February 16, 2025
NEW YORK, NY February 16, 2025
CONTACT: Audacia Ray, Interim Executive Director | aray@avp.org | 917-334-8618
“The conditions leading to Sam Nordquist’s murder are a horrible combination of factors – growing permissiveness for anti-trans sentiment, lack of support for trans people of color seeking out close relationships, and a cultural indifference to the humanity of LGBTQ people. In a political moment in which the f[...]
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September 17, 2024
AVP is steady and AVP is adapting.
That is the message from AVP’s Board of Directors and Management Team following a recent period of transition for the 40 year-old organization. Over the last several months, AVP has taken on restructuring, leadership changes, budget reductions, and a rescaled strategic plan. These measures ensure that AVP—the largest LGBTQ+-specific anti-violence program in the country reaching more than 11,0[...]
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April 13, 2024
On Friday, NYPD Commissioner Edward Cabán issued a late day press release announcing the two officers who killed Kawaski Trawick in his home nearly five years ago will not be fired for causing his death.
“We are angry and dismayed at the decision to not fire the two officers who entered Kawaski Trawick's home nearly five years ago and killed him within a matter of seconds. This shameful decision by Commissioner Cabán shows a blatant disreg[...]
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February 23, 2024
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs invites organizations, agencies, and programs that support LGBTQ+ survivors of any violence to attend information sessions on NCAVP 2024 focus initiatives, with opportunities for further engagement in collective strategies and action.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs has been a consortium of organizations dedicated to addressing violence of all types against LGBTQ+ and HIV-affect[...]
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February 20, 2024
Dear Members of the AVP and LGBTQ+ Communities,
Today, we share with you the news that AVP’s Executive Director, Beverly Tillery will be stepping down after eight years of dedication and service to survivors of violence, and the greater LGBTQ+ community. Her last day at the organization will be July 31, 2024. We are excited to celebrate Bev’s leadership and AVP’s accomplishments during her tenure and to begin the search for the next dynami[...]
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December 21, 2023
The two bills passed by the New York City Council aim to increase oversight over NYPD by requiring record-keeping for police stops and prevent senseless deaths at Rikers Island by limiting the use of solitary confinement.
The ban on Solitary Confinement in city jails is the result of years of activism by a coalition of family and loved ones, organizations and stakeholders including AVP, which was loud in its advocacy for justice in t[...]
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November 27, 2023
AVP was on the national stage once again as AVP’s Director of Community Organizing and Public Advocacy, Audacia Ray (they/she), testified in front of The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights during their public briefing on Racial Disparities in Violent Crime Victimization in the United States on Friday, November 17th in Washington D.C.
Sharing the history of AVP’s work at the intersections of multi-marginalized groups, particularly LGBTQ[...]
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October 17, 2023
Cameron Esposito, Qween Jean and Our Lady J are trailblazers and changemakers for LGBTQ+ community who will be honored this year at AVP’s Courage Awards in New York.
(New York) The New York City Anti-Violence Project, the nation’s largest anti-violence organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ survivors of violence, is proud to announce this year’s honorees for its annual Courage Awards celebration. The 2023 Courage Awards will be held on[...]
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September 25, 2023
New York, New York - Four months after the disciplinary trial against Officers Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis for the 2019 killing of Kawaski Trawick, the NYPD deputy commissioner who oversaw the trial recommended that the charges against the two officers be dismissed. Trawick, a 32-year-old Black gay man, was cooking in his own Bronx apartment when officers broke the chain on his door, illegally entered his apartment, and then tased and sh[...]
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September 20, 2023
AVP was on the international stage on Monday as AVP’s Executive Director Beverly Tillery spoke on a featured panel at the Clinton Global Initiative The Pandemic Of Gender-based Violence: How To Address The Threats meeting in New York City on September 18, 2023.
Moderated by Dr. Chelsea Clinton, Beverly shared the panel with Jackson Katz of MVP Strategies and Kalpana Viswanath of Safetipin to discuss the layers of gender-based violence, wi[...]
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August 4, 2023
The New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) and our communities are in a compounded state of grief and mourning today. Over the past several days our communities have laid bare their pain and trauma for the world to see in response to the death of O’Shae Sibley. We have witnessed an outpouring of emotion, questions, demands, and truths about the state of our world.
This arrest does not acknowledge the underlying issues of violence that our[...]
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June 30, 2023
The New York City Anti-Violence Project issues the following statement concerning recent Supreme Court decisions rolling back progress on equal rights and accommodations.
In the past two days, the United States Supreme Court has taken dangerous steps toward the recent trend of institutions re-enshrining discrimination into law and away from acknowledging and addressing the impact discrimination has on the rights, protections, and safety of a[...]
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