AMALNA: Arabs Magnifying Access by Leveraging Nontraditional Alliances

Asian Women’s Shelter (AWS) is proposing Project AMALNA, meaning “Our Peace” in Arabic, and standing for Arabs Magnifying Access by Leveraging Nontraditional Alliances. Project AMALNA will engage nontraditional entities to help connect Arab and Muslim victims of crime inside and beyond San Francisco to the systems and organizations that can support them. Arab and Muslim victims of crime, including those who are immigrants, refugees, limited-English proficient, straight, or part of the LGBTQ+ community are chronically underserved in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the State of California. AWS will work with the Muslim Community Center (MCC) of the East Bay (a mosque and community center), Faiza Beauty and Nefertiti Salon to connect Arab victims of crime to government and nonprofit sources of support. The proposed scope of work centers around four primary sets of activities: 1) engagement of nontraditional partners into information learning, sharing, and referral making; 2) provision of requested support and services to Arab survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking; 3) provision of materials and trainings to Arab community members (through nontraditional partners and stakeholders) on processes and resources available to victims of crime in San Francisco and Alameda counties; and 4) activation of Language Advocates in Asian Women’s Shelter’s Multilingual Access Model (MLAM) Program to engage new nontraditional community stakeholders in any of the over 40 language communities represented in the MLAM Program. Expected outcomes include increased awareness and education within Arab and Muslim communities about how to access services for victims of crime, and increased access for Arab and Muslim victims of gender based violence and other forms of violence to services that meet their specific cultural and linguistic needs for healing and justice.