Resources

We are proud to present the NIWRC Advocacy Curriculum, a resource designed to support Tribal programs in providing advocacy, safety, and lasting change for survivors of violence. The role of an advocate is complex, multi-faceted, and often challenging. This curriculum embraces Indigenous culture as a foundation for advocacy, equipping advocates with essential knowledge and tools to support survivors and work toward ending violence in their communities.

Developed as a comprehensive resource, this curriculum is especially valuable for new advocates when immediate or cost-effective training is unavailable. It can also be used for team building, in-service training, public education, and cross-training initiatives, strengthening advocacy efforts across Tribal programs.

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Part 1, Violence Against Native Women: Root Causes, Dynamics & Trauma-Informed Advocacy, lays the foundation from a trauma-informed, culturally based background and perspective, clarifies the purpose and meaning for the work of advocates, both for those new to the work and for those who have been doing the work for a while. It contains five sections: History, Root Causes and Dynamics of Violence & Social Change, Dynamics and Tactics of Battering/ Intimate Partner Violence, Overview of Advocates’ Role,  Trauma: Impact and Effects, and Trauma-Informed Approaches and Advocacy.

Part 2, Advocacy: Skills, Shelter, Systems & Community, focuses on the skills, initiatives, and actions of advocates and programs. It has four sections: Basic Advocacy Skills, which includes active listening, safety planning and protection orders, shelter guidelines, and crisis line responses; Special Populations & Advocacy, which includes unlearning internalized oppression, advocacy with LGBTQ2S+ community members, male victims and those with different abilities; Basics of Shelter & Providing Safe Space, includes purpose of shelter, programming, rules/guideline and confidentiality, and Working Outside Shelter Doors covers ally-building, systems advocacy and coordinated community response and public education campaigns.

An additional PowerPoint called Intersection: Sex Trafficking and Domestic Violence is included as a basic introduction to the issue of sex trafficking. This curriculum includes an electronic version of PowerPoint with Facilitator Notes and a table of contents with objectives and agendas for each session. Folders containing background information, handouts, and mindfulness/ relaxation exercises are also provided.

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If you are having trouble requesting or receiving access to the curriculum, please contact NIWRC.

This curriculum was made possible by Grant Number 90EV0452-01-00 from the Administration of Children, Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.