Welcome to LEAP Cohort 8! The Movement’s New LEAP Leaders

Women and people of color have been providing visionary leadership in the anti-violence movement since its inception. However, people of color are frequently overlooked for executive leadership development and positions within the very movement we built. The underrepresentation of leadership of color within this movement has a detrimental impact not only on emerging leaders themselves, but for the survivors of gender-based violence and their communities. Leadership of color is essential to ensure our work to end gender based violence will be culturally and linguistically responsive. When people of color are provided access to leadership development, mentorship, and a community to learn with and from, the holistic needs of communities of color become central to our movement.

For the past eight years, the LEAP (Leadership Education and Advancement for Professionals) program has sought to demystify what it means to be an executive leader in the field and mitigate what many of us have come to call “impostor syndrome.” VALOR provides an immersive and intensive training to build skills and confidence to propel leaders of color forward in the anti-violence movement. LEAP’s primary purpose is to enhance the professional skills of leaders of color in the anti-violence field with topics like, working with boards, finance and budgets, cultural capacity building, program development, evaluation, and sustainability, and so much more! .

We are inspired by and honored to announce and welcome LEAP’s newest cohort:

Alana Brown, The Safe Sisters Circle, Washington D.C.
Brandy Williams, Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault (MOCSA), Missouri
Brittany Davis, Center for Court Innovation, New York
Comfort Dondo, Phumulani Minnesota African Women Against Violence, Minnesota
Connie Cueva, Women’s Center Youth and Family Services, California
Flor Gonzalez, La Casa Inc., New Mexico
Ji-Hye Kim, KAN-WIN, Illinois
Jolene Holgate, Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, New Mexico
Jong-Ling Wu, Center for the Pacific Asian Family, California
Karen Romero, Freedom Network, Washington D.C.
Karla Juarez, Project UNICA, El Programa Hispano, Oregon
Kishana Smith, Massachusetts Women of Color Network, Massachusetts
Krittika Ghosh, Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project, Washington D.C.
Krystal Hollins, Brittany’s Place sexually exploited girls shelter-under 180 Degrees, Minnesota
Maria Barranco, Monarch SCC, California
NaToshia LeShoure, Family Resources, Illinois
Nida Abassi, Center for Court Innovation, Illinois
Nikki Patin, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, Illinois
Olivia Rivers, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Texas
Rachel Fernandez, Maeqtekuahkihkiw Metaemohsak Inc., Woodland Women, Wisconsin
Stephanie Holt, Victim Rights Law Center, Massachusetts
Sunhee Kim, Korean American Family Services (KFAM), California
Yvonne Chen, ECPAT, New York
Zarena Leblanc, ALSO Chicago, Illinois

Stay tuned for more updates from LEAP Cohort 8, starting in February 2022!

VALOR will open applications to join LEAP Cohort 9 in Fall, 2022. Join the mailing list to receive updates about LEAP.

This project is supported by Grant No 2020-TA-AX-K022 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this program are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice.

Welcome to LEAP Cohort 8! The Movement’s New LEAP Leaders

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