There is a tense atmosphere in the Mayor's Office of Bogotá in the second round of the presidential elections. Photo: Ingrid Sánchez- Global Exchange – Península 360 Press
Amid a tense atmosphere, the presidential elections in the Mayor's Office of Bogotá are taking place with great expectations from voters who register and cast their votes during this Sunday of elections in Colombia, where the population will decide who will be their next president.
According to Ingrid Sánchez, for Global Exchange and Peninsula 360 Press, the vast majority of voters, who are showing great enthusiasm around the voting booths, declare that they eagerly await the results in favor of the Historic Pact formula.
However, the perception of electoral sentiment among some voters in the area differs, as for some the heated atmosphere is a stage for fraud to take place, while for others everything is going smoothly.
Voters support Gustavo Petro for Mayor of Bogotá. Video: Ingrid Sánchez. Global Exchange – Peninsula 360 Press
The majority of the population that has gone out to vote is doing so with the hope that the election results will favor Gustavo Petro, in whom they place their hopes that he will "end hunger and insecurity in the region" because they claim that, otherwise, if Rodolfo Hernández, the presidential candidate with the League of Anti-Corruption Governors, were to win, social inequality would reign.
This article was produced with the support of a group of journalists covering the first round of elections in Colombia, sponsored by the Global Exchange organization in collaboration with Península 360 Press.
Presidential candidates in Colombia, Gustavo Petro, candidate of the Historic Pact, and Rodolfo Hernandez, for the League of Anti-Corruption Governors, cast their vote this Sunday, June 19, each in their respective polling stations.
In the framework of the elections that are being held this Sunday, the economist and senator Gustavo Petro, who is competing in the electoral contest to be the next head of state of Colombia, registered and cast his vote in the town of Puente Aranda, Bogotá, accompanied by his wife Verónica Alcocer and daughters.
The candidate showed his vote to the audience with an "X" over the photo of him and Francia Márquez, his presidential candidate.
He then called on the population to go out and vote en masse, and especially encouraged young people and women, because he said, "they are the factor that is expected to change the history of Colombia."
For his part, the engineer and former mayor of Bucaramanga, presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernández, went to cast his vote in the capital of Santander, in the number one position of the Santander College.
At the site and accompanied by his wife Socorro Oliveros, he deposited his vote at the voting table and then showed his ballot with the "X" over his photo and that of his presidential candidate Marelen Castillo.
The presidential candidate was accompanied by supporters who supported him at the time of the vote.
Javier Sarabia Pedroza, who is part of the “Electoral Witnesses” dedicated to monitoring the elections independently. Photo: Manuel Ortiz. Global Exchange – Península 360 Press
The Colombian Caribbean, one of the regions with the highest presence of armed groups linked to drug trafficking, human trafficking and extortion, is preparing with independent electoral witnesses for the presidential elections this Sunday, June 19.
Maestro Javier Sarabia Pedroza, director of the Son de Negro Dance of San Cayetano, is part of the self-appointed "Electoral Witnesses" dedicated to monitoring the elections independently, mostly farmers and fishermen who will be watching the 12 voting tables installed in the area.
Sarabia Pedroza said that she hopes that the current elections will take place peacefully and without fraud, since they are "the hope for us as an Afro group" because for a long time they were not taken into account for representation.
"We are an Afro-farming people, we live off agriculture and fishing. Here we have not had a good contribution from the governments. We hope that this incoming government will really address the problem of the Afro groups, especially in this area, which has been largely forgotten by the central administration," he said.
This note was produced with the support of a group of journalists covering the second round elections in Colombia, sponsored by the organization Global Exchange in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.
Duvan Caro and Manuel Ortiz, reporters from the Global Exchange team – Peninsula 360 Press.
Afro-Colombian communities face and overcome difficulties in exercising their right to vote in the second round of presidential elections taking place this Sunday in Colombia, where candidates Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernández are vying for the presidency.
From San Juan Nepomuceno in Montes de María, Manuel Ortiz and Duván Caro, reporters who are part of a group of journalists covering the second round elections in Colombia, sponsored by the organization Global Exchange In collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press, they highlighted that the obstacles facing communities, mostly black, have not stopped in the Colombian Caribbean.
"Yesterday we toured some of the communities in Montes de María, most of them Afro-Colombian peasant communities, and we encountered some obstacles that people will have to face today when voting," said Duvan.
From there, he said, they were able to confirm that there are many Afro-peasant and ethnic communities that have to overcome difficulties this Sunday to exercise their right to vote freely.
One of these obstacles, he explained, is the armed presence of illegal actors outside the law, precisely the same ones who about a month ago led or decreed an armed strike in the area.
Other communities in the Magdalena River area say they are having difficulty voting due to the floods that are currently affecting their communities.
These reporters have undertaken to tour the area to verify and assist these communities in exercising their right to vote.
This community, they said, was one of those that was confined during the recent armed strike.
«San Juan Nepomuceno is one of the municipalities that was affected by the confinement decreed by this illegal armed actor called «Las Sauce or Clan del Golfo», a region that experienced approximately a week of complete silence and abandonment by government institutions.»
It should be noted that the mayor of the municipality was temporarily replaced for undue participation in politics just 15 days ago, and the Colombian National Electoral Council returned him to his post.
Suárez de Cauca, ciudad natal de Francia Márquez, candidata a la vicepresidencia de Colombia por parte de la coalición «Pacto Histórico», espera una gran afluencia de votantes este domingo 19 de junio, fecha en que se define el próximo gobierno colombiano que estará al cargo, al menos, 4 años.
Y es que, desde las 8:00 horas, horario de apertura de las urnas, pobladores de la región se han desplazado desde lugares remotos, con más de cuatro horas de camino para votar.
En medio de un ambiente lleno de expectativa por parte de votantes que nunca habían participado en alguna elección por, según sus palabras, «falta de representación», ahora lo harán bajo la fórmula Petro-Márquez.
Francia, who is of Afro-Colombian origin, is expected to arrive in the town where she was born to exercise her vote.
De acuerdo con Laura Carlsen, reportera en la zona que forma parte de un grupo de periodistas que cubre las elecciones de segunda vuelta en Colombia, patrocinados por la organización Global Exchange en colaboración con Península 360 Press, destacó el entusiasmo del pueblo por acudir a las urnas y ejercer su derecho, el cual se ha volcado por Francia.
Laura Carlsen, reportera del equipo de Global Exchange – Península 360 Press.
«Mucha gente, algunos vienen de las veredas en las montañas alrededor de esta población caminando o bajando más de cuatro horas para votar», destacó.
A su vez, apuntó que, a pesar de los costos financieros y de otro tipo que tiene que enfrentar la gente para llegar hasta las urnas, hay una gran euforia y emoción por verse finalmente representados en las boletas y buscar con ello un cambio real para las comunidades negras que tanto han sufrido bajo otros gobiernos.
«Se nota que están motivados y se espera una gran votación precisamente para la fórmula Petro-Márquez en estas elecciones. Muchas personas que hemos entrevistado, sobre todo en la población afro-colombiana, ha expresado que es la primera vez en la historia que se sienten representadas por un candidato o una candidata en este caso a la presidencia o vicepresidencia», dijo.
En estas elecciones históricas, precisó Carlsen, Francia Márquez no sólo representa la figura de una mujer afro-colombiana, sino también tiene una trayectoria de lucha con que se identifica mucha de la gente que va a votar este domingo contra los megaproyectos, el desplazamiento, la violencia y el hambre que se vive en la región.
Municipio de Guapi, Colombia. Foto: Ivan Castaneira. Global Exchange – Península 360 Press
La falta de garantías para ejercer el voto en la Región Pacífica de Colombia, en especial en el Litoral Pacífico, así como la vulneración de los derechos humanos y la alta presencia de grupos armados en la región, entre otros factores, hacen más grande el riesgo de un posible fraude electoral este 19 de junio.
De acuerdo con un informe elaborado por la Campaña de Abogados y Abogadas por unas Elecciones Libres en el Pacífico –Pacific Vote-, lo anterior también se evidencia en la composición de múltiples factores y dinámicas, como la alta presencia y control por parte de diversos grupos armados, como el ELN, El Clan del Golfo, grupos residuales de las FARC y Los Pelusos.
Además, el territorio presenta números alarmantes de violaciones de derechos humanos, altos índices de Necesidades Básicas Insatisfechas (NBI), así como un riesgo alto y extremo de pobreza monetaria en casi la totalidad de los 62 municipios del Litoral Pacífico, lo que aumenta la vulnerabilidad para que los habitantes de esta región puedan ser cautivos del clientelismo, las maquinarias electorales y la compra de votos.
Timbiquí, Colombia. Foto: Ivan Castaneira. Global Exchange – Península 360 Press
En ese sentido, la Campaña de Abogados(as) dijo encontrarse en alerta sobre las múltiples denuncias que se han recibido de cara a la segunda vuelta presidencial. «Desde el 29 de mayo (primera vuelta) a la fecha, se ha evidenciado un alto número de violación de derechos humanos en 20 días, situación que pone en riesgo la integridad de la población civil en el Pacífico y el ejercicio efectivo del derecho al voto».
Además, Voto Pacífico señaló que en el presente año han sido asesinados 88 líderes y defensores de los derechos humanos en el país, mientras que desde la primera vuelta presidencial han sido asesinados nueve, de los cuales cinco pertenecen a la región Pacífica, dos al departamento del Cauca y tres en el Valle.
«A lo anterior, se debe sumar la alerta y situación crítica que se presenta en el norte del departamento del Cauca, con graves denuncias sobre vulneración de derechos humanos, debido al creciente número de actos violentos en contra de la población indígena, afrocolombiana y campesina, creando una atmósfera de terror e inseguridad permanente a toda la zona».
Todo ello, añadió, se ha «materializado en un feminicidio en el corregimiento de Mondomo y un doble homicidio en la misma zona limítrofe, entre los municipios de Santander de Quilichao y Buenos Aires, vereda Las Lajas del resguardo de La Concepción, el día 12 de junio y finalmente, el asesinato de un menor de 15 años con signos de tortura, en el resguardo de Las Delicias».
Así, indicó que dichas violaciones de derechos humanos en el Pacífico, agravan el panorama de cara a las elecciones y como Campaña, exhortan al Estado colombiano para que pueda garantizar su protección de manera imperativa en dicha región, no solo para el ejercicio del derecho constitucional al voto, sino para la dignidad plena de todos los habitantes del país.
Citizen complaints
La Campaña de Abogados(as) señaló que el rol de la ciudadanía ha sido trascendental para las presentes elecciones, pues desde el primer momento han efectuado una participación activa, que ha permitido alimentar los documentos e informes que son de conocimiento público.
Entre estas denuncias destaca la recibida el 15 de junio del presente año, donde los consejos comunitarios del municipio de Nóvita, Chocó, denunciaron que el ELN impuso restricción de movilidad y libre circulación a toda la población civil después de las 18:00 horas, a raíz de varios enfrentamientos entre grupos armados ilegales cerca del corregimiento del Tambito.
Desde ese día también han sido retenidos más de 40 jóvenes en la ciudad de Cali, que forman parte de procesos sociales que surgieron a raíz de las movilizaciones del paro nacional del 2020; mientras que el líder social Omar Delgado fue liberado, luego de ser secuestrado el domingo 12 de junio en la ciudad de Buenaventura.
Electoral Risk
A un día para las elecciones, la Campaña también se pronunció con preocupación al conocer que nuevamente fue negada la verificación al software electoral de la Registraduría Nacional, en cabeza del registrador Alexander Vega.
«Esto no permite que se otorguen las garantías necesarias a todo el electorado, adicionalmente, persisten los riesgos electorales de los cuales se había manifestado la MOE en elecciones pasadas».
Entre los riesgos destacaron que alrededor de 290 municipios del país que se encuentran en riesgo alto y extremo de fraude electoral o limitación al ejercicio del sufragio.
De lo anterior, 84 municipios se encuentran en riesgo extremo de sufrir violencia en contra de la población civil ‒grupos armados ilegales GAI‒, de los cuales 42 se encuentran en la Región Pacífica: 16 en Cauca, 14 en Nariño, 9 en Chocó y 3 en Valle.
En tanto que 206 municipios se encuentran en alto riesgo y 38 de ellos pertenecen al pacífico: 12 en el Valle, 11 en Nariño, 10 en Chocó y 5 en Cauca.
Todo esto «vulnera el derecho al voto de las comunidades en todo el Pacífico, en especial en el Litoral ‒62 municipios‒, una muestra de la democracia racializada y desigual en Colombia». Lo anterior, señaló, materializa la falta de garantías que aquejan al Pacífico colombiano, somatizando el miedo a la población civil de cara a los próximos comicios electorales.
Municipio de Guapi, Colombia. Foto: Ivan Castaneira. Global Exchange – Península 360 Press
En contraste, para la primera vuelta presidencial, la situación no era distinta y todo ello se evidenció en el alto nivel de abstencionismo, en todo el Litoral Pacífico llegó al 55.65 por ciento y los territorios con mayor índice en cada departamento del Pacífico fueron Bagadó, Chocó ‒71 por ciento‒, Buenaventura en el Valle ‒60 por ciento‒, López de Micay en el Cauca ‒66.57 por ciento‒ y Santa Bárbara de Iscuandé en Nariño ‒72.08 por ciento‒.
«Esta Campaña, mantiene y mantendrá la vigilancia y veeduría no solamente sobre el posible fraude electoral, sino la protección y defensa de los derechos humanos en el Pacífico y la subregión del Litoral. La defensa de la vida y la democracia, resulta un imperativo de la presente Campaña junto a todos los abogados y abogadas que hacen parte del proceso y que desean un cambio efectivo en esta nación».
This note was produced with the support of a group of journalists covering the second round elections in Colombia, sponsored by the organization Global Exchange in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.
Photo: Ivan Castaneira. Global Exchange – Peninsula 360 Press
By Irma Gallo, with information from Iván Castaneira
Just hours before the second round of elections in Colombia, the Colombian Pacific region, where the Gustavo Petro-Francia Márquez ticket of the Historic Pact won the majority of votes in the first round, is facing violence and intimidation by armed groups and the government to frighten them and dissuade them from voting freely and peacefully.
Ali Bantu Ashanti is the Coordinator of Pacific Vote, an initiative to defend free elections in the Pacific region of Colombia. This region is made up of 62 municipalities, with a population of approximately 1,537,000 inhabitants, the majority of whom are Afro-descendants. Historically, it has a low political-electoral participation and is marked by vote-buying, corruption and violence.
Ali Bantu Ashanti, Pacific Vote Coordinator Photo: Ivan Castaneira. Global Exchange – Peninsula 360 Press
In an interview with Iván Castaneira, Ali Bantu Ashanti expressed his concern about the current situation in the Pacific:
“There is fear and uncertainty. People are worried throughout the Pacific region. Right now I am in the municipality of Guapi, touring this region with the lawyers of Voto Pacífico who decided to join us to monitor, to denounce electoral fraud, vote buying and the human rights violations that we are experiencing in this beautiful and powerful region of the country that is unfortunately mired in violence.”
“In the municipality of Bagadó yesterday, for example, there were strong clashes between the national army and the ELN group, directly violating the right of people to participate freely in Chocó. More than 49 thousand people are currently living in overcrowded conditions,” he continued.
“And what can be said about the two people who were murdered in a hospital in the municipality of Guapi or the indigenous social leader who was murdered in Cauca and many other leaders who have been murdered in the department of Valle.”
Photo: Ivan Castaneira. Global Exchange – Peninsula 360 Press
The leader called on the national and international community “to keep watch, to conduct surveillance, so that ultimately peaceful elections are held in Colombia and that people can go to the polls without fear, without fear of being killed because they vote for one candidate or another.”
He also denounced the concern that exists for the 40 young people imprisoned by the police in the context of the so-called Democracy Plan. “We are very concerned about what is happening to these young people who mobilized in what was called the social uprising.”
For Bantú Ashanti and the Voto Pacífico organization, the repression of young people is retaliation by the Duque government, “which does not want free and transparent elections to be held.” He is also convinced that the National Registrar is not providing guarantees for people to trust the National Registry: “it has flatly refused to comply with the ruling of the Council of State that requires it to conduct an audit in an independent and impartial manner.”
This note was produced with the support of a group of journalists covering the second round elections in Colombia, sponsored by the organization Global Exchange in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.
Mayerlis Angarita Robles, a human rights defender in the Montes de María region, points out that “the context in which the elections will take place is not only corruption and vote buying, but also the risk of losing one’s life.” Photo: Manuel Ortiz. Global Exchange – Península 360 Press
By Pamela Cruz and Manuel Ortiz
Paramilitary groups linked to drug trafficking, corruption and political pressure to buy votes are some of the situations that women and men will face in these elections in Montes de María, a mountainous region in the Colombian Caribbean, between the departments of Sucre and Bolívar.
According to human rights defender Mayerlis Angarita Robles, although Montes de María is a beautiful region with very happy people, it also has a history of risk, with four early warnings that show the delays of groups such as the 35th and 37th Fronts of the FARC, who did not enter into the process of laying down arms and who began to feed the groups that are exercising crime in the area.
The founder and director of the Narrar Para Vivir women's support network pointed out that violence "today in Montes de María is closely linked to drug trafficking and is much more dangerous. So, it is in this context that the elections will take place; it is not only corruption, vote buying, but also the risk of losing one's life."
He also said that in this area "vote buying is almost always a problem, precisely because of the issue of poverty. There are also many isolated areas and sometimes, every four years, people come to sell their votes for the opportunity to have something."
«So, what we do as an organization is to raise awareness, to make people understand the value of voting and what it means, because we need education, housing, health for our rights and not to vote in exchange for money.»
Angarita Robles added that some institutions responsible for speaking out in favor of the people insist on denying the presence of groups linked to drug trafficking in the area, and this makes it very difficult to exercise democracy in this context.
"I don't dare to say who they do or don't do, but there are also situations like a murder in a village. This causes anxiety, fear, and is often reflected in abstention from voting, or in the fact that unexpected results are seen in certain regions."
"I have been told that there are communities that have been ordered not to vote, or to vote for certain candidates," said the human rights defender, "which shows the pressure that has been put on them to vote for candidate X, so that people are now afraid to go out again, because they are afraid of reprisals against the communities."
«And since Montes de María has a history of 157 massacres and more than 4,172 homicides, you can imagine what it means for us to be a democracy today in a context where Monte de María is seen nationally and internationally as a territory of reconciliation, of peace. And yes we are, there are very tough people here, I think we are too tough to continue here in a territory, when the price of working for peace is your life.»
Ensuring democracy: the work of women and the community
For Mayerlis Angarita Robles Bueno, women have had to prepare to defend their rights, "in fact, we currently have eight Special Peace seats in the Peace Agreement, because we demanded that, just as there were seats for the FARC, the victims should have our own."
And although it was difficult to obtain, after filing several actions and a lawsuit, which were won, it was achieved that through this pronouncement of the Court the seats were given. "We fought for this seat... today we have the seat of Paz de Montes de María," she said.
He added that today, in addition, "we know how to take care of the vote, so we have electoral witnesses, we have trained people to go early, to be attentive, that if the ballot is crossed out they have the right to ask for another one, to be very attentive at the voting tables, in the counting."
«And here, in most cases, elections are won at the Registry Office, so that is where we must also be very careful. We must be very careful that the votes are not lost, because they can be seen there and that is what we all do. We are rural women, but we are women who have prepared ourselves, who have been educated, who know, who know what is happening in the territory and who are not naive.»
"We know the interests that exist to prevent democracy from reigning in the country today. And I believe that there is a cry, there is a general awakening throughout Colombia. Colombia wants democracy and wants the people to govern and we hope to have victory tomorrow."
Narrating to Live, a support network between the women of Montes de María
Finally, Mayerlis Angarita Robles commented that practicing law in Colombia is difficult, especially in the Montes de María region, where there is a patriarchal, sexist culture and women have been repeatedly taken as spoils of war.
"And precisely because we are defenders and women, it is much more difficult for us, because we are also charged for being women, we are charged for being born women who want to be defenders or leaders," she said.
"In my case, I have been through three attacks - in 2012, 2015, 2019 - and I pray to God that another one does not happen, because you really don't know if you will come out alive or not," as is the case for many other social and women's leaders in the Montes de María area and throughout the country.
Narrar para Vivir is an organization made up of 840 rural women, who have also transcended in academia, and who have worked for the restoration of their rights over the course of 21 years.
«We have been able to influence the spaces where decisions are made that have to do with our local reality and today we are showing that women are not only that history and that resistance when we were taken as spoils of war, but today we are transforming the territories, we are peace builders, we are exercising democracy and, above all, we are resisting and from the resilience of being reborn and rebuilding the territory so that illegal groups are not acting in the same way they did before.»
"We do this through the formation of strength, of words, of peaceful coexistence, of non-violent conflict resolution and above all, by saying that in this territory we will not be one inch or one inch closer to the violent," said the human rights defender.
This note was produced with the support of a group of journalists covering the second round elections in Colombia, sponsored by the organization Global Exchange in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.
El proyecto Urban Heat Watch busca voluntarios en San Francisco para ayudar a crear nuevos mapas de calor del paisaje urbano mediante la instalación de sensores en sus vehículos.
La ciudad es una de las 14 que fueron seleccionadas para el proyecto cuyo objetivo es comprender mejor la relación entre el cambio climático, las temperaturas extremas, la salud pública y el entorno construido, según la oficina del administrador de la ciudad.
El proyecto está patrocinado por la Administración Nacional Oceánica y Atmosférica y permitirá a la ciudad medir cómo varían las temperaturas por vecindario en un esfuerzo por abordar las desigualdades de salud relacionadas con el calor extremo.
Así, se están reclutando alrededor de 50 voluntarios para colocar sensores en sus vehículos y conducir por rutas predeterminadas en la ciudad. Los sensores registrarán datos de temperatura y humedad que ayudarán a diseñar mapas de islas de calor urbano.
Los voluntarios interesados pueden registrarse dando click here.
«Sabemos que las condiciones de calor extremo y la mala calidad del aire causadas por el cambio climático pueden tener impactos perjudiciales en la salud y exacerbar las desigualdades de salud entre las comunidades de color y entre las personas médicamente vulnerables», dijo el director de salud de la ciudad, el doctor Grant Colfax.
El proyecto es una asociación entre varias agencias de la ciudad y dos organizaciones sin fines de lucro, Brightline Defense Project y NICOS Chinese Health Coalition.
«Nos unimos a este esfuerzo porque los desastres naturales como el calor extremo afectan de manera desproporcionada a las personas de color y las comunidades marginadas como las que residen en Chinatown», señaló en un comunicado de prensa Kent Woo, director ejecutivo de NICOS.
«Estamos orgullosos de asociarnos con la ciudad y el proyecto Urban Heat Watch para potenciar nuestra capacidad de monitorear y abordar los efectos del calor extremo».
La ciudad ha informado de un incremento de visitas a la sala de emergencias durante el calor extremo en comparación con otras partes del estado. Eso se debe a que las personas que viven en climas templados tienen más dificultades para soportar eventos de calor extremo que las personas que viven en climas más cálidos, según la oficina del administrador.
Los efectos pueden ser peores para las poblaciones vulnerables, incluidos los adultos mayores, los niños y las personas con problemas de salud preexistentes, así como para las personas que no pueden reubicarse fácilmente para encontrar un alivio temporal.
Según un informe de 2019 de la Escuela Pública de Salud de UC Berkeley, San Francisco tiene entre tres y seis eventos de calor extremo cada año. El cambio climático podría aumentar este tipo de eventos hasta 13 por año para finales de siglo.
The Mayor of San Francisco, London N. Breed, proposed increasing funding to expand services to Asian crime victims with limited English proficiency by $500,000.
Since the pandemic began, she said, hate crimes and reported incidents against Asians and Pacific Islanders have increased exponentially.
In 2021 alone, there was a 567 percent increase in reported hate crimes since 2020, the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) reported, while the Stop AAPI Hate coalition tracked more than 10,000 hate incidents from March 2020 through September 2021 nationwide.
“As we’ve seen hate crimes unfold in our city… And while accountability is critical in these cases, it’s also become clear from speaking with many in the community that these victims also need mental health support, which can be difficult for people with language barriers. Through this funding, we will be providing support to those who need it, in the way they are most likely to accept it – that’s the key to a victim-centered system,” Breed said.
The proposed $500,000 investment includes $240,000 for Cantonese-language trauma recovery clinical services for Asian victims of serious violent crime or family members of homicide victims with limited English proficiency; as well as for training and technical assistance for community-based providers who help build community capacity for these types of services.
In addition, $160,000 will help expand Cantonese-language treatment with a mental health service provider for Asian crime victims with limited English proficiency who need mental health support as part of their recovery.
The budget will also help build capacity in community organizations to provide such services, as crimes against Asian seniors have increased.
Of the total budget, $59,000 is proposed to be allocated to increasing companion services for seniors throughout the city and to help people with severe disabilities get to and from their homes for medical appointments, as well as with social interaction to break their isolation.
“With these investments from the Mayor’s Office, more Asian crime victims will have early access to culturally competent mental health services,” said Christina Shea, Deputy Director/Director of Clinical Services at RAMS, Inc.
“This is a crucial piece to beginning recovery and healing – having a means to process their feelings of grief, shock, fear and anxiety, which could lead to more complex issues down the road if not supported from the start,” she added.
Last year, the city invested more than $3.2 million in comprehensive victim services for the API community and created a Community Liaison Unit (CLU) within the SFPD to ensure cultural and linguistic competency in reaching and serving victims.
