Resilience News

Interview with Naihal Almoghrabi

Meet Naihal Almoghrabi, a Resilience Volunteer Medical Advocate, whose unique and critical role requires approaching all survivors by believing them and advocating for their needs and rights.

Dive into our exclusive interview below to gain insight from Naihal, who speaks about our volunteer program, the impact of advocates’ support in hospitals, and the importance of giving back to organizations like Resilience.

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Get to Know Resilience’s Newest Team Members: Exclusive Interviews!

We take pride in celebrating the individuals who strengthen the bonds within our remarkable community, uniting us in our shared mission.

In this month’s feature, we highlight Azisti Y. Dembowski, Director of Finance, Dr. Claudia Garcia-Rojas, Director of Advancement, LaQuita Hearn-Quinn, Advancement Coordinator, and Dr. Jennifer Zale, Events & Special Projects Manager.

Dive into our exclusive interview below to gain insight from these new team members. Learn what inspired them to join Resilience, their aspirations for the future of the organization, and much more.

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Interview with Andrea King

We are proud to celebrate the people who serve and connect our incredible community. Each month, we interview a different member of Resilience’s community to hear more about the work they’re doing to empower survivors and end sexual violence. This month, we’re shining a spotlight on Andrea King, Resilience Associate Board President. Read our interview below to hear from Andrea about how she got involved with the Associate Board, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and more.

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Watch our FY23 Wrap Up Video

Thank you to our supporters for helping Resilience achieve so much in Fiscal Year 2023! With your help, we served over 1,400 survivors of sexual violence in Chicago.

Click here to view our FY23 video and learn more about our reach this past fiscal year.

Through all our programs and services, we connected with our community to empower survivors and end sexual violence. As we begin the new fiscal year, we look forward to even more success. Resilience thanks our incredible volunteers, Board of Directors, Associate Board, partners, donors, and supporters. We also send all our gratitude to our staff. Without all of your tireless work and dedication, none of this would be possible. Every day your steadfast support brings us closer to ending sexual violence. Here’s to even more empowerment in fiscal year 2024!

 

Interview with Alondra Guzman

We are proud to celebrate the people who serve and connect our incredible community. Each month, we interview a different member of Resilience’s community to hear more about the work they’re doing to empower survivors and end sexual violence. This month, we’re shining a spotlight on Alondra Guzman, Resilience’s Children’s Legal & Medical Advocate. Read our interview below to hear from Alondra about how she got involved in advocacy, empowers survivors who are minors, and celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month.

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Interview with Anna Candoleza Muglia

We’re proud to celebrate the people who serve and connect our incredible community. Each month, we interview a different member of Resilience’s community to hear more about the work they’re doing to empower survivors and end sexual violence. This month, we’re shining a spotlight on Anna Candoleza Muglia, BSN, RN, SANE-A, Pediatric SANE, and SANE Program Coordinator in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Rush University Medical Center. Read our interview below to hear from Anna about working with survivors in hospitals, the importance of building trust with patients, and her hopes for the future.

Read our interview with Anna below.

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Interview with Jon Center

We’re proud to celebrate the people who serve and connect our incredible community. Each month, we interview a different member of Resilience’s community to hear more about the work they’re doing to empower survivors and end sexual violence. This month, we’re shining a spotlight on Jon Center, President of Resilience’s Board of Directors. Read our interview below to hear from Jon about the work he’s done with Resilience over the past four years and what he’s looking forward to in Resilience’s new fiscal year.

Read our interview with Jon below

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Supreme Court News – July 2023

The beginning of this summer has been filled with celebrations honoring Juneteenth, LGBTQ+ Pride Month, and our nation’s Declaration of Independence. Ironically as these summer celebrations followed one another, we also took steps backward as harmful news from the Supreme Court came to light. Historically and internationally, support for affirmative action has sought to achieve goals such as bridging inequalities in employment and pay, increasing access to education, promoting diversity, and redressing past harm. Similarly, protections around discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity have worked toward bridging inequality, increasing access, and condemning hate.

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Welcome Resilience’s New Executive Director, Donna Jacobson!

We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Resilience’s new Executive Director, Donna Jacobson. We believe that her passion for our mission, her experience, and her vision will enable Resilience to continue to achieve its mission – to assure that survivors of sexual assault are treated with dignity and compassion and to effect changes in the way the legal system, medical institutions, and society as a whole respond to survivors.

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Interview with Katie Kirshenbaum

We’re proud to celebrate the people who serve and connect our incredible community. Each month, we interview a different member of Resilience to hear more about the work they’re doing to empower survivors and end sexual violence. This month, we’re shining a spotlight on Katie Kirshenbaum, a Resilience Trauma Therapist. Read our interview below to hear from Katie about working with survivors in different ways, things we can all do to support LGBTQ+ survivors, and more.

Read our interview with Katie below.

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Standing Silent Witness on Chicago This Week

Resilience was thrilled to host Standing Silent Witness 2023, our signature SAAM event, on April 28, 2023, at Daley Plaza. In a visual demonstration of the silencing of survivors, participants gather silently for one hour wearing t-shirts with stories and messages protesting sexual violence and rape culture. This powerful event includes community members, advocates, volunteers, and survivors amplifying stories that are too often ignored as a way to break the silence about sexual violence. At the end of that hour, we break the silence by chanting messages of support. Thank you to everyone who participated in and supported this event!

Thank you to Brenda Ordonez, Northwestern University & CAN-TV for featuring this event and creating this video. To watch the video, please click here.

Interview with Jillian Furey

We’re proud to celebrate the people who serve and connect our incredible community. Each month, we interview a different member of Resilience to hear more about the work they’re doing to empower survivors and end sexual violence. This month, we’re shining a spotlight on Jillian Furey, a Resilience Associate Board member, survivor, and former Resilience client. Read our interview to hear from Jillian about her healing journey, getting involved with Resilience, and the upcoming Empowerment 5K. 

Read our interview with Jillian below.

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Interview with Yazmin Garcia

We’re proud to celebrate the people who serve and connect our incredible community. Each month, we interview a different member of Resilience to hear more about the work they’re doing to empower survivors and end sexual violence. This month, we’re shining a spotlight on Yazmin Garcia, a Volunteer Medical Advocate. Read our interview to hear from Yazmin about the impact of Resilience Volunteer Medical Advocates and the challenges and triumphs of the work they do.

Read our interview with Yazmin below.

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An important update regarding VOCA Fund Cuts

We would like to share a significant funding update that will impact the state of Illinois in FY24. Beginning July 1, 2023, the funding available to Illinois Rape Crisis Centers through the Victims of Crime Act Fund (VOCA) will be cut by 49%. VOCA uses non-taxpayer money from the Crime Victims Fund (CVF) for programs that serve victims of crime. Nationally, these funds support services for over 6 million victims of all types of crimes annually through 6,462 direct service organizations, including Resilience.

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