Directory of Organizations

Ayuda provides legal, social, and language services to help low-income immigrants in our neighborhoods access justice and transform their lives. Since 1973, we have served more than 150,000 low-income immigrants throughout Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia.

Ayuda’s expert and dedicated professionals help immigrants from anywhere in the world navigate the immigration and justice systems and access the social safety net. Our comprehensive and welcoming approach breaks down barriers, helps those in need, and makes our communities stronger.

The Center for Sex Offender Management’s primary goal is to enhance public safety by preventing further victimization through improving the management of sex offenders in the community. CSOM provides the most current information and effective practices to those responsible for managing sex offenders; captures lessons from communities around the country who have demonstrated — through collaboration between criminal justice and health system agencies — that they can manage sex offenders and increase public safety; disseminates those lessons; and provides the opportunity for other jurisdictions to draw upon these experiences, enhance their practices, and create similar results by offering a variety of technical assistance opportunities.

FreeState Justice is a legal advocacy organization that seeks to improve the lives of low-income lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (“LGBTQ”) Marylanders. Despite recent, incremental judicial victories for the national LGBTQ community, the low-income LGBTQ population continues to struggle with legal challenges such harassment, complex family law issues, and anti-LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, foster care, healthcare and public accommodations. In addition to needing attorneys with specific knowledge of how the law affects LGBTQ citizens, LGBTQ clients need attorneys who will treat them with respect and understanding. FreeState’s mission is to combine direct legal services with education and outreach to ensure that the low-income LGBTQ community Maryland receives fair treatment in the law and society.

The SAFE TA project is funded by the Office on Violence Against Women, and is a national resource for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners and Sexual Assault Response Team members on the National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations. Through the helpline and website they offer information on the national protocol and training standards, a glossary of forensic terms, training programs, frequently asked questions, forms for download and news pertaining to sexual assault.

IAFN is the only international professional organization of registered nurses formed exclusively to develop, promote, and disseminate information about the science of forensic nursing nationally and internationally.The Office on Violence Againt Women (OVW) engaged in a Cooperative Agreement with the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) as a partner to assist in the nationwide dissemination of the National SAFE Protocol of 2004 and to provide technical assistance to those jurisdictions interested in implementing those recommendations. 

NCJRS is a federally sponsored information clearinghouse for people around the country and the world involved with research, policy, and practice related to criminal and juvenile justice and drug control. NCJRS cooperates with many federal agencies including the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Clearinghouses, and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Resource Center.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is part of the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Its mission is to support and conduct research on drug abuse and addiction and to get research findings to the appropriate audiences to help in prevention, treatment, and policy-making decisions. As part of a broad-based public initiative to inform and educate teens, young adults, parents and communities about the dangers of drugs such as "ecstasy,"" roofies" and GHB, NIDA has created as website to provide science-based information about club drugs to help combat the increasing use of these harmful drugs.

The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Alliance is a group of professional and advocacy organizations that have joined forces to provide educational resources to individuals diagnosed with PTSD and their loved ones; those at risk for developing PTSD; and medical, healthcare and other frontline professionals. The PTSD Alliance includes four national organizations that represent healthcare issues related to PTSD; including trauma-related stress, women’s healthcare and anxiety disorders. These organizations are the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Anxiety Disorders Association of America, The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and the Sidran Traumatic Stress Institute.

Sidran Traumatic Stress Institute, Inc. is a nonprofit organization of international scope exclusively focused on educating patients, healthcare providers, and the public about recovery from traumatic stress (including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Sidran develops and delivers books and videotapes, assessment and teaching tools, and educational programs customized to meet the needs of specific consumer and professional populations. Sidran collaborates with other nonprofit organizations, private providers, government agencies (local, county, state, and federal), media and industry to raise the level of understanding and competence in regard to traumatic stress conditions.