.
1.What is your mission (goals & objectives) at Guma’ Mami, Inc.?
My goals and
objectives, along with providing services that will facilitate the
reintegration of individuals with developmental disabilities and serious mental
illness, are to raise the community’s awareness of the issues that women with disabilities
and elderly women face – especially cases involving sexual and domestic
violence.
As the Program
Coordinator for Guma’ Mami, Inc.’s STOP Violence Against Women grant, it is my
goal to ensure that we provide events and activities to the community which are
aligned with the grant’s objectives. We
provide direct services to women with disabilities who are survivors of sexual
violence through our monthly women’s support group, and we go out into the
community to provide Safety Plan training in order to empower and educate the
public. I also coordinate various other
community-based workshops for the consumers that are served by Guma’ Mami. These
workshops range from recreational-therapeutic sessions, wellness-promotion
workshops, creative-art workshops, vocational preparation workshops, etc.
Overall, my objective
is to plan and coordinate various activities for our consumers to gain skills
and knowledge that will assist them in reintegrating back into the community to
lead quality lives.
2. What specific services does Guma’ Mami, Inc. provide?
Guma’ Mami, Inc.
provides a residential program and a community based program. We currently have two community homes in
Mangilao, Mary Claire Home and Independent Group Home, where up to 5
individuals are placed. Each has a home and are provided with a transitional
residential program. GMI also has community-based programs including a monthly
women’s support group for women with disabilities who are survivors of sexual
assault and/or domestic violence, various community-training workshops, and
various community outreach activities that provide the general public with
information about the services available.
3. Who is your target audience?
Individuals with
developmental disabilities and/or serious mental illness.
4. What are your hours of operation and what is the best way for
people to reach you that are interested in assistance?
Our Community Homes in
Mangilao are 24/7- we have staff on shift every day and every hour. Our main office is located in Sinajana and
our hours are 8:00am-5:00pm, Monday – Friday.
Our number is 477-1505, and people can contact me via email at jirrahc@guam.net.
5. In addition to direct services, what resources does Guma’ Mami, Inc. offer?
GMI can provide
various training workshops to organizations, employees, management staff, and
agencies throughout Guam. Our goal is to
educate both our clients and the community that surrounds our clients. We provide training workshops that educate
employers about how to interact with persons with disabilities through various
topics such as “People First Language” where the focus of the training is treating
individuals with disabilities as people rather than a disability. GMI’s goal through these workshops is to
encourage the community to become more inclusive- in the workplace, school and
public areas- so that our consumers can be more successful at reintegrating
back into the community as independently as possible.
6. Thinking about current events, how do you foresee
recent events in your field of work affecting your organization and its work?
The Federal sequestration has definitely
placed a financial burden on our programs.
For example, we have had to cut our budget and be as creative as
possible to ensure that we are still providing quality care to our consumers
and to the community that we serve. We are constantly thinking of creative ways
to provide quality service on a budget.
7. Can
you discuss your community partnerships and how
they contribute to the overall success of Guma’ Mami, Inc. individually.
The partnerships that Guma’ Mami, Inc. has
formed and maintained over the years have contributed greatly toward the mission
and success of Guma’ Mami‘s efforts in the community. Without these contributions to our various
art exhibits, workshops, and programs the consumers whom we support would not
receive the quality service that we provide.
We have had hotels and furniture stores donate new and used furniture to
our clients; other organizations have contributed staff talent to lead training
sessions/workshops; and various companies have donated money and/or food to our
annual events where consumers directly receive food. The partnerships we have formed with various
government agencies have allowed us to serve as advocates for our
consumers. We are able to voice their
opinions, their struggles and their hopes for positive change in the community. These partnerships allow us to provide
various organizations, agencies and businesses with input that can have a
positive impact in the community our consumers are trying to reintegrate into.
8. Can you touch on
the history of Guma’ Mami, Inc. and how the organization is set up?
Guma’ Mami, Inc. (GMI), is a 501©3
private non-profit organization serving the Guam disability community for over
32 years. Guma’ Mami’s mission is to
facilitate the full inclusion and integration of adults with cognitive
disabilities and other developmental disabilities and adults with serious
mental illness into their communities through individual and family
supports. In line with this mission,
Guma’ Mami’s programs provide residential services to individuals who are
referred through Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center. Individuals, organizations, companies, and
agencies in the community can sign up for our various workshops and trainings
sessions by contacting our office @ 477-1505.
9. Any upcoming plans or projects that our island community should
be aware of?
In April, Guma’ Mami
will host our annual Clothesline Project that also promotes awareness of the
violence that women endure. This is an
opportunity for the public to participate by creating their own t-shirt that
expresses their thoughts about violence against women.
10.Why do you think the work you do is important to our island community
and the world at large?
I think that the work that Guma’ Mami, Inc.
does in the community is important to our island community because it gives a
voice of advocacy for many of the island’s most vulnerable, overlooked, and
underserved populations. The work that
we do to increase awareness of the issues that our island’s people face,
including violence, sexual assault, stalking, harassment and abuse is important
because we find that there are many people who do not know what to do or where
to turn to if they or someone the love is faced with such a crime. It’s important that the people of our island
community are educated about the available resources, the identification of
these wrongful actions, and their ability to do something to make a
difference. We want to encourage our
community to view people with disabilities as human beings before seeing their
disabilities or social status. By
providing the “People First” workshops, we teach leaders, employers, and
teachers how create an inclusive environment.
11. Lastly, could you please provide any current relevant statistics
that you have.
We recently received statistics from GPD
regarding sexual crimes on the island.
According to these reports, in 2013 there was a total of 250 arrests
made for family violence, 84 arrests made for sexual assault, and 17 arrests
made for stalking. These numbers appear
to be lower than previous years, however the fight against these crimes
continues.
In 2012 a report published in the Social
Science Research Network by the Violence Against Women with Disabilities
Working Group titled “Forgotten Sisters- A Report on Violence Against Women
with Disabilities: An Overview of its Nature, Scope, Causes and Consequences”
was released. This report takes a look
at this issue on an international scale, and due to its recent release, has
been referenced in several websites advocating for human and women’s rights. This
report states that “women with disabilities are twice as likely to experience
domestic violence and other forms of gender-based and non-sexual violence as
non-disabled women, and are likely to experience abuse over a longer period of
time and to suffer more injuries as a result of violence” (Ortoleva,
Stephanie and Lewis, Hope, Forgotten Sisters - A Report on Violence Against
Women with Disabilities: An Overview of its Nature, Scope, Causes and
Consequences (August 21, 2012). Northeastern University School of Law Research
Paper No. 104-2012. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2133332).
These are just a few figures to consider when thinking about whether or
not there is a need for programs like ours.
No comments:
Post a Comment