Manavi

P.O. Box 3103
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-435-1414 phone
732-435-1411 fax
manavi@worldnet.att.net
www.manavi.org

Area of Inerest:
Women's issues and support

Ethnic Community Served:
South Asian

Description:
Manavi is a non-profit organization for women who trace their cultural heritage to Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Manavi's goal is to increase awareness of women's rights in society and encourage social change to end all violence against women. Our approach is nonjudgmental, non-religious, and nonsectarian. Manavi is committed to the empowerment of South Asian women and thereby, dedicates its major efforts to facilitating women's quest for self-reliance and autonomy everywhere.

Manavi, Inc. (meaning "primal woman" in Sanskrit) is a tax-exempt not-for-profit organization that was founded in February 1985. It is the first organization in the United States to focus on violence against women in South Asian communities. Manavi concentrates on issues of violence against South Asian women who reside in New Jersey.

In 1985, six South Asian women founded Manavi as a consciousness-raising group. Members of Manavi soon realized that although the South Asian community, like other Asian communities in the United States, is considered to be a "model minority," it has its own share of problems. Woman-abuse is prevalent within South Asian homes. In fact, most South Asian American women's organizations now consider family violence to be the most important issue facing its female community. Within a short time, demands for assistance from battered women transformed the mission of this budding organization. Manavi became a pragmatic agency determined to put theory into practice.

Staff:
Soniya Munshi - Program Director
Vartika Mathur - Counselor/Legal Coordinator
Sujata Warrier - President
Sapna Mehra - Outreach Coordinator

Source:
http://www.manavi.org

Submitted by:
AIA staff - RG

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