Massachusetts

Our mission is to improve the lives of Portuguese speakers in Massachusetts and help them become contributing, active participants in American society while maintaining a strong ethnic identity and a sense of community.
We work with and for the Brazilian, Cabo Verdean, Portuguese and other Portuguese-speaking communities to increase access and remove barriers to health, education and social services through direct services, advocacy, leadership, and community development.

MAPS in its present form was created in 1993 by the merger of two agencies: the former Somerville Portuguese American League (SPAL) and the Cambridge Organization of Portuguese Americans (COPA), which had served area Portuguese speakers separately since 1970.

They merged to improve service provision and further unify the Portuguese-speaking community, including immigrants from eight countries around the world.

In addition to serving Portuguese-speaking immigrants and their families, MAPS assists all who need our services.

ATASK is a nonprofit, community organization serving pan-Asian survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence. We provide services in Greater Boston and Greater Lowell and offer assistance in other cities throughout Massachusetts and New England. We currently provide services in 18 Asian languages and dialects. Our mission is to prevent domestic and intimate partner violence in Asian families and communities and to provide hope to survivors. 

MassEquality is the leading statewide grassroots advocacy organization working to ensure that everyone across Massachusetts can thrive from cradle to grave without discrimination and oppression based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

Support for victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence is made available at the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts through the Domestic and Sexual Violence Project. This culturally specific project is offered in direct response to address the need for equal access to direct services, information and resources, vital in the support of victims and survivors of trauma.

Founder, Reverend Traci Jackson Antoine; along with her team work in collaboration with faith leaders and law enforcement to provide training that enhance the quality and response that victims of color receive from first responders. Additionally, the project works alongside Northeastern University Law Students to provide cultural sensitivity training as it relates specifically to victims of trauma of color.

Trainings have garnered positive response from counsel and client; impacting how victims of color are perceived and thus represented within the legal system. The success and national recognition of the project is directly tied to its committed effort to provide victims and survivors of Boston’s inner city communities of color with a coordinated community response that addresses the individualized needs of victims and survivors through a spectrum of quality services, specialized training, and support throughout its network of partners, supporters and community leaders.

Our mission is to improve the lives of Portuguese speakers in Massachusetts and help them become contributing, active participants in American society while maintaining a strong ethnic identity and a sense of community.

We work with and for the Brazilian, Cabo Verdean, Portuguese and other Portuguese-speaking communities to increase access and remove barriers to health, education and social services through direct services, advocacy, leadership, and community development.

Services include:

• citizenship assistance
• domestic violence/sexual assault advocacy
• driver alcohol education
• elder services
• employment & career assistance
• family support
• HIV/Sexually transmitted infections
• immigration integration
• intimate partner abuse educational program
• translations/notary public

Victim Rights Law Center provides free, comprehensive legal services for sexual assault victims with civil legal issues in Massachusetts and Oregon. Our attorneys harness their knowledge from representing survivors to train professionals nationwide to improve the response to sexual violence.

The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention serves as the national resource center for institutions of higher education concerned with reducing alcohol, other drug use and violence. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, with supplemental funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Center helps campuses and the communities in which they’re situated develop and sustain safe, healthy, and learning conducive environments. They provide training, technical assistance, publications, and other information to assist colleges and universities in developing, implementing and evaluating prevention programs and policies.