Arte Sana Staff
Laura E. Zárate, Arte Sana Founding Executive Director
The daughter of parents from la frontera, Laura E. Zárate is a Chicana, victim advocate, training specialist, artist, and co-founder of Arte Sana. Laura has over twenty-six years of experience in violence prevention and training on sexual and intimate partner violence issues. She has presented at various state, national, and international conferences and training events: including those offered in Juárez, México for Casa Amiga staff and volunteers.
While living in South America she worked on the first Paraguayan abuse prevention campaign; helped develop a child street worker project; co-founded BECA (Base Educativa y Comunitaria de Apoyo), a sexual abuse prevention agency for girls; and coordinated a consultant group for child human rights education.
Through her work with Arte Sana Laura has helped develop many materials including the first Spanish language Sexual Assault Awareness Month packet and "La Víctima y la Sobreviviente," a Latina victim advocate's CD toolkit that is being used by rape crisis centers and state coalitions across the nation. She is also co-founder and facilitator of the Alianza Latina en contra la Agresión Sexual (ALAS); established in 2004 as one of the first national online sexual assault Latina victim advocate resource-sharing group.
In 2004, Laura was one of five recipients of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center's first National Award for Outstanding Effectiveness in Raising Awareness and Promoting Prevention of Sexual Violence. She was recognized for "her dedication in promoting bilingual resources and the impact of her work in sexual abuse prevention." Laura was also the recipient of the 2009 “Community Empowerment Award” from the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault. In December 2010, Laura was invited to join the new National Victim Assistance Standards Consortium; a project of the University of South Carolina Research Foundation funded by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), within the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.
She earned a BA in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and is the proud madre of two incredible young adults.
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