Aliya Sahai, 2024 Zero Tolerance Honoree

Sanctuary for Families

Every year, at our Zero Tolerance Benefit, Sanctuary for Families honors those who have significantly contributed to the movement to end gender-based violence.

Every year, at our Zero Tolerance Benefit, Sanctuary for Families honors those who have significantly contributed to the movement to end gender-based violence. This year, we are thrilled to present the 2024 Zero Tolerance Award to Aliya Sahai, Principal at Bernstein Private Wealth Management.

INTRODUCING ALIYA

Aliya Sahai, a Principal at Bernstein Private Wealth Management, provides investment and wealth planning advice to families and their trusts, estates, foundations, endowments, and pension plans. Aliya joined the firm in 2005 and was appointed a Principal in 2009. She currently chairs the firmwide Women’s Leadership Council. Prior to joining Bernstein, she worked at Sapient Consulting Group and Yodlee, a financial services software company. Aliya earned a BS in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a very active member of the University of Pennsylvania community and was appointed to the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women, where she currently serves as Vice Chair.

Aliya first learned about Sanctuary for Families at the Paul Labrecque Salon, where she picked up a coffee table book featuring our clients at a salon evening. She immediately connected and joined the Family Council in 2011. From there, Aliya focused her work on helping survivors with job training, career readiness, and financial education and became an active member of Sanctuary’s Career Advancement Network before joining the Board of Directors in 2015.

Aliya has been a leader on our Nominating Committee (co-chair for four years), the Development Committee, and the Executive Committee, and was a founding member of our Investment Committee. Aliya is the ultimate ambassador and has connected Sanctuary with countless organizations, including Bernstein. First and foremost, Aliya cares deeply about our clients and does whatever she can to bring them resources and opportunities.

Over the course of Aliya’s 13 years with Sanctuary, the Economic Empowerment Program has been her passion and remains her “first love.” She continues to be a fierce advocate for women and girls of all ages and is a champion of Sanctuary’s message of empowerment.

Protect Your Family & Support Sanctuary through Planned Giving

Sanctuary for Families

We’re excited to launch our newly redesigned website where you can explore the perfect planned giving option for you and your family.

Join us on April 4th for our Planned Giving Webinar “The Gift that Keeps Giving: How Estate Planning Benefits You, Your Loved Ones, and Future.” Learn more and RSVP.

We’re excited to launch our newly redesigned website where you can explore the perfect planned giving option for you and your family.

Making a planned gift—a contribution that is arranged in the present but allocated at a future date—is a great way to support Sanctuary’s life-saving services and programs for years to come, while receiving significant benefits in return.

By making a planned gift to Sanctuary for Families, you can:

  1. Receive tax benefits, such as income and estate tax deductions.
  2. Leave a lasting legacy, reflecting your values and priorities for future generations.
  3. Support thousands of survivors of gender violence, even after you’re gone.
  4. Maximize the impact of your philanthropy by making a larger gift to Sanctuary than possible during your lifetime.
  5. Honor a loved one in a meaningful way.

If you would like to learn more about planned giving, RSVP here for our webinar on Thursday, April 4th, or email Susan Puder at spuder@sffny.org.

Sanctuary Urges NYS Legislators to Stand with Survivors and Advocates

Sanctuary for Families

Facing nearly $20 million of funding cuts, survivors and advocates are calling on the legislature to support domestic violence services.

Facing nearly $20 million of cuts on existing Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) contracts, survivors of crime and the advocates who provide them life-changing services held a press conference and rally in Albany, NY, on Wednesday, February 28th, to demand the Legislature fully fund victim services, and provide living wages to DV advocates, in the state budget.

Allison Ross, Senior Deputy Director of Sanctuary’s Non-Residential Clinical Services, spoke on behalf of our agency to explain what is at stake and why we need urgent action. Read her remarks below:

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Good afternoon. I am Dr. Allison Ross, Senior Deputy Director of Non-Residential Clinical Services at Sanctuary for Families, New York’s leading service provider and advocate for survivors of gender violence.

Across the five boroughs of New York City, Sanctuary for Families operates a network of support serving over 8,000 adults and children every year. We are a cornerstone of hope for survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and related forms of gender-based violence.

Our approach is holistic. Our staff provides licensed mental health counseling; emergency and transitional shelter; legal representation; career training and placement; food assistance, and emergency client grants. Our services are not just a response but a promise of a future where safety and independence are attainable realities.

Yet, today, I stand before you with these other amazing advocates with a dire message: the lifelines we all provide are at severe risk. The specter of funding cuts looms over us, threatening to dismantle the sanctuary we’ve built for thousands of New Yorkers.

We urgently call upon our legislators to affirm their commitment to survivors and advocates in New York State. We need the Governor’s $134 million earmark to avert crippling VOCA cuts. We need you to support families escaping abuse and the organizations that serve them.

We also need a Cost-of-Living Adjustment for our dedicated staff—because, without them, our fight against domestic violence falters. Public funding is the main driver of human service salaries. Yet, under current City and State contracts, domestic violence advocates and service providers are among the lowest-paid workers in New York’s economy. This needs to change.

To falter is not an option. This is the moment for New York State to stand firm, to shield its most vulnerable. We need action, not next year, not tomorrow, but today.

The State budget must carry forward the Governor’s funding for victim services. It must include a cost-of-living salary adjustment for domestic violence advocates. Only with the Legislature’s support will organizations like Sanctuary be able to retain their dedicated staff and continue to serve thousands of New Yorkers.

Our plea is simple: safeguard our funding, support our workforce, and send a resounding message that New York will not abandon those in pursuit of a life free from violence.

Thank you.

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Learn more about NYSCADV’s 2024 Budget Advocacy Day and how you can take action to support our cause.

Sanctuary Spotlight: Nefertiti J. Alexander

Sanctuary for Families

A conversation with Nefertiti J. Alexander, partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP and co-chair of Sanctuary’s Legal Advisory Council.

We are thrilled to have a conversation with Nefertiti J. Alexander, partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP and co-chair of Sanctuary’s Legal Advisory Council. Nefertiti has handled pro bono matters involving criminal defense, labor trafficking, and immigration. Her practice at Kasowitz focuses on complex commercial litigation, white-collar defense, and government investigations.

How did you first learn about Sanctuary for Families?

I have known about Sanctuary for more than a decade.  When I was an associate at my former firm, I heard about the great work that Sanctuary was doing and was eventually invited to a Legal Advisory Council (LAC) meeting by Bill Gorin, one of my mentors.  Through the LAC meetings, I learned more about Sanctuary’s mission.  I also volunteered with Sanctuary for its annual Holiday Drive, putting together holiday presents for Sanctuary’s clients and their families. I have always felt aligned with Sanctuary’s holistic approach to helping more vulnerable members of our community.

Sanctuary has a very strong relationship with Kasowitz, and the firm has taken on so many pro bono cases for us. Can you elaborate on this partnership?

Kasowitz has a long history of working on pro bono and other community projects with Sanctuary.  Our partner David Abrams and counsel Teresa Matushaj run our pro bono program, and our partner Sarah Leivick has also been closely involved with Sanctuary.  When I joined the firm in 2018, I was so impressed by the Kasowitz attorneys devoting significant resources and time to Sanctuary’s pro bono matters, and took on a pro bono matter through Sanctuary myself.  It’s a great opportunity for our associates to take on leadership roles in cases, develop client relationships, and make a difference in the community. The work is incredibly rewarding.

You are a co-chair for the LAC now. How did that come about?

As part of Kasowitz’s long-standing relationship with Sanctuary, we began working with Sanctuary on its Incarcerated Gender Violence Survivors Initiative (IGVSI).  Through that initiative, I started to work closely with Ross Kramer and Kayla Abrams at Sanctuary.  When Sanctuary asked me to co-chair the LAC, I jumped at the opportunity.

As a co-chair of the LAC, are there any particular goals you would like to achieve?

I am deeply committed to diversity and sit on the diversity committee at Kasowitz.  The LAC would love to welcome a wide array of members, whether in-house or at firms, from different economic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds and representing a wide range of ages. When you bring those perspectives together, we create a stronger LAC.

Earlier in the year, Ross, Kayla, and I gave a presentation at Verizon Communication’s New Jersey headquarters to raise more awareness about Sanctuary;  it was very well received. A Verizon Communications in-house lawyer participated in a client visit at a correctional facility and joined us at our recent LAC meeting.  We are developing ways to collaborate, and it’s been great to help develop that relationship.

What kind of pro bono work have you done with Sanctuary?

Kasowitz has worked on a number of matters with Sanctuary, including orders of protection and divorce.  One case that I worked on that I would like to highlight is the case of Mrs. P., in which we sought parole for one of Sanctuary’s clients through the IGVSI. We sought parole, but close to our client’s release, she got a misconduct ticket that threatened her release date. Our team had to move quickly to represent her in a disciplinary hearing, one of the first of its kind in New York State, where outside attorneys could represent their client. We also represented her at a rescission hearing, where we persuaded the parole board that her release date should not be jeopardized by the misconduct ticket, and spoke in depth about the support, including shelter, work opportunities, educational opportunities, and clinical services, that Sanctuary would provide our client upon release.

Is there anything else you would like people to know about Sanctuary?

Sanctuary for Families is a unique organization. Not only is it helping survivors advocate for themselves and pursue their legal rights, but it provides so much support to empower clients and enable them to build a successful future.  All of that is being done within a trauma-informed framework, whether in the court system or through psychotherapy, education, or mediation.

Sanctuary’s 360 support for clients is incredibly admirable and worthy of support. This is why, as a LAC co-chair, part of my mission is to ensure that LAC includes a broad base of legal professionals. When we uplift our most vulnerable, we strengthen the community for everyone. In an area that can be fraught with politics, Sanctuary helps us to focus on the human perspective.