The Daybreak Breakfast is designed to educate, motivate, and inspire people to build safe communities by raising awareness of domestic violence, supporting survivors, and promoting healthy relationships.

October 28, 2024 at 8AM | Hogan Campus Center, College of Holy Cross

Advancing Justice for Survivors
Join us for an empowering event that celebrates legislative wins for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, while paving the way for future advocacy.

Hema Sarang-Sieminski, Esq., Executive Director of Jane Doe, Inc., will speak about the critical issues, facing survivors such as abusive litigation, the criminalization of survivors, and the impact of child welfare interventions on survivors and their children. She will also discuss how we can transform victim compensation models for inclusive support.

Sponsorship and program ads available. Reach out to events@ywcacm.org.

Tickets

 

Speaker

Hema Sarang-Sieminski is the Executive Director of Jane Doe Inc. (JDI), the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. During her tenure at JDI, she has led JDI’s efforts to increase state and federal funding for services, engage in strategic legislative and systems change efforts, shift the field’s reliance on criminal legal and other punitive systems, and enhance support and options for those who experience abuse as well as accountability for those who cause harm. Hema has dedicated her career to creating opportunities for wholeness and dignity for survivors and is committed to approaches to ending sexual violence that address and challenge the intersections of various forms of oppression.

Sarang-Sieminski has worked with survivors of partner abuse and sexual violence for over 20 years in a variety of capacities. Prior to joining JDI in 2020 as Policy Director, their work included legal services practice as a Staff Attorney with the Greater Boston Legal Services Immigration Unit, private immigration practice, community engagement in LGBTQQIA+ communities with The Network/La Red, and a Senior Attorney role at the Victim Rights Law Center where she both represented immigrant survivors and conducted national trainings and technical assistance.  Hema is a Board Member of Mirror Memoirs, a national storytelling project dedicated to uplifting the stories and experiences of LGBTQQI+ BIPOC survivors of child sexual abuse and the MA Women of Color Network which is dedicated to supporting the women of color who are part of the SA/DV workforce in Massachusetts.

Sarang-Sieminski is a 2018 recipient of the National LGBTQ Bar Associations Best LGBTQ Lawyers Under 40 award, a 2019 NSVRC Visionary Voice Awardee, and a 2023 Top Women of Law honoree by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Hema received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her JD in 2005 from Northeastern University School of Law. She lives in Sharon, MA with her wife Alisha, their three kids, and their dog Sophia.