(upbeat music) - Good evening and welcome to "Horizonte," a show that takes a look at current issues through a Hispanic lens.

I'm Catherine Anaya.

Domestic violence is on the rise globally, up to 33%.

That's according to the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Added stress and alcohol consumption during the holidays can make things even worse.

With me now is Marisol Rodriguez, Chicanos Por La Causa to tell us more about a shelter and other services to help survivors and their families right here in the valley.

Thanks for joining me.

It's so good to see you.

- Thank you for inviting us.

- So let's talk about De Colores first.

It's been in the valley since 1986, hard to believe, and it really does create a very special environment, particularly for Latino survivors.

Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

- So, De Colores started as a shelter meant to serve the immigrant survivors, because they were being turned away originally from different domestic violence shelters back in the day.

So we started De Colores as a response to that need and since then we've provided, continued to provide linguistically appropriate services to our immigrant survivors and survivors of all walks now.

We're bilingual, and we take women, children, men, single women, we take everybody that needs our service.

- And really it is just such a blessing to have De Colores here in the valley, because you do such important work.

This time of year, as we talked about just a moment ago, you see an increase in reports of survivors seeking shelter to flee from abusers.

Why is there such a rise during the holidays?

- So during the holiday period, we see families coming together, spending a lot more quality time.

The pressure of also the holidays, spending money, being in close quarters with your harm doer, your abuser, causes there to be more tension and more opportunity for harm to be done to survivors and possibly their children as well, although sometimes they're direct or indirect victims of domestic violence.

So it just brings about more opportunities for that.

And like I said, the economic pressure as well to provide gifts during Christmas and stressors on those families cause those issues to come up more.

- And so that's why having a shelter like this is so valuable.

As I mentioned, it started out as a shelter for women and children, but as you talked about, it has expanded now in so many various ways.

Can you talk a little bit more about that?

- Correct.

So originally we started with just women and children, but we realized there was a bigger need.

As advocacy has grown, domestic violence programs, response programs, have come to learn that survivors can be of any gender, men, women, gender nonconforming, so we don't turn any survivor away as long as we have the availability and we can meet their needs.

We have men housed, single men there, we have single women, we have men with children and no spouse, we have men and women with their children there as well, so it really all depends on the situation.

- So how does that work then with regard to the housing itself of the men and the women and are they separate?

How does that work?

- So any women with children will be placed in a room with other women and children.

However, if there are teenage boys that they have, they will be in their own room, just because we understand that provided trauma informed care can be complicated and the needs that these children have sometimes will cause them to behave in certain ways.

So being trauma informed, we try to separate them when they're teenagers and they have teenage boys and single men will all be with single men.

Single women will sometimes be mixed in with women and their children, but we try to do our best when it comes to separating men and women just so that there's not any uncomfortable feelings.

- Yeah.

And what you provide for survivors and their families isn't just there on the campus of the shelter, but your services go beyond, right.

Tell me a little bit about that.

- So we have our community based program, which came out of the need for advocacy services, once perhaps when survivors exit shelter or some of them don't need shelter, maybe they're still living with their abuser, but they need to walk through the process of, I need a order of protection, I'm trying to break the cycle.

Can you help me?

I need to file for divorce.

I need help finding shelter.

Can you help me meanwhile?

Or maybe I'm not ready to leave my abuser.

It's also can be on the flip side with men as well, or any other person that might be in need, but not necessarily shelter.

So that's what our community based program is there for.

- You know, I spent some time on the campus of the shelter with the women's group that I took there to paint benches with, you know, very positive messages and it was just great to interact with the children there.

Tell me a little bit about how people can get involved in supporting De Colores whether it's through in kind donations, financial donations, or even volunteering.

- So of course we always welcome donations.

We're in need of donations, especially during the holiday period to provide these families with a little bit Christmas magic for these kids that are in the shelter.

A little gift goes a long way.

You can go to cplc.org.

We also have a QR code.

You can scan it immediately, it links you to where you can donate directly to De Colores.

Also for toys, you can contact our shelter for any drop offs, clothing, hygiene products.

We also, for volunteers, we love volunteers, however, this is a vulnerable population, so we have to be very meticulous when vetting our volunteers.

They have to have a clearance card, they have to go through an extensive background check, and that's all to keep the children and survivors safe at our shelter.

- [Catherine] Yes.

- Because they've already gone through enough trauma.

We don't wanna revictimize them while they're at shelter and it's our responsibility to make sure they're safe.

- Yes, it's the most important thing.

Marisol, thank you so much for joining me.

I appreciate it so much.

Good to see you.

Thank you.

- Thank you so much.

- Coming up next on "Horizonte," we'll talk about Hispanic holiday traditions.

(upbeat music) Many Hispanics in America continue to celebrate the holiday traditions brought to this country by their families.

Some like Tamale making having entered the mainstream and traditions vary by country of origin.

Here to talk about holiday traditions and celebrations in the Latino community is Carlos Galindo-Elvira from Chicanos Pour La Causa.

It is so good to see you!

It's been so long.

- Katherine, it's always great to be here with you and on "Horizontes," so congratulations.

Felicidades to you.

- Thank you my friend!

Good to see you.

So we're talking about holiday traditions.

For me growing up, it was making the tamales for Christmas and then menudo for New Year's Eve, but of course these traditions vary from household to household, even in the Latino community.

We're not all the same.

So how would you describe some of those different traditions and the history behind them when it comes to holiday traditions?

- Right, so since you shared, I'll share.

So in my home, right, tamales.

It's the season, you know?

As soon as it starts to get cool, you know it's tamale season.

So of course tamales growing up.

But also in my home, we're like the United Nations, so we celebrate Hanukkah and we celebrate Christmas.

So it's prolonged holiday season for us.

But you know when we know at Chicanos Por La Causa that it's a holiday season?

After we've had our Angeles Del Barrio.

- Yes!

- And it starts all with stuffing.

This year we stuffed 5,000 stockings for children and familias throughout Arizona, specifically in the Yuma area, Tucson, and here in the Phoenix metro area.

And so that's one of the best times of the year for us, because it brings volunteers together from all backgrounds and our staff.

- It's so great because you get the community involved, which we love to pay it forward, and especially when you're involving children who otherwise might not get a gift.

- Right.

Angeles Del Barrio was different this year, because we celebrated it in Mesa, Arizona.

We had probably over 10,000 people visit our area and yours truly got to play Santa.

- [Catherine] Nice!

- So I had to practice my ho ho hos.

But it was nice to be able to do it in Spanish too, because we wanna make sure that we are being culturally relevant and culturally respectful.

So of course I got to ask the kids, (speaking in Spanish) and they told me, and I always told the parent, you gotta lean in closer so they can hear, so that you know exactly what to get them.

But you know, of course holiday season varies throughout the community, we got your tamales, you got your cookies, and if you're from New Mexico, you have a very different type of cookie that you grew up with, and you're from Texas you got different traditions.

Having been on the Rio Gran Valley on a special project, we saw the different foods that are served down there that are very different from here, but it's all delicious.

And so at Christmas time, at holiday time, it's also a time for us at Chicanos Por La Causa where we partner with so many kind organizations and corporations to provide needed items for our families.

- Well, and you also have Latinos like yourself who celebrate Hanukkah as well.

- Right.

You know, many times, you know, it's the happiest time of the year.

Yes, and also, sometimes it's the hardest time of the year for families.

And so that's why we work so hard at Chicanos Por La Causa to make sure that we're providing sweatshirts, blankets, t-shirts, and of course, food.

And with Angeles Del Barrio, we make sure that we include a gift certificate for those clients who have been identified, so they're able to meet their needs to have their traditional foods, whether they're from Puerto Rico whether they're from Mexico, or everywhere in between.

We wanna make sure that they have an opportunity to serve the food that means the most to them.

- I love that.

And CPLC does such a great job of including the community and paying it forward.

So tell me a little bit about how people who are watching, if they still wanna help, because of course there are still kids out there who might not otherwise get a gift, if they'd like to volunteer or donate a toy, what should they do?

- Go to cpl.org, 'cause you can go to the volunteer section and the volunteer program falls under me, so thank you for that plug, but you can also go to our section where you can make a contribution.

And I'll tell you, yes, we love the gifts during Christmas, during the holidays, but some of those gifts we can hold onto them, especially if it's a clothing item or shoes where there's a real big need, so that kids have them to start the school year, because the spring semester starts, of course, in January.

And so if you can give, that would be fantastic.

If you can volunteer, that would be great.

All we ask is that you consider us, open your heart, and you can be an angel del barrio for one of our families.

- There you go.

And since you did serve as Santa, what are kids asking for the most right now?

- Electronics.

- [Catherine] Oh yes.

- Kids love the electronics and so I had to, you know, play along of course and make sure that they, you know "oh yes, our elves are tech certified" and they're like, "but I want it to be this kind!"

I'm like, "you know, I don't know.

It depends what the company ordered and if we can get it fulfilled."

And you know the kids look at me, "fulfilled?"

That means if we have it in stock.

- Exactly.

Good to remind them.

Thank you so much, Carlos.

Always good to see you.

- You bet.

Thank you for having us on.

- Happy holidays.

Happy holidays.

- That's our show for tonight for "Horizonte" and Arizona PBS, I'm Katherine Anaya.

Thanks so much for joining us.

Have a great night.

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