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Angélica Wind of Our VOICE

Angélica Wind of Our VOICE

On a Personal Note: Angélica Wind

Story by Frances Figart | Photo by Megan Authement

While her name and appearance suggest calm and ease, it was a road of hardship and injustice that brought Angélica Wind to her current role in the Asheville community. As the executive director of Our VOICE, Buncombe County’s rape crisis and prevention center, Angélica is realizing a lifelong calling: to help survivors on their journey toward strength, safety, and hope.

Born in Washington state to Mexican parents, Angélica spent her childhood moving seasonally with the family to harvest apples and other crops. “Growing up, I witnessed a lot of injustices my parents faced as undocumented migrant farmworkers, such as being exploited for their labor, having to work in inhumane conditions, and having their voice silenced by threats of their immigration status being exposed,” she remembers.

“Professionally I have been doing anti-gender-based violence work for over ten years, but personally, I have been doing it since I was a kid as a result of having to interpret and find resources for family or friends impacted by domestic violence,” she says. “When you are an English-speaking child in a Spanish-speaking-only community, you are often tasked with responsibilities that are not the norm for most American kids.”

In 1986, President Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act helped Angélica’s parents obtain legal status and better employment. That year the family moved permanently to central North Carolina.

As a result of her experiences growing up, Angélica knew she “wanted to work on the issues that allowed some folks to have certain privileges and power over others.” Believing a law degree would be beneficial, she enrolled at North Carolina Central University in Durham. Combining her passion for advocacy with education, Angélica seemed to sprout wings as she soared into postgraduate law fellowships with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus both in Washington, DC, and in Madrid, Spain.

“After working on public policy at the national and international level, I knew that I wanted to go back to North Carolina and work on issues at the local level,” she says. So in 2008, she moved to Asheville and started at Pisgah Legal Services as a bilingual advocate for the Mountain Violence Prevention Project, shifting her professional focus in 2010 to the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence as their immigrant outreach specialist. Then in 2012, she heard that Our VOICE was hiring an executive director.

“The position really spoke to me,” she recalls, “because Our VOICE has had such a rich history in advocating for victims of sexual violence. I felt that I would have the ability to affect change in my local community while still being able to interact with individuals.”

When she got the job, Angélica says, “I knew I did not ever want to work in a silo where I forget the victim’s voice and experience. As such, I answer the crisis line and go to the hospital to support a survivor that has been raped. It is important to me that I stay connected in that manner.”

Our VOICE (V is for victims, O is for outreach, I for intervention, C is for counseling, and E for education) recently moved to the Buncombe County Family Justice Center at 35 Woodfin Street, which houses multiple services for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and elder abuse. In addition to a variety of prevention education programs for youth and adults, Our VOICE offers counseling and advocacy to survivors ages 13 and up. All services are confidential, offered in both English and Spanish, and free (for counseling there is a one-time $20 administrative fee, which can be waived if a person cannot pay).

“One of my favorite parts of my work is seeing a survivor of sexual violence come out of a counseling session with a smile on their face,” she says. “It reaffirms my belief that while they may not make a hundred percent recovery from sexual trauma, with intervention services such as counseling, healing is possible.”

The 15th annual Survivors Art Show will be held Thursday, November 10, from 5–9 p.m. at the YMI Cultural Center, 39 S. Market Street in Asheville. “Our VOICE believes that artistic expression has the power to transform our feelings and lives,” Angélica says. “We are proud to again offer the opportunity for those impacted by sexual violence a channel through which they can share experiences and heal through the powerful vehicle of art.”

In the next few months Our VOICE will be offering numerous free art workshops for anyone impacted by sexual violence. For more information, visit ourvoicenc.org.

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