ASHA for Women

Services

What can ASHA for Women do for you?

ASHA for Women is committed to providing comprehensive support for South Asian survivors of domestic violence. Since 1989, ASHA for Women has provided both direct program services and referrals that allow women and their children to access all the resources necessary to meet their needs to ensure a safe and abuse-free environment.

ASHA for Women provides the following client services:

Free and confidential helpline

• Call ASHA’s free and confidential helpline 1-888-417-2742. ASHA’s Client Services Coordinator will match you with a volunteer advocate that can help you.

Volunteer advocate support

Volunteer advocates provide on-going emotional support, and will connect you with civil, criminal justice, immigration, and social services. Advocates will also accompany you to court, a shelter, government offices, doctors’ appointments, and hospitals, and will help you in locate housing, jobs, and competent professional help.

Emergency financial assistance

ASHA for Women may provide emergency financial services to assist you and your children with accessing basic needs such as food and shelter. When needed, funding can also be provided for English classes, driving lessons, health care, and legal representation.

Community outreach

ASHA participates in community forums to publicly discuss the causes and effects of family violence. It provides information to create awareness about existing services, resources, systems, and United States laws designed to assist and protect victims of domestic violence. We work in partnership with organizations like South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) and CHAI to hold community conversations on domestic violence prevention.

Advocacy

As a member of the national Interfaith Domestic Violence Coalition, ASHA partners with the Jewish Women International and other faith-based and secular organizations to develop policy and legislative guidance on domestic violence issues. It comprises more than 20 national organizations, representing millions of congregants from churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques across the United States. The Coalition shares a commitment to positive change and to advocate—with a collective voice—for national legislation and policies that protect all people from domestic violence, with particular focus on women and children.

ASHA also actively pursues cooperative working alliances with other domestic violence and social service agencies and professional groups, especially those serving immigrant and refugee families. We collaborate with organizations including:

• The Tahiri Justice Center
• Women Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE)
• The South Asian Bar Association (SABA)
• Ayuda Inc.
• Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center

Service providers’ education

ASHA helps domestic violence and other social service agencies become aware of the specific needs of battered South Asian women and children and the cultural context of violence in South Asian homes. To that end, our volunteers and board members make presentations about domestic violence in the South Asian community and in May 2007 hosted a conference for service providers that was attended by 80 representatives from various organizations.