Southwest Indigenous Women's Coalition

The Southwest Indigenous Women's Coalition works to end violence against women and children by strengthening the leadership, community response, justice, and safety of indigenous women while restoring the essence of sisterhood and sacredness of being through education, training, technical assistance, and culturally sensitive supportive services.

The Southwest Indigenous Women's Coalition (SWIWC) is located in Mesa, Arizona and is a nonprofit domestic violence (DV) and sexual assault (SA) tribal coalition serving Tribes and Native DV/SA non-profits in Arizona. Through training and technical assistance, SWIWC's primary purpose is to increase the capacity of tribal communities to better address and respond to the domestic and sexual violence occurring in their communities. SWIWC also works at a systematic level to effect change that will increase the safety, justice and healing of any person that has been a victim of domestic and/or sexual violence.

SWIWC is governed by a Council of Women that provide overall leadership, guidance, and support for the operations, services, staffing, and funding of SWIWC. Additionally, the LGBTQ work that SWIWC engages in is led and provided by SWIWC's LGBTQ Advisory Council. The individuals who serve on both these councils bring to SWIWC a wealth of experience, awesome energy, tremendous support, unwavering commitment, and the tenacity to do all they can to help build awareness, capacity, justice, healing, and safety within tribal communities.

SWIWC conducts site visit with tribal DV/SA programs and/or departments addressing DV/SA such as social service or behavioral health to identify their training and technical assistance (T/TA) needs. Based on site visits, T/TA is tailored to fit the needs of each community. When possible, SWIWC also provides presentations to the tribal councils within each tribe.

SWIWC has provided on-site DV/SA trainings and technical assistance as well as numerous regional trainings and summits that focus on specific topics relating to DV/SA that encourage meaningful discussion and action planning. SWIWC created and utilizes a pool of dynamic, passionate, culturally sensitive/respectful, and highly competent women and men who serve as faculty at SWIWC trainings.

Currently, SWIWC has a staff of three, operates via virtual offices and a sub-office in Chinle, Arizona.