Meet the Candidates
Shailaja Dixit
I have been the Executive Director for Narika past 4.5 years and a bilingual direct service advocate for over 12 years. I understand the need for culturally responsive perspectives to be represented and visibly lifted. I am applying for this position to bring forward issues emerging at the grassroots within the community we serve at Narika and help integrate them into discussions around policy, resource allocation and funding happening at the State level. I also believe this is an important time for us to lean into building a strong collective presence. I am applying for this position to support the work done by CPEDV, which is doing important work in supporting non profits in California during very uncertain times. Last, I would love to help bring together the non profits in our regional area, so as to facilitate conversations and enable resource sharing. I also hope these regional conversations and safe spaces will help offer self care and compassion for advocates and organizations engaged at the grassroots level.
I believe domestic violence is a learned behavior and is preventable. To do so we need to break generational cycles of violence and challenge cultural and societal traditions. In my work as a bi lingual domestic violence advocate and as the Executive Director of Narika, these are values I have upheld in all that I have believed in and helped build: courage to challenge societal norms, compassion to acknowledge cultural norm, discernment to balance the power of a collective community vs. its ability to overwhelm, humility to understand I cannot and must not view myself as an expert on people’s trauma and/or culture -I believe all services, resources and policies must be survivor centered- lifting their needs, requirements and upholding their power to express and choose. – I believe it is vital for all folks engaged in the movement to be trauma informed: in terms of policies, process, programs – not only for survivors and client. But also towards each other. We also need to break away from any forced othering of survivors vs providers.
I have attended and regularly attend trainings, webinars and regional meetings offered by the Partnership. I have supported Bay Area Regional Representatives to find suitable facilitators a couple of times. I also briefly served with the Culturally Specific Collaborative (CSC) Core Group in 2023.
I believe in the power of community and have experience building collaborative spaces. I am passionate about representing the needs of survivors and bring years of direct service experience to inform policy. I am a team player and can help build relationships and facilitate conversations. I believe I can help build better cultural representation in the Partnership and strengthen its work and impact.
Leadership means building collaboration, with compassion and courage. It means empowering and encouraging all all team members to shine and bloom to their full potential. I believe everyone is a leader and everyone is a follower. We each take our place in the collective, depending on context and needs. I am most certainly a servant leader- in that I lead from the back, through service and example. In my opinion, a leader is the first to take responsibility and the last to take credit. I (hope) I demonstrate my leadership in how I perform my role in Narika as Executive Director.
I have worked many years in the Bay Area and am well connected to cultural communities and bi lingual providers. i hope I can integrate and invite those relationships to strengthen our collective movement.