The mission of TVSA is support, education, and recognition for victim service providers.

Texas Victim Services Association

Newsletter
Spring 2022

TAAVA Class of 2022

In This Issue

Message from the Executive Director

President's Column

Membership Matters

Board of Directors Election Results

Professional Training and Development

Six Texas Agencies Designated as "Gold Level" for Victim Friendliness

Advanced Academy Returns to In-Person Format in 2022

TVSA Sponsor Feature: Proforma

Board of Directors

Welcome New Members

Job Board

Amazon Smile

Save the Dates

Board of Directors

President
Rose Luna, MSLC
Austin

Secretary
Jessica Serrano, MPA
Plano

Treasurer
Suzanne Bradford, BBA, CPA
Lockhart

Past President
Brooke King, MA
Austin

Region A Coordinator
Vacant

Region B Coordinator
Julie Jesperson, BA
Austin

Region C Coordinator
Jennifer Sterling, LCSW
Arlington

Region D Coordinator
Stacey Manigold, MS

Region E Coordinator
John Dominguez, BA
El Paso

Region F Coordinator
Angela Luna, BA, NACP
Corpus Christi

At-large Member
Mary Breaux, PhD
Huntsville

At-large Member
Lacy Hensley, LMSW, MA
Fort Worth

At-large Member
Amanda Elkanick Oder, BS
Austin

At-large Member
Sarina Rios-Scamardo, MSW
Edinburg

Ex Officio
Executive Director
Natacha Peláez-Wagner, M.Ed.
Austin

We welcome the following new members who have joined TVSA in the last quarter:

Denise Berrett, Richmond

Jennifer Betts-Williams, Plano

Dawn Bevan, Lubbock

Tammy Burnett, Missouri City

Joanna Cardozo, Arlington

Melanie Cleveland, Dallas

Ofelia Contreras Cardona, Fort Worth

Joey Cummings, Killeen

DeAnne Derrick, Cleburne

Lisa DuPaul, Conroe

Shadow Guidry, Georgetown

Casey Hendrix, McKinney

Amaralys Huerta, Fort Worth

Brianna Hulsey, Fort Worth

Kimberly Isett, Killeen

Trista Korczynski, Sugar Land

Cynthia Luna, Donna

Kara Mcleod, Lakeway

Jeniffer Mendez, Arlington

Sarah Moreno, Bastrop

Princy Prasad, Dallas

Yenifer Quiroga, Brownsville

Marycarmen Ramirez, Manor

Lori Robinson, Austin

Michelle Sacks, Houston

Detren Scales, Live Oak

Jose Sierra, Austin

Raymond Rhone, Austin

Chris Sutton, McKinney

Elizabeth Trejo-Robertson, Pearland

Sandra Vicencio, Donna

Yuridiana Villa, El Paso

Melissa White, McKinney

Hannah Zimmerman, San Antonio

New Agency Members

229th Judicial District Attorney's Office

Bernice Garza

Annabel Montalvo

Melody Rosa

Veronica Ramirez

Crisis Response Ministry

Ozzie Carrasco

Cynthia Cormier

Jason Pointer

Edward Smith

Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center

Adrianna Beekman

Sara Ellington

Sara Maldonado

Megan Morales

Daya, Inc.

Autoosa Abadi

Dr. Nusrat Ameen

Tishya Bedi

Rachna Khare

Hays-Caldwell Women's Center

Sandra Gonzalez

Sarah Guckiam

Jennifer Moreno

Patricia Platero

Montgomery County District Attorney's Office

Kaylynn Glenn

Jane Lowery

Amayramy Risney

Pennie Stanley

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Jennifer Newman

Belinda Swan

Stronger Women

Gaye Gardner

Rocio Ponce

Trauma Support Services

Beck Aguilar

Manuela Aguilar

Traci Beeson-Lane

Sarah Morales

New Members of the Parris Foundation Agency Membership

Bijul Obiajulu Enaohwo

Nakita Johnson

Alba Serrano

New Members of the Rio Grande Valley Empowerment Zone Agency Membership

Valerio Cantu

Sam Lara

Did You Know?

TVSA has a new and improved job board on our website! We have retooled the job board to make it easier for employers to submit job postings. Employers wishing to post a victim services position opening can fill out a form online to submit their posting to TVSA. Please send us your available job listings!

Victim services professionals engaged in job searches can view postings as well, with links to the human resources departments of pertinent agencies and/or applications directly for the listed positions. The job board is available at this link: http://www.txvsa.org/Active-Job-Postings

Supporting TVSA Through AmazonSmile

Now when you shop on Amazon, your purchases will support TVSA! Through AmazonSmile, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of every eligible purchase to TVSA.

How to shop and spread the word:

1. Visit Amazon through TVSA's unique link: https://smile.amazon.com/ch-74-2889588

2. Share TVSA's unique link on social media.

Shoppers that use the generic smile.amazon.com link are asked to select one of over a million organizations to support. Be sure to use and share our unique link, so shoppers can skip the selection process and give to TVSA!

Virtual Meetings

The following meetings are virtual events.

Annual Membership Meeting

May 6 2022, 12:00-1:00 PM

Post-Conviction Victim Services Meeting

July 14 2022, 12:00-1:30 PM

Juvenile Victim Services Meeting

September 22 2022, 12:00-1:30 PM

Upcoming Live Events

Victimology Research Symposium

October 27-28 2022

Hilton Conference Center and Hotel, College Station

7th Annual Texas Advanced Academy for Victim Assistance

Winter 2023

Biennial State Conference

May 9-12 2023

South Padre Island

Message from the Executive Director

By Natacha Peláez-Wagner, M.Ed.

At the beginning of this National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, it is important for all of us in the victim services profession to reflect on this year’s theme, Rights, access, equity for all victims, and on how each of us meets these words in the delivery of services to crime victims in our communities across Texas.

Rights: how well and to what end do we help crime survivors find their justice by:

Enforcing victims’ rights? How well do we know what is enshrined in our state’s victims’ rights constitutional amendment and the enabling legislation mandating rights for all victims? As our profession grows and programs expand and new programs are created, we must ensure we educate all new victim advocates to ensure compliance with the enforcement of victims’ rights.

Expanding access to services: the COVID pandemic brought to the forefront, possibly more than ever before in recent times, the need to be flexible and creative in making services accessible through multiple means and in new and different locations. Whether a victim resides in an urban area with easier access to services, or more rural, remote areas, access to services must be available to all populations in whatever manner they are able to receive the help they need.

Equity and inclusion for victims: all victims are deserving and entitled to equity of access to services and inclusion in the justice process. Human dignity demands this of all of us, as providers. We must look beyond past barriers and practices and aim to raise the standards for ALL victims of crime to be treated fairly and without preconceptions.

At TVSA, we aim to support these themes through providing training and technical assistance to direct service providers that will further educate them on victims’ rights and mandates in our state. Our 2022 Systems-Based Victim Services regional meeting series is our latest effort to this end. Our training conference and our upcoming fall research symposium have as cornerstones the sharing of new and emerging practices in expanding access to services. And our Texas Victim Friendly Initiative program’s central tenet is improved access of equitable, inclusive, quality services for victims.

This National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, let us all be proud of the work we do to uplift crime survivors and remain resolved to raise our level of services to victims even higher in the years ahead.

President's Column

By Rose Luna, MSLC

TVSA honors all who work with victims of crime. This month we join Texas Governor Greg Abbott in honoring survivors and those who work on their behalf. April is sexual assault awareness and prevention month as well as child abuse awareness month. The Governor issued proclamations honoring the bravery of survivors and the commitment of those working on their behalf. And although the work and crimes last all year long, April represents a time to spotlight the issue and those who fiercely advocate and facilitate the journey to healing and accountability. It is a time to generate awareness and initiate courageous conversations around sexual assault and child abuse.

This year, TVSA features systems-based advocacy, its distinction and role in providing holistic services to victims of crime. Our quarterly events thus far have focused on law enforcement and prosecutors’ offices programs. We’ve learned about local collaborations occurring across the state and the consistency of services to victims of crime that system-based advocates provide. We’ve also learned that although there are gaps, local communities and agencies cooperate on behalf of survivors in unique and inspiring ways.

It is our hope that the spirit of sexual assault awareness and prevention and child abuse awareness month extends throughout the year. We look forward to continuing the conversation while highlighting systems-based advocates in our next two virtual events:

Post-Conviction Victim Services – July 14, 2022

Juvenile System Victim Services – September 22, 2022

As always, we welcome your feedback and ideas and thank you for all you do for victims of crime in Texas.

By Brooke King, M.A., Membership Committee Chair

Happy spring, y’all! On behalf of our TVSA Regional Coordinators (Julie Jesperson - Region B; Jennifer Sterling – Region C, Stacey Manigold - Region D, John Dominguez - Region E, and Angela Luna - Region F) and myself we hope you are enjoying the extra daylight in the evenings and are planning something fun and relaxing for the summer! We still have an open regional coordinator position in Region A; so if you are interested in joining our board of directors and its membership committee as Region A coordinator please reach out to myself and Natacha!

We hope you have been able to attend one of the regional meetings, but if you have not, we encourage you to attend the Post-Conviction Victim Services meeting in July and the Juvenile System Victim Services meeting in September! We are excited about this learning series that will bring us together as a state and provide you time for peer learning and sharing within your region around system advocacy.

We hope you have a wonderful spring and look forward to connecting with you at an upcoming meeting!

Not a TVSA member yet? For more information on joining with us, please click: Join TVSA.

Board of Directors Election Results

Congratulations to the following TVSA members who have been elected to a two-year term on the Board of Directors for 2022-2024. They will be installed at our annual membership meeting on May 6^th:

Treasurer, Suzanne Bradford, CPA, GMJ Inc., Lockhart

Region C Coordinator, Jennifer Sterling, UT-Arlington Police Department

Region F Coordinator, Angela Luna, Nueces County Juvenile Justice Center, Corpus Christi

At-Large Member, Jim McKee, Crisis Response Ministry, Tyler

Professional Development and Training

By Dr. Mary Breaux, PhD, and Lacy Hensley, LMSW, MA, 2022 Symposium Co-Chairs

Please join us in College Station this fall for TVSA's 2022 Victimology Research Symposium, From Theory to Practice: Victimization, Justice & Healing. Practitioners, researchers and students alike will all walk away equipped with emerging trends and best practices for improved services to crime victims in their communities. This two-day event is designed to provide a forum to share current research that is informing practice and emerging responses in different settings and disciplines. Workshops will focus on research that affects the work of judges, victim advocates, law enforcement, prosecutors, and mental health service providers. The research symposium will be held on October 27-28^th, 2022 at the Hilton College Station and Conference Center in College Station, Texas.

Want to be a presenter? There's still time! We are now accepting proposals through April 29th. Click HERE to submit.

Are you a student wanting to share your research? Please submit your posters by May 20th. Click HERE to submit.

Six Texas Agencies Designated as "Gold Level" for Victim Friendliness

By Torie Camp, Texas Victim Friendly Initiative Project Specialist, M.Ed.

TVSA recently designated six Texas agencies as Victim Friendly Agencies – Gold Level. The six agencies are: Manor Police Department, Winnsboro Police Department, St. Mary’s University Police Department, the Collin County District Attorney’s Office, Abigail’s Arms, and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. The agencies were all participants in the inaugural year of TVSA’s Texas Victim Friendly Initiative (TVFI).

The goal of TVFI is to inspire and support law enforcement agencies, prosecutors’ offices, and community-based organizations to become more “victim-friendly.” Through the 12-month, structured, quality improvement program trauma-informed concepts are utilized to create more welcoming and safe environments and experiences for victims of crime.

“The TVFI program gave our agency concrete suggestions for how we could become more trauma-informed and victim friendly,” commented Marycarmen Ramirez, Manor Police Department Victim Services Specialist. “I really appreciated the implementation plan, in particular, and meetings with TVFI staff that kept us on track.”

The agencies achieved the following as a part of the program:

Created a trauma-informed care workgroup.
Demonstrated improvement between two administrations (baseline and year end) of an organizational self-assessment of victim-friendliness.
Developed a workplan to improve agency victim-friendliness and successfully achieved goals outlined in the workplan.
Demonstrated good and/or positive levels of staff knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding trauma-informed care.

"With a big organization like ours, change can be difficult, but the structure of the TVFI program helped us move the needle," said Srimaya Gurung, Program Director for Counseling Services at Catholic Charities of Galveston-Houston. "While in the program, with our victim-friendly designation in the balance, I feel like we had everyone's ear to make changes that reflect our trauma-informed values. I'm proud of the work we accomplished and am pleased that our agency workgroup has decided to continue meeting."

TVSA has developed the Texas Victim Friendly Initiative to support leaders who desire to create more trauma-informed organizations. The 12-month quality improvement program is offered at no cost to participating agencies with funding by the Office of the Texas Governor. To be notified when the application period opens in the fall, please email director@txvsa.org.

Advanced Academy Returns to In-Person Format in 2022

By Natacha Peláez-Wagner, M.Ed.

“Great Training. Exceptional Presenters.” -Student, TAAVA Class of 2022

TVSA welcomed a class of victim services professionals for the sixth annual Texas Advanced Academy for Victim Assistance in management and leadership (TAAVA) in late February. The academy marked our return to its in-person format, after the intervening virtual academy during the pandemic. While at the time of planning this year’s TAAVA there were still many concerns about the pandemic, these students felt ready to return to a live class, to participate in interactive exercises, and to have peer networking opportunities over the three days of the academy.

This academy also marked two “firsts”: 1) a new site for the class, in Hutto. TVSA is extremely grateful to the staff of the Deputy A.W. Grimes Law Enforcement Training Center of the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office for their welcoming and gracious hospitality to our students, staff, and volunteers as our hosts, and for their genuine support of the work of victim services in the justice system; and 2) the first use of our “new” academy curriculum in its full iteration. Developed in 2020, its first-ever use in 2021 required adaptation for online delivery at our virtual academy during the pandemic. The 2022 academy allowed for its full rollout as originally designed to be delivered in a live interactive format. The curriculum comes alive through the talent of our outstanding instructors, all seasoned victim services professionals with a wealth of knowledge and experience that demonstrate how to apply the principles of leadership and management in a trauma-based profession. As one of this year’s students commented, “I very much appreciated the diversity of the instructors as well as the dynamic energy they brought to their classes”.

We look forward to meeting our class of 2023 next year! Applications for the class will open in late fall this year.

TVSA Sponsor Feature

Proforma, DCS

TVSA is grateful to have the support of many wonderful sponsors throughout the years. As a grassroots non-profit organization, our sponsors provide essential support, allowing us to provide the programs and services our victim services professionals have come to count on from TVSA for their professional development and career growth.

In this feature we salute Proforma, DCS, a sponsor of our work since 2015.

Proforma DCS has been in business printing and promotional products for over 25 years. The staff at Proforma offers their clients promotional products, commercial printing, business documents and wide format signage/tradeshow graphics. Their primary market is Central Texas, with additional sales representatives in the Texas Rio Grande Valley and several other US states.

“The work of the Texas Victim Services Association to educate and empower Texans that become victims of crime in seeking justice and healing from their victimization is invaluable. By supporting, educating and recognizing the service providers who work with victims across our state, TVSA provides valuable training and resource opportunities to the professionals who serve crime victims. I am honored to be able to contribute to the work of victim services in Texas through our support of TVSA’s trainings and membership events," said Luis Ostos, National Account Manager and Managing Partner at Proforma DCS.

For more information about Proforma and its services please go to:

www.proformadcs.com

www.proformapromos.com

Tel – 512-452-4414

THE TEXAS VICTIM SERVICES ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER IS PUBLISHED QUARTERLY. Please forward articles, announcements, shout outs, job openings, training information, reviews, information and other items of interest to info@txvsa.org. Be sure and let us know if your email changes.

Texas Victim Services Association is very grateful for the support of its sponsors, members, friends and colleagues. TVSA does not specifically endorse or recommend any referral resources or vendors over others.