Hermanas
Hermanas is the first and largest domestic violence survivor-led Latino volunteer support and advocacy group in the United States, with more than 500 active members and thousands more survivors, advocates and supporters involved over the years.
Hermanas was started in 1980 by a small group of passionate graduates and advocates of Interval House and, along with the growth of Interval House, has evolved into one of our nation’s most influential Latino support groups.
Hermanas members provide specialized support, advocacy and outreach to Latino communities, working side-by-side with and in support of Interval House, which for the past nearly four decades has been nationally recognized for its pioneering leadership in the Latino community, having developed our country’s first comprehensive Latino Program for domestic violence victims. Interval House’s Latino Program won the U.S. Department of Justice Award in 1982 for its legendary and groundbreaking Amnesty Program, won the State of California’s first political asylum case on the grounds of domestic violence for an immigrant victim from Mexico (only the second case in the nation), and has led the way nationally in delivering services to immigrant and underserved victims, including its leadership with trafficking and the Violence Against Women Act.
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In 1980, Interval House started our nation’s first Latino program for domestic violence victims and their children and its graduates went on to form Hermanas, which would become the nation’s first and largest support group for Latina domestic violence victims. As the earliest voice for this highly underserved and immigrant community, Interval House and Hermanas endured a difficult, long-fought battle fraught with overwhelming obstacles, devastating roadblocks and little to no funding in order to serve the Latino community.
In 2016, in recognition of their pioneering contributions and historic leadership, which have paved the way for thousands of lives to be saved and changed, Interval House’s Latino Program staff and Hermanas advocates received the prestigious President’s Volunteer Service Award, the highest honor bestowed for volunteer service in the United States.
Please see the video for a glimpse of some of the outstanding Hermanas leaders and advocates.
Meet the leaders of Hermanas
Born one of 10 brothers and sisters in a poor, tiny village outside of Guadalajara, Mexico, Elvia married her childhood sweetheart at age 17. She endured a brutal marriage with her husband, who accused her of hateful things, called her disgusting names, threatened to kill her, and threatened to take her daughters away. For Elvia, almost worse than the physical abuse was the mental and emotional torture. “I felt hopeless, totally powerless,” she says. “There were times when I wanted him to kill me just to be done with the terror of living.”
After six years of abuse and degradation, trying on many occasions to escape, only to be pulled back in, she finally discovered a way out. Elvia fled to Interval House in 1980 in fear for her life and those of her two young girls. She had no money, spoke no English and only had a third grade education. But she knew she could not stay any longer. “I am sure that if I had not come to Interval House… I would not be alive today,” she says.
Today, Elvia has blossomed into one of the most inspiring advocates in our field. She is Interval House’s award-winning Legal and Latino Program Director, and is a highly sought-after trainer and legal expert, having educated thousands of attorneys, universities, law enforcement, health providers, and more over the years. Elvia is also Co-founder and President of Hermanas, the first and largest advocacy and support group of formerly battered Latino women in the nation, with more than 500 active members and thousands more involved over the years.
Elvia has received our nation’s top awards for her successful and inspirational leadership, including the Presidential Service Award, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence “Sunshine Peace Award” recognizing her as the most outstanding formerly battered woman helping others, and the National R.O.S.E. Foundation Award, honoring her as our nation’s most outstanding example of a survivor who has turned her life around to help others in need.
When Valentina first came to Interval House, she was living in fear and being tortured by her violent husband. Valentina, originally from a small Italian village in rural Mexico, came to the United States with high hopes that the numbing abuse from her husband would end as they started a new life in a new country.
Instead, the abuse grew worse and did not stop, even when Valentina became pregnant with her daughter. When Valentina was six-and-a-half months pregnant, he pushed her down the stairs, causing her to nearly lose her unborn baby. Valentina gave birth to her baby daughter just a few days later; she weighed just three pounds. “While the physical abuse left me battered, bruised, and broken, it was the emotional abuse that left me broken spiritually,” she recalls.
Although Valentina sought help from friends and churches, she never found the help she so desperately needed… until she came to Interval House. Here, she found strength, courage, and her way out of the terrible darkness in which she had been living.
Today, as a senior counselor, educator and trainer for Interval House, Valentina provides comprehensive and specialized services for victims of domestic violence. As a prominent domestic violence expert, Valentina has received the top awards in the nation, including the Presidential Lifetime Service Award.
Lorena has been involved with Interval House since age 5, having grown up in an immigrant household affected by domestic violence and later herself becoming a victim of teen relationship violence. Lorena co-founded the nationally acclaimed Interval House “Second Generation,” the nation’s first teen dating violence prevention program led by youth who use their own life stories to educate and inspire others to break the cycle of violence; co-founded the nation’s first 24-hour Multilingual Teen Crisis Hotline; and starred in and shared her personal journey in Interval House’s powerful teen dating violence video, “You Don’t Own Me.”
Lorena has presented at hundreds of workshops and panels providing vital domestic violence and dating violence training to service providers and law enforcement, and her experiences with domestic and teen dating violence has been featured on ethnic TV, radio, magazines and newspapers nationwide.
She serves as a board member on several domestic violence task forces, providing leadership and guidance on effective strategies for serving youth, immigrant and culturally undeserved communities.
Adriana was instrumental in developing best-practice pilot programs at Interval House to serve as models of effective collaboration between domestic violence providers and health care clinics, she led the development and implementation of domestic violence screening tools and training for physicians, nurses and providers at healthcare clinics that specialized in serving immigrant and indigent patients severely affected by profound health disparities. Adriana also coordinates Interval House’s highly popular bilingual legal and immigration clinics, in addition to specializing in permanent housing for individuals and families affected by domestic violence and homelessness.
Adriana serves in leadership roles on numerous boards and collaboratives in Los Angeles County and Orange County, providing specialized guidance on housing, legal and other issues impacting victims.