News from the Executive Director

Dear Friends,

The fall season signifies a busy and hectic time for most folks.  Kids are getting back to school, it’s a time of harvest and thanks, and families have the upcoming holidays on their minds.   You can feel the energy in the air and SAHELI is doing its part in gearing up for the season.   After a long session of preparing and planning, we’re ready to implement some new and exciting developments to our programs and agency.

Earlier in the year, we began carefully planning and strategizing on how to improve two of our very important programs: Community Education and the Survivor Assistance Program.  In Community Education, we will be launching the Community Ambassador Project which puts an emphasis on community building and mobilizing different Asian communities in addressing domestic violence that culturally resonates with each group.  The main component of the program is the recruitment of Community Ambassadors from different Asian groups and providing them tools to effectively provide their respective communities information and resources on domestic violence.   These Ambassadors actually play a dual role, not only will they convey important information to their communities, but they will play a crucial role in ensuring that SAHELI is aware of the emerging social services trends and needs in the different Asian communities.   This project builds upon our inherent belief that addressing domestic violence cannot be done by one entity and it takes the collective effort of compassionate and dedicated community members to make an impact.

On other exciting news for this season, we will be switching our message helpline to a live hotline.  This is a huge step for the agency by ensuring that victims in crisis get the information and support they need immediately.  Instead of waiting for a SAHELI advocate to call back, victims will instantaneously have a trained advocate on the line and if needed, patched to an interpreter immediately.  We plan to launch the live hotline in late October.   We thank the Lola Wright Foundation for this invaluable opportunity to improve our services.

In other news, SAHELI has been actively advocating with other service providers and the Texas Council of Family Violence on several policy issues that affect domestic violence victims.  Domestic violence victims emerged victoriously in the last 81st legislative session.  Some of the new legislation includes tougher penalties for batterers who strangle their victims, expanded rights for victims needing to break their leases to seek a safer haven, and the requirement for probationers to pay fees to domestic violence centers.   For more information on all of the legislative news, visit www.tcfv.org.

Of course, we are unable to make these strides in services without the help and support of the community.  We rely on the generosity of our volunteers and donors to help us ensure safety to our community and to those who are most vulnerable.  This past year has proven to be a hard one for us due to the economic climate.  Philanthropic giving and grant funding has drastically plummeted and it has affected everyone in social services.  SAHELI is no exception.  However, we will continue to serve with the same caliber of performance and ensure that all victims are provided culturally and linguistically appropriate services.   We thank you for your continued support of our programs.

In Unity,

Linda Phan
Executive Director