Our VOICE leader receives national recognition

From Our VOICE:

Our VOICE’s Executive Director, Angélica R. Wind, Receives NSVRC’s Visionary Voice Award for the State of North Carolina

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSRVC) presented Angélica R. Wind, Executive Director of Our VOICE, a 2016 Visionary Award for the state of North Carolina.

In conjunction with Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSRVC), offers the Visionary Voice award each April to recognize the creativity and hard work of individuals around the country who have demonstrated outstanding work to end sexual violence.

For the state of North Carolina, the April 2016 Visionary Voice Award was presented to Angélica Reza Wind, Our VOICE’s Executive Director, for her dedicated work to address, prevent and support victims of sexual assault in Buncombe County. This acknowledgement recognizes her leadership and devotion in the movement to end gender violence on a national level.

“Angelica is always looking for new and creative ways to fund the essential work Our VOICE does,” says Erin Wolf, Our VOICE rape prevention educator. “She illustrates that we all must continue our personal work to be present with the harsh realities of the violence in our communities in order to see how we individually can work to end rape culture and the intersectional roots of sexual violence.

Angelica’s passion for social justice issues related to women’s rights is reflected in her career, which includes tenures at Pisgah Legal Services as a bilingual Court Advocate and at the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence, where she served as Immigrant Outreach Specialist.  Before embarking on her career, Angelica’s experiences gave her the desire to work for social change.  The daughter of migrant farm workers who settled in North Carolina, she witnessed injustices in this community that instilled in her a sense of commitment to the struggle for social justice.  Angelica’s award and brief biography, including some of the innovations she has brought to Our VOICE, are featured online at nsvr.org/saam.

Nedra Wallace Wilson, Chair of the agency’s volunteer Board of Directors, is pleased to see Ms. Wind be honored.  “We are pleased, but we are not surprised,” she says.  “Angelica has led Our VOICE through a period of tremendous change and growth, and her dedication to ending sexual violence is a daily inspiration. She is an active change agent for building a community that is free of sexual violence.”

Angelica is honored to be presented the award but- true to form- directs the attention back to the agency to which she is so committed.  “At Our VOICE we are proud to be leaders in the fight against sexual violence, and are committed to serving individuals affected by sexaul assault at every step on their path to recovery. But it takes a community to end sexual violence, and we need everyone’s support.”