Happy New Year relatives!

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. It is a key time for us all as individuals and communities to learn and increase our awareness of human trafficking to identify the signs of trafficking. 

Within our tribal communities, Native women, trans women, and girls are victimized by human trafficking at rates higher than that of the general population due to factors that include (but are not limited to) poverty or lack of access to work or services on or near reservations. It is also a time for us to take these messages to our workplaces, our communities, our schools, our representatives and everywhere else.

During this month, we praise the efforts of all cycle breakers, international organizations, anti-trafficking entities, survivor advocates, and tribal services all around the world to raise awareness about human trafficking.

January is also National Stalking Awareness Month (NSAM), a call to action to recognize and respond to this traumatic and dangerous victimization. We encourage you to raise awareness around stalking and reflect on how we can better support victims and hold stalkers accountable. 

Stalking impacts nearly 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men in the United States. It is a deeply traumatic victimization in its own right and often intersects with sexual violence, physical violence, and even homicide. Stalking will not be taken seriously until all of us — victims, survivors, friends, family, neighbors, service providers, and criminal justice professionals — demand that stalking be seen for the urgent and dangerous crime that it is. No matter where you are, or where you come from, everyone has the inherent right to be and feel safe in their own home, community, and online. We all have a role to play in identifying stalking and supporting victims and survivors.

Together, we protect our relatives from stalking and trafficking.

Message from our Interim Executive Director, Tiffany Jiron

Happy New Year! I hope this message finds you well and filled with renewed energy for the exciting journey that lies ahead. As we step into a brand-new year, it’s my pleasure to welcome the CSVANW team back. We officially came back to work on January 8, 2024 and enjoyed re-connecting with each other and the work on January 10-12th, 2024 for a Staff Winter Retreat. Thank you to our members and our communities for allowing us to rest for two weeks in December and the beginning of January.

The past year brought its own set of challenges, triumphs, and lessons. We faced them head-on, and together, we emerged stronger and more resilient. Now, as we embark on this new chapter, we are carrying forward the positive momentum and enthusiasm that defines our mission to ending violence against Native women and children by advocating for social change in our communities and working towards our vision of Healthy Families, Healthy Communities.

We envision the possibilities that lie ahead in this new chapter for CSVANW and eagerly anticipate elevating our training and education presentations. Additionally, we are committed to enhancing membership services and increasing participation at our events. Our aspiration is for more community members to actively engage in the transformative process of cycle-breaking within all our communities.

We are eager to see what we can achieve together in the new year. Wishing you all a fantastic start to 2024!

#TogetherWeDoMore

December 2023 - CSVANW attended the Elevating Prevention Efforts with Effective Facilitation training with Kamama Consulting where participants were taught the differences between facilitation, presenter, training/instructor and meeting manager. Objectives included gaining and strengthening techniques and skills that create a comfortable environment, encourage participation, manage over-participation, handle disruptive behavior and increase their confidence to facilitate.

December 2023 - CSVANW's Little Ones' Holiday Book Drive

We hope you all had a restful holiday season and are excited to report back on our Little One Book Drive. Firstly, we want to thank all who donated monetarily & with books at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. We were able to donate over 500 books that we sent out to Little Ones at Crisis Center, Battered Families and New Beginnings Zuni. We were also able to donate books to some of our tribal ICWA programs in Acoma, Laguna, and Santa Ana! We deeply appreciate you all in joining us in this event and look forward to next years drive.

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.

SAVE THE DATE

Each February, young adults and their loved ones nationwide raise awareness about teen dating violence through Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (TDVAM). This annual, month-long effort focuses on advocacy and education to stop dating abuse before it starts.

Dating violence is more common than you may think, especially among teens and young adults: 1 in 3 U.S. teens will experience physical, sexual, or emotional abuse from someone they’re in a relationship with before becoming adults. And nearly half (43%) of U.S. college women report experiencing violent or abusive dating behaviors.

Everyone has the right to a safe and healthy relationship. Dating abuse can happen to anyone.

More information on how to get involve coming soon!