For Assembly Member Maritza Davila (D- Bushwick, Williamsburg) holding a domestic violence workshop is personal and Saturday as she kicked off the workshop, titled “I Love You, Doesn’t Always Mean I Love You,” she opened up about her own experience.
“One of the reasons why I’m so passionate about domestic violence [is] I was a victim myself for 10 years,” Davila said. “A victim before I ever became an assemblywoman or a school board member, and to me this is passion. This is important that we share information, especially for those who probably don’t know which way to head.”
The event was held at I.S. 231 in her native Bushwick, and according to Davila, domestic violence is common in the neighborhood, making it a good place to hold the panel.
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Other professionals on the panel included Trancey Downing, the deputy bureau chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau of the Kings County District Attorney’s Office; Alba Espinal, of the DA’s office’s Victims Service Unit; and Alethea Best, the Relationship Abuse Prevention Program coordinator for Day One.