Moving the Agenda: Supporting Victims of Violence Arizona Political Leaders Fellow Amanda Muir leads the fight to end violence against women in Arizona

Being a progressive means fighting for equality and justice regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation and that includes standing up for victims of violence that are all too often ignored or downplayed.

A CPL graduate in Arizona, Amanda Muir is one such progressive; she is a tireless advocate for helping end violence against women in her home state of Arizona.

Increasing the Awareness

The women’s movement has always played an integral role in the progressive community, especially in highlighting the needs to combat violence against women. Earlier this year, the Chris Brown and Rihanna case brought domestic violence once again to the national forefront, reigniting an important dialogue about how communities can protect young women from abuse and discuss domestic violence.

Amanda Muir has devoted her time and energy to speaking up on behalf of domestic violence in the state of Arizona. After completing the CPL Fellowship, Amanda developed programs for women transitioning from environments of abuse and incarceration, raised money for The National Advocacy and Training Network, an organization that serves domestic abuse survivors, and raised awareness about the lack of important resources in Arizona.

When she’s not volunteering her free time to these issues, she’s working full time for the Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine Council as the Coordinator of Diversity and Community Affairs. At the Girl Scouts, she fosters the level of self-sufficiency and empowerment that she hopes both girls and women can achieve in their lifetime.

Attacking the Problem at its Roots

One area that Amanda has been particularly passionate is working on the relationship between sexual violence & domestic abuse and the likelihood of being incarcerated.

Statistics have shown the link between sexual violence & abuse against women and incarceration. For instance, the US Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that female inmates are at least three times more likely than male inmates to have been physically or sexually abused in their past.

In a lot of cases, counseling programs have proven that they can reduce recidivism by assisting women in dealing with issues surrounding abuse but there aren’t enough programs or resources to meet the growing need among women in Arizona.

In order to address this lack of resources for women survivors of domestic violence and other traumas, Amanda developed a program centered on the empowering potential of personal expression specifically designed around the needs of women transitioning from prison and struggling with issues of substance abuse and past trauma. She has coordinated fundraising events, including one with poet-activist Andrea Gibson.  

“Our events educated the Arizona community on the reality of violence against women and children in Arizona,” said Amanda. Violence against women is a problem that plagues women across the country and around the world, but a lack of laws to protect women from violence especially affects Arizona. Amanda believes that domestic violence intersects with many other issues in her community including wage equity, education access and healthcare.

“Addressing the epidemic of violence against women and children in our world is inseparable from all efforts geared toward social, economic, and environmental justice”, says Amanda. “We cannot begin to achieve significant process on any of these issues, without addressing the barriers, the pervasive discrimination, the oppression and exploitation of women and girls in our society.”

Broadening Her Connections

For Amanda, the CPL Political Leaders Fellowship helped her to expand her own professional network within the progressive community.

Many of her fellow progressives provided key resources in my efforts to provide support to survivors of domestic abuse. Her fellow alumni played a role in several areas of her work, from contributing money to marketing for events. This network also provided avenues for future partnership as well.

“Through CPL I gained information on a diversity of community resources that provide incredibly helpful in indentifying organizations to work with,” she says. “In addition, the training I received during the CPL fellowship proved valuable and directly applicable to my goals.”

Amanda was a member of the inaugural class of Political Leaders Fellows in Arizona in 2006.