Collaboration with Arlington’s Project PEACE
On January 25, 2020, Lantuun Dohio USA organized an event with Arlington’s Project PEACE at the county’s Central Library. The PEACE stands for Partnering to End Abuse in the Community for Everyone and is a coordinated community response to raising awareness and developing the most efficient and comprehensive services to end domestic and sexual violence in the community. The event was the first one ever to be organized specifically for the Mongolian community in the area by Project PEACE and was extremely successful. Both Lantuun Dohio USA and the Project PEACE panelists agreed that there is a high need for collaboration and partnership going forward.

There were five organizations at the event: Domestic Violence Resource Project (DVRP), Doorways, Arlington County Police Department,  Just Neighbors, and Inova FACT. The representatives from each organization set up a table at the event to introduce themselves to the attendees. The event started with a presentation about domestic violence by Sofia Kim, who is the Training and Outreach Coordinator at the Asian/Pacific Islander DVRP. Her presentation gave the attendees an opportunity to think about concepts such as gender and domestic violence. She also explained the different types of domestic violence and provided some recommendations on what to do if the attendees or someone they know are suffering from domestic violence. After the presentation, there was a panel in which each representative talked about the services their organization provides and the attendees asked questions. The attendees were engaged and asked many important questions about the services provided. Oftentimes, domestic violence is hidden because victims are worried about immigration status, language barriers, dependency on abusers, and social stigma. The panelists also expressed their interest in having more Mongolians to be aware of their services and being more involved in the Mongolian community. 

Lantuun Dohio USA would like to thank the panelists Lauren Pires (DVRP), Natalie Wade (Doorways), Lt. Eliseo Pilco (Arlington County Police Department), Stephanie Barnes (Just Neighbors), Mary Hale (Inova FACT), and Candice Lopez (Project PEACE).  

If you or someone you know is being affected by domestic violence, please know that there are many organizations that provide legal, psychological, medical, educational, and shelter services for free regardless of the immigration status. Please reach out to these organizations below for help.

For more information, please listen to our podcast interview with Candice Lopez, Project Coordinator from Project PEACE on Season 2 Episode 1.

For Mongolian version, please listen to Season 2 Episode 2.