Esperanza United

Family advocacy -family advocacy offers direct support for latin@s and their families who are living in domestic violence in the twin cities metro area and are at risk of experiencing homelessness. We provide a variety of options to best meet our families' needs including el refugio (emergency shelter), a bi-lingual crisis line, transitional housing support, mobile advocacy (our latina family advocates meet survivors wherever they feel safe to help them create safety plans, navigate legal systems, and accompany them to school, court, or medical appointments), and we help with referrals to other agencies and resources.

Community engagement - our prevention and social change work area focuses on developing the leadership skills and community capacity of latin@s to end gender-based violence, primarily through our fuerza unida amig@s initiative which trains and supports 50 - 75 latin@ youth and adults each year to become first responders and change agents who can help shift the beliefs and behaviors within their own family and social networks that lead to unhealthy relationships. Amig@s develop and lead community action projects that reach thousands of community members throughout the twin cities and neighboring suburbs. The work of the youth amig@s culminates each year in a day-long conference that they organize to raise awareness of teen dating violence and other topics that latin@ youth are interested in. During recent years the conference has been virtual. In the future, it will be in-person and or provided as a hybridin-person and virtual option.

National initiative -Esperanza United is also a national resource center providing training and technical assistance across the country for latin@ community-based organizations, non-latin@ organizations working with latin@ communities, and various systems across the country. We also lead public policy initiatives; and conduct community-based participatory research on the intersections of domestic violence and latin@ identity. Our leadership in the field has been recognized by the u.s. department of health and human services (hhs), which has designated our organization as the only culturally specific issue resource center on domestic violence and latin@ communities. Esperanza United has received three awards related to american rescue plan funding, from hhs, which includes re-granting funding to community-based domestic and sexual violence organizations.