Winter 2025 Policy Updates
Letter from CEO Stephanie Brown on New Immigration Directives, February 2025
Casa Myrna Supports All Survivors
Casa Myrna is committed to providing safe, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive supports for ALL survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, and sexual exploitation. We recognize that these forms of violence are rooted in systemic oppression, including racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and transphobia.
Our work is guided by our values of equity and justice and inclusion, ensuring that all survivors—regardless of immigration status, sexual orientation, or gender identity—have access to safety, supports, and advocacy. We further recognize that all people, cultures, and identities have value, and that inclusion strengthens our organization and our ability to support survivors effectively.
Supporting Immigrant Survivors
As you have no doubt seen, the White House is ratcheting up fear in our community with highly publicized immigration enforcement actions. As part of these actions, the Department of Homeland Security removed its policy on “sensitive locations” that prevented ICE from approaching people in certain public places, including shelters, schools, and places of worship. This policy change means that Casa Myrna and the survivors we support are more vulnerable to threats from immigration
enforcement at our office and in our shelters.
Our staff and survivors are scared for themselves and people they know and love. Not surprisingly, survivors may not reach out for support for fear of detention or deportation – and are forced into isolation with their abusers.
To protect the rights and safety of immigrant staff and survivors, Casa Myrna has implemented robust policies and protocols for responding to immigration enforcement. We are training staff and survivors on their rights. We are helping survivors implement safety and preparedness plans for themselves and their children. We are working with our coalition partners to stay educated and vigilant.
Standing Strong with LGBTQ+ Survivors
You have also seen the harmful rhetoric and policies coming from the White House aimed at erasing the existence of queer and trans people. For promoting equity and inclusion, the Administration has threatened funding for organizations like Casa Myrna across the country. While the immediate funding threats have been quelled, we know this is just the beginning. Though our funding may be in jeopardy, we will continue to support LGBTQ+ survivors. They, like immigrant and all other survivors, deserve our support.
All survivors will always be welcome at Casa Myrna.
Letter from CEO Stephanie Brown on Federal Funding Freeze, January 2025
Tuesday morning, the Trump Administration announced a freeze on federal grants and contracts aiming to align funding with administrative priorities. Minutes before it was to go into effect, a judge halted the freeze temporarily. Then yesterday, the Administration rescinded the freeze.
Many people have asked what the impact would be on Casa Myrna. The impact would have been drastic. Nearly 80% of Casa Myrna’s budget comes from federal, state, and local government funding. And approximately $5M of our $10M budget comes from the federal government, either directly or indirectly through the state or city of Boston. A freeze – or worse, the cancellation of contracts – would mean that we may not be able to continue providing rental assistance to over 120 families in private market housing each month. We would have to stop providing homelessness prevention support including funding for rent and utility arrearages for survivors. We could no longer provide emergency financial assistance for food, heat, personal hygiene products, transportation, and children’s supplies. We would lose the ability to provide legal advocacy and representation to survivors in family law and immigration matters. We would have to end our peer leader program where youth learn how to teach other youth about healthy relationships and dating violence.
We know that while this immediate funding threat may be over (for now), there are more coming. We expect that funding for the services we provide will be cut in the coming months.
We do have operating reserves, but not enough to get through a substantial loss of funding. This is why unrestricted funding from individual donors and foundations is so important. In addition to supporting creative new projects and filling in funding gaps, it allows us to continue supporting survivors under the threat and reality of funding cuts.
We are grateful for the many people and organizations who responded immediately to block the freeze. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell co-led 23 attorneys general who filed suit against the Trump Administration. In addition, the Massachusetts Providers Council kept us informed and worked with national advocacy organizations advocate against the freeze.
This last week we saw Executive Orders strike down advancements made in diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are witnessing the fear derived from the highly publicized immigration enforcement actions. We know this is a challenging time with much more uncertainty ahead, and we ask you to help us continue to support survivors through this time. We remain committed to survivors and will keep you informed as the policy updates develop further.