Lorena Jiron

The Project

The Single Mother Empowerment Project empowers young mothers aged 16-24 from immigrant communities who are survivors of intimate partner violence through comprehensive advocacy around orders of protection, custody, and immigration relief.

In addition to cultural and language barriers, youth face hurdles including confusing and inconsistent laws around their rights to healthcare, shelter, and legal protection. Young Latinas in particular are often met with disapproval from the community when they become pregnant, a stigma that perpetuates IPV. Lorena’s project provides the necessary supports and outreach to young single mothers who deeply need additional resources, information and advocacy with a culturally-specific lens.

Fellowship Highlights

In the past two years, Lorena has:

• Represented 25 clients seeking orders of protection, custody of their children, and domestic violence-based immigration petitions
• Provided an additional 58 clients with brief advice
• Hosted a Naturalization clinic in partnership with DLA Piper and Verizon
• Presented 6 trainings on the intersection of law, immigration, intimate partner violence, and cyber abuse
• Assumed leadership roles in coalition groups focused on addressing intimate partner violence through a legal lens.

What’s Next

Now that the Fellowship is complete, Lorena plans to continue fighting for the rights of Latinx populations who are in need of representation in the court system. She will focus on representing low-income New York City tenants who are facing eviction proceedings in housing court.