Friday, April 4, 2025
4/4/2025
USRA: Uplifting Survivors and Refugee Advocacy Project - While the prevalence of domestic violence (DV) and sexual assault (SA) in the United States continues to be a concern, certain populations have higher risk factors and unique barriers. This includes those who were born outside the U.S. into cultures that have distinctive belief systems and societal structures, such as Middle Eastern countries like Afghanistan or Iraq. These ideologies can offer great strengths to an individual and in a community, such as a strong dedication to family and tradition, but can also be barriers to getting help if those strengths become corrupted, such as in cases of abuse. The USRA project addresses unique needs among the target population and in San Diego, including: language barriers, as few organizations offer support in Pashto, Arabic, Dari, Farsi, and Kurdish; cultural barriers and beliefs that limit access to services, such as models that normalize abuse, a stigma and even lack of language for speaking about abuse or the mental health consequences of abuse, practices, such as women cannot leave the home without a male escort, which keeps an abused woman isolated and unable to access services, plus community pressure to stay in abusive relationships; lack of knowledge of rights, options, or resources in the U.S.; fear of the police or legal system, including loss of residency; and system weaknesses such as DV/SA hotlines, principally operated by volunteers, unable to offer support to Middle Eastern and East African callers.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).