Office on Violence Against Women Welcomes Director Rosie Hidalgo
Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Justice.
Rosie Hidalgo joined the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) as its Director in July after serving as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor on Gender-Based Violence at the White House Gender Policy Council. She previously worked at OVW as Deputy Director for Policy during the Obama-Biden Administration. During that time, Rosie was detailed to the Office of the Vice President, working with the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women.
Rosie has worked in the movement to end gender-based violence for over 30 years as a public interest attorney and national policy advocate. At the outset of her career, she provided direct civil legal services through non-profit organizations in New York and Virginia. Before her work at the White House, she was the Senior Director of Public Policy for Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities (now Esperanza United), a national resource center with a focus on providing training, research, and policy advocacy to prevent and end domestic violence and sexual assault. Rosie also served on the Biden Foundation’s Advisory Council for Ending Violence Against Women and the American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence.
The daughter of immigrants from Cuba, Rosie spent a total of 10 years as an adult living in three different countries in Latin America, including the Dominican Republic, where she helped establish and coordinate a community-based domestic violence prevention and intervention network and worked as a consultant for the World Bank on social services reforms.
She received her Bachelor’s degree in Government and International Relations from Georgetown University and her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden Scholar.
“Rosie has been a strong hearted ally to Native women and Indian tribes. NIWRC looks forward to working with Director Hidalgo to implement VAWA 2022 amendments,” said Lucy Simpson, Executive Director, NIWRC.
