[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 19]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 26770]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    THE ``DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PREVENTION, EDUCATION AND AWARNESS ACT''

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 30, 2003

  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a piece of 
legislation I believe will help empower women who are victims of 
domestic violence to seek help in ending and recovering from its 
effects.
  With the United States becoming increasingly multicultural, we need 
to ensure all women, regardless of language, culture or income are 
aware and are able to access the services they are entitled to. In 
order to carry this out, it is imperative we are culturally sensitive, 
attentive and pro-active to effectively reach out to all communities. 
There have been major gains by advocates, researchers and practitioners 
to end domestic violence, but there continues to be a lack of focus on 
a culturally specific domestic violence outlook. Studies have found 
that minority and immigrant communities face additional barriers to 
seek help, such as cultural beliefs and lack of resources in agencies 
like translators and bilingual materials.
  The ``Domestic Violence Prevention, Education and Awareness Act'' 
would amend the Violence Against Women Act to provide grants and 
develop informational public media campaigns specifically targeting 
racial and ethnic minority and immigrant communities. This will bring 
much needed attention to racial and ethnic minority and immigrant 
communities, communities that are often overlooked and underserved.
  While there are services out there designed to help women combat 
domestic violence, how do these services help those women who are not 
able to communicate with the counselors at these services, are afraid 
of being discriminated against for accessing these services, or who 
don't know what services are available to them?
  It is so important in this fight against domestic violence to offer 
these women all the support we possibly can. We need to create the 
avenues necessary to increase the number of survivors of domestic 
violence and make sure they are able to move on and rebuild their 
lives.

                          ____________________