Executive Director Ana Trusty shares MiA’s ongoing projects and community-wide impact.

 

This election season Spanish speaking voter’s have access to something they’ve never had before — a voter’s guide in their language. This guide, which will be accompanied by a series of informational videos, is part of Mujeres in Action’s (MiA) years-long effort to improve language access in Spokane.

As an organization focused on serving Latine survivors of domestic violence, MiA started their language access campaign at the county courthouse. There, they found that survivors who didn’t speak English couldn’t access the interpretation services they needed to file for divorce or protection orders. After a successful lobbying effort language access signs are now prominent at the courthouse.

“Now, the interpretation posters are visible from the moment you walk into the courthouse,” said Ana Trusty, the executive director of MiA. “Unsurprisingly, we were told that once those posters went up a lot more people were asking for interpretation services.”

In addition to promoting language access, MiA is also working on building dedicated housing for Latine domestic violence survivors and offering Spanish language behavioral health services. While MiA’s work always starts with the needs of survivors, their impact spreads across the Latine community and beyond. 

Casa Mia

Since MiA first started serving survivors in 2018, one of the biggest challenges for the organization has been finding housing for survivors. “We've seen many times where somebody might leave and end up in a shelter and they have such a re-traumatizing experience that they decide it's better if I just stay,” said Trusty. 

Now, MiA is moving forward with long-held plans to build their housing for Latine survivors in Spokane — Casa Mia. Their plan is to build 12 townhome units that also include a central Casa Grande (big house) that offers services like counseling and employment coaching. Beyond offering services, Trusty said she also hopes the project fosters a sense if community and mutual support for the people living there.

Right now, MiA is working to secure property for the building with hopes of building next year and opening the project in 2026.

Behavioral Health

While Casa Mia may not open for another couple years, MiA hopes to soon be offering bilingual behavioral health support services. This summer they got their state licensing approved. MiA is currently seeking a bilingual Mental Health Therapist to run the program.

This program will support MiA’s organizational stability and “provide services that are much needed,” Trusty said.

Breaking the cycle

For Trusty, seeing people work through their trauma and come back to MiA with a desire to help others do the same is a source of joy. “We've had participants that redirect anger to us and they're like, ‘I don't want to work with you anymore’” Trusty said. “Then two years later they say: ‘thank you so much for everything you did for me, I think I want to volunteer for you now or apply to work.’” 

“We can hire them because we know they have that resolve, and we've seen them go through all of these systems and processes and we know that they can do it for themselves. So, now they want to go hand in hand with somebody else to do the same.”

And, moving from the individual experience, to the collective, Trusty sees the impact of MiA’s work echoing across the community. “We can see that not only are we breaking barriers for the survivors that we serve, but for the broader community,” Trusty said. “We're making that impact. I think those are the moments of joy that we celebrate.”