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Op-Ed: Empowering survivors by investing in the communities that know them best
Op-Ed: Empowering survivors by investing in the communities that know them best

Jul. 8, 2025 By Speaker Adrienne Adams and Council Member Sandra Ung

For many immigrant survivors of domestic and gender-based violence, language barriers can often be difficult to overcome, adding to the litany of overwhelming challenges they face. Many are financially dependent on their partners, while others are isolated from their family and community. Some may fear that seeking help could jeopardize their immigration status.

To better support survivors of all backgrounds, the New York City Council has established in the city budget a new Culturally Specific Gender Based Violence Initiative, which will provide $3 million in direct funding to grassroots organizations that support domestic violence survivors in immigrant communities. Through this initiative, nonprofits will continue to provide culturally specific support, including interpretation, referrals, counseling, and legal representation for U- and T-Visas.

These groups know their communities intimately and understand the cultural and linguistic barriers that often prevent survivors from seeking help. Organizations like the Korean American Family Service Center, Garden of Hope, Sakhi for South Asian Survivors, Sauti Yetu Center for African Women and Families, Violence Intervention Program (VIP), and Womankind, to name just a few, are the first—and sometimes only—place they can turn to in a moment of crisis.

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Woman groped at Woodhaven Boulevard subway station near Queens Center Mall: NYPD

A woman was groped by a heavyset man as she entered the Woodhaven Boulevard subway station near the Queens Center Mall late last month.

Police from the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst and Transit District 20 reported that the 31-year-old victim was by the turnstiles just after midnight on Monday, June 30, when she was approached by a stranger who allegedly grabbed her buttocks. The suspect exited the station onto Queens Boulevard and ran off in an unknown direction. The woman was not injured during the encounter.

Neighbors scare off burglary suspects at Bayside home: NYPD

Police from the 111th Precinct in Bayside are looking for a pair of befuddled burglars who tried to break into the home of a senior a few blocks west of the Clearview Expressway late last month, before they were scared off by the victim’s neighbors.

The masked couple targeted a home near the intersection of 202nd Street and 36th Avenue in Bayside on the evening of Saturday, June 28. The man and woman entered the yard of a 65-year-old man at around 6:45 p.m. and went to work on a sliding glass door at the rear of the home, but they were unable to enter the residence, police said Friday.

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