening an investigation into disproportionately harsh punishment of Native American children by Gallup-McKinley County Schools.

General contributions and donations from individual supporters and organizational partners are essential for CSVANW's sustainability and effectiveness. Your donation helps make it possible for us to cultivate and strengthen our ability to advocate for Native women and children and breaking of cycles of violence.

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