AVA Announces new Executive Director!
Good afternoon,
On behalf of the Association of VAWA Administrators (AVA) Board of Directors, I am excited to share with each of you that we have recently hired Arlene Vassell to serve as the new AVA Executive Director!
Arlene Vassell (she/her) brings over 25 years of experience as a strategist, administrator, facilitator and trainer. A nationally recognized advocate and leader in the movement to end gender-based violence (GBV), she has dedicated her entire career to preventing and ending GBV, disrupting systems of inequality and oppression, advancing the leadership of people of color, and creating equity-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally relevant policies and programs.
Her “formal” advocacy journey began as a direct service provider with the YWCA Women’s Advocacy Program in Virginia. She later held significant leadership roles with the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence. During her tenure with these organizations, Arlene coordinated, developed, implemented, and evaluated numerous programs and initiatives funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Office of Violence Against Women, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services Program.
Arlene has extensive experience collaborating with survivors, funders, policymakers, nonprofits, community-based organizations and grassroots organizers to enhance responses to crimes against women and children, particularly individuals from historically marginalized and underserved communities. Throughout her career, she has served on numerous boards, task forces, committees, and workgroups focused on ensuring that all survivors and victims of domestic violence and sexual assault have access to inclusive, survivor-centered, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed services that support safety, justice, wellness, and healing.
Arlene is a proud immigrant from Jamaica, the proud mother of two adult children, a published author, and the Founding Director of the TooREL Institute for Social Change.
The AVA Board is looking forward to working with Arlene to further our mission to encourage and facilitate mutual support, awareness and cooperation among states and territories administering Violence Against Women Act formula grants and to provide a centralized voice for the advancement of improvements to enhance the effectiveness of VAWA administration. Arlene will begin serving in her new role beginning September 9th and work alongside our current Executive Director, Barry Bryant, to transition all job duties before he takes the next step into retirement.
As always, thank you all for your dedication to serving crime victims and survivors, and for your continued partnership and support of AVA and its mission!
Kindest regards,
Mark Hertweck
Board President
Association of VAWA Administrators (AVA)