1. Can you please tell us briefly about the outstanding work you do to
end sexual violence in our island community.
When I received recognition for the Visionary Voice Award, I
was working for the Healing Hearts Crisis Center, so my work was solely in the
area of serving victims/survivors of sexual assault. I was fortunate to be a
part of their first steps towards healing when individuals decided to come
forward after being assaulted. I also had the opportunity to participate in
prevention efforts with other agencies in the community which included talking
to children in the schools to teach them the differences between red/green flag
touches and situations, respecting other people’s bodies and who to turn to in
the event that they found themselves in a red flag situation, so that hopefully
they could prevent a red flag touch. I also worked with the Healing Hearts team
and our main funder, the Edward Byrne grants, to ensure that there was funding
set aside for public awareness efforts to make sure to get the message out
about how serious a problem sexual abuse is on our island and that the Healing
Hearts Crisis Center was ready and willing to help them.
2. What do you see are Guam’s strengths to support the efforts to end
sexual violence, and where do you feel Guam could improvement…and why?
What I see as a strength of our island is that there is a growing number of individuals and groups in the community that are dedicated to the efforts to end sexual violence. These individuals don’t shy away from talking about sexual violence and the need to end this violence that plagues families on Guam. We as a community have come a long way and are starting to talk to our children more than shy away from conversations surrounding these issues. In time, this can only strengthen the island as a whole, and when everyone believes that sexual violence must stop, we are that much closer to ending the problem.
3. Please tell us about any current projects and work that you are
presently doing and/or any upcoming plans.
In my current position, I was involved with putting together
an application for the Office on Violence Against Women’s Legal Assistance for
Victims Grant Program in an effort to expand the services that we at Guam Legal
Services Corporation-Disability Law Center can provide to victims of sexual
assault, family violence and stalking.
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Leticia has many roles at Healing
Hearts Crisis Center. Leticia has done the work as program manager, intake social
worker and child forensic interviewer. Leticia assists those most vulnerable to
assault and abuse, has devoted her career to the care of sexually abused
children, and has hopes and aspirations to develop a Children's Advocacy Center
on Guam.
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The National Sexual Violence Resource Center
(NSVRC) announces the Visionary Voice Awards annually. These awards, offered in
conjunction with Sexual Assault Awareness Month each April, recognize the
creativity and hard work of individuals around the country who have
demonstrated outstanding advocacy and community work to end or prevent sexual
violence. The NSVRC relies on each state, territory, and tribal coalition to
select one outstanding individual deserving of this honor (only coalitions may
make selections). While we encourage coalitions to look to their local
community partners for outstanding individuals, coalitions may select the
person to receive the award on whatever basis they wish.
The 2014 awardees will be announced on March
27, 2014.
GCASAFV has participated in this since 2010.
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