The Tahirih Justice Center has served over 34,000 immigrant survivors fleeing gender-based violence since 1997. Across our five locations, our dedicated staff members provide holistic trauma-informed services to immigrant survivors and their families through legal representation and social services, policy advocacy, and community outreach and training. Tahirih staff exhibit a high level of cultural humility, speak multiple languages, and, above all, are committed to creating a world without violence.
Meet our Senior Social Services Program Manager, Eileen Espinal.
“Every time I sit down with someone and they get to the place where they feel comfortable enough to tell me about what they’ve been through for the first time, I never take that lightly. It is a privilege to walk with someone through their journey towards safety and stability.”
Please tell us a little bit about yourself and what made you want to work at Tahirih?
When I first learned about Tahirih, it was during a time where our political atmosphere felt very negatively charged in the spaces of gender equity and immigrant rights. I am a first generation American and am part of a matriarchal immigrant family. Tahirih’s mission spoke to me at the right time and made me feel like this was the place that had the expertise to create long-lasting change. I wanted to be a small part of that impactful work.
What do you do at Tahirih?
I am a Senior Social Services Program Manager with the Atlanta office of the Tahirih Justice Center. I oversee our program’s service provision to ensure that, in tandem with our legal services advocates, we are meeting our values of being holistic, culturally-competent, trauma-informed and survivor-centered. I also engage in partnership-building to connect the families that we serve to appropriate and accessible resources, as well as outreach and advocacy to spread awareness about the challenges facing survivors of gender-based violence in Georgia’s immigrant community.
What about your work at Tahirih do you find most inspiring?
Every time I sit down with someone and they get to the place where they feel comfortable enough to tell me about what they’ve been through for the first time, I never take that lightly. It is a privilege to walk with someone through their journey towards safety and stability.
What about your work at Tahirih do you find most challenging?
In the six years that I’ve been a part of Tahirih, I’ve learned so much more about the untapped latent potential there is in our immigrant community. It is an ongoing challenge to push against the narrative that our immigrant neighbors, particularly our undocumented community, want to live an easy life under the radar. It is anything but easy. And society is built to be a participatory process. Yet for many of our undocumented neighbors, their wisdom and their voice is not heard in our justice system, in our legislative chambers, in our financial schema, in our tertiary schools, and in other spaces where major decisions are being made that will affect them daily.
How do you see Tahirih making a difference?
In the Georgia region, specifically, Tahirih Atlanta offers a unique service in being one of the only nonprofit service providers that are able to assist with immigration appeals. The Atlanta immigration court has the lowest asylum approval rate in the country, and our service is able to fill that important need.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned during your time in this role at Tahirih?
Decisions are made in court, but justice is really self–defined. Success can look like having the courage to file for immigration relief while still living in an abusive situation, or stepping into a shelter with your children trying to gain safety and freedom, or standing in a hostile courtroom to tell your truth. A life well lived is built on hope, but hope is hard-earned.
Outside of work, what is your favorite thing to spend your time on?
Reading, listening to podcasts, listening to music and pretending that I can sing, and most especially, taking long strolls with my infant daughter.
