By Claudia Wald, Women’s Economic Empowerment Development Assistant.
My name is Claudia Wald and I am the Women’s Economic Empowerment Development Assistant. Through this role, Arab-American Family Support Center and the AmeriCorps VISTA program have bestowed upon me the privilege to develop a financial literacy program for Arab-American female survivors of domestic violence.
Prior to this position, I worked as a Paralegal/Case Handler at South Brooklyn Legal Services and concomitantly earned a graduate certificate in Global Affairs at New York University. I have worked on matters of sexual violence in various capacities, including as a rape crisis counselor at the New York City Anti-Violence Project. I received my Bachelor of Arts at the University of Florida, where my research focused on environmental justice issues.
In my role as an AmeriCorps VISTA, I will endeavor to embrace a philosophy of both openness and flexibility. Particularly for our constituency, understanding that economic security exists on a spectrum and is dynamic is seminal. This is germane when targeting discrete issues, creating interventions and supports, and measuring outcomes and ultimately impacts. Depending on the details of a woman’s life, women may move toward increased economic and personal autonomy over varying periods of time. Women’s trajectory of progress in securing a sound financial position is marked by the cumulative impact of small financial successes. We hope to further women’s economic empowerment through the implementation of formalized economic service provisions including economic education and credit counseling; economic advocacy and a network of support services.
I will be contributing to this blog each month. Thanks for reading!