NEW YORK CITY GAY AND LESBIAN ANTI-VIOLENCE PROJECT INC
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : f*****e@a*p.o*g
Mission Statement
The New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) was born in 1980 on the streets of Chelsea, created by community activists in response to a series of brutal attacks against gay men. Today AVP is the largest anti-violence program in the country, with the mission to empower lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and HIV-affected communities and allies to end all forms of violence through organizing and education, and support survivors through counseling and advocacy. AVP provides both immediate intervention when violence occurs, and helps survivors of violence become advocates of safety. Using a community-building approach to violence prevention, AVP affirms the basic but profound right to which every person is entitled: Safety. Beginning with a phone call to AVP’s free, 24-hour, bilingual hotline and continuing through support and advocacy, AVP empowers survivors of violence to be safer and more resilient.
About This Cause
AVP programs focus on the following types of violence: HATE VIOLENCE: On May 29, 2014, AVP released a report that shows a four-year trend of increasing reports of hate violence. AVP was created in response to anti-gay attacks, and we continue to have a strong focus on violence against LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities. These cases range from discrimination and verbal harassment to assault and murder. AVP’s innovative “Reporting Violence Helps End Violence” campaign allows victims of harassment and violence to report the violence to AVP on the phone, in person or securely on-line, even if they do not want to go to the police. DOMESTIC AND INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE: Domestic and intimate partner violence is as serious and prevalent a problem in LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities as it is in other communities. The Centers for Disease Control report that 44% of lesbians and 26% of gay men have experienced rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. AVP provides services specifically designed for survivors of LGBTQ and HIV-affected intimate partner violence. AVP works to raise awareness of this issue and our services. Additionally, AVP created and coordinates the first-ever state-wide LGBTQ Domestic Violence Network. SEXUAL VIOLENCE: AVP provides the only counseling services in New York City specifically designed to support LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors of rape and sexual violence. Through education, training and community organization, AVP works to reduce the stigma of reporting and increase the supportive services available to LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors of sexual violence. HIV-RELATED VIOLENCE: To address the distinct problems caused by violence in the lives of people living with HIV, AVP provides a unique combination of counseling, social services, legal services, referrals, advocacy, education and activism specifically focused on the intersection of HIV and violence to hundreds of HIV-affected clients every year. INSTITUTIONAL VIOLENCE: LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities often experience discrimination and violence within institutions that provide the first response to violence, such as law enforcement, the court system, hospitals, shelters, and other service providers. Through advocacy and organizing, AVP supports survivors to address violence perpetrated because of homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic policies, procedures, and attitudes within institutions. AVP addresses these types of violence through the following programs. All of AVP’s services are free and confidential. DIRECT CLIENT SERVICES: AVP operates a free bilingual, 24-hour, 365-day-a-year crisis intervention hotline that is staffed by trained volunteers and our professional counselors. LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors of any type of violence are encouraged to call. AVP answers more than 3,000 calls a year – an average of one call every two and a half hours. We also conduct on-site client in-take in ten locations throughout the city – reaching hundreds of individuals that we would not otherwise have reached. AVP also works with clients via three distinct support groups for Hate Violence, Sexual Violence and Domestic Violence survivors which features a supportive and focused curriculum to move people from trauma to healing. Last spring AVP began an economic empowerment program for clients, to help provide the tools that create additional financial stability in their lives. In late 2013 AVP received federal funding to start our Legal Services Program, which is providing comprehensive civil legal services for LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence. COMMUNITY ORGANIZING & PUBLIC ADVOCACY: AVP’s community organizing efforts reached more than 57,000 people last fiscal year. AVP organizes local and city-wide community and public responses to specific violent incidents and creates campaigns that address LGBTQ and HIV-affected people’s safety. In addition, AVP collaborates with community leaders and community-based organizations to raise awareness about the intersection of LGBTQ and HIV-affected identity and violence. Our popular “SafeBar*Safe Nights” Program, in particular, is designed to stop hook-up violence and date-associated violence before it happens by conducting outreach at LGBTQ nightlife venues. Through AVP’s Speakers Bureau, we help give former clients the tools to share their stories to educate schools, community groups and service providers about how to prevent violence, and what to do if they or someone they love is affected by anti-LGBTQ violence. Each year, through its Training and Education Institute, AVP trains more than 6,000 people at over 200 trainings with community members, police, court staff, district attorneys' offices, rape crisis centers, domestic violence agencies and other mainstream health and human service providers. AVP’s Training and Education Institute also serves as a clearinghouse for the most up-to-date information, studies, articles and curricula on the issue of violence, and is a research resource for those interested in studying violence within LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities. NATIONAL WORK: AVP coordinates the 45-member National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), a national network of organizations dedicated to ending violence against LGBTQ people. Through NCAVP, AVP participates in creating and implementing a national platform from which to fight anti-LGBTQ and HIV-affected violence and to advocate for city, state and federal policies impacting our communities, including LGBTQ inclusion in the Violence Against Women Act for the first time ever. AVP frequently collaborates with and provides expertise to the White House, the Department of Justice and the Health and Human Services Department. NCAVP annually produces the “National Report on Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Violence” and the “National Report on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Intimate Partner Violence” – each is the definitive statement in the U.S. on bias-related violence and intimate partner violence, respectively.