For 30 years, Aparna Bhattacharyya has tirelessly worked to create and sustain community
collaborations at multiple levels within immigrant communities and refugee agencies with
criminal justice and social service professionals to ensure services and access to survivors from
refugee and immigrant communities.
Her efforts have elevated Raksha, Inc. capacity to a nationally renowned full-service agency
providing counseling, legal advocacy, economic empowerment, training, and technical assistance
to professionals locally and nationally. Evidence of success is the increase of the organization’s
budget by over 400%.
In addition to Raksha, Ms. Bhattacharyya has continuously participated in conducting training
and technical assistance with grassroots organizers, community members, criminal justice
professionals (law enforcement officers, judges, probation, etc.), attorneys, social service
providers, faith-based leaders, and medical professionals on local and National levels, including
Georgia Statewide Victim Assistance Academy.
Ms. Bhattacharyya’s achievements include developing and implementing innovative
programming for battered refugee women, which included motivational sessions, job readiness,
job placement, and driver’s license preparation while providing safety planning and support
around domestic violence with the License to Freedom initiative under the Refugee Family
Violence Prevention Project. Due to the program’s success, the initiative serves San Diego and
Texas victims.
As a Victim Advocate with the Atlanta Victim Witness Assistance Program, she implemented
innovative Weed and Seed prevention programming for adults and teens, outreach, and training
in four high-crime neighborhoods in Atlanta. Ms. Bhattacharyya also served as Co-Coordinator
of the Olympic Crisis Response Team for the 1996 Olympic Park Bombing refugee victims and
developed diversity training for the Olympic Crisis Response team. Lastly, she created and
coordinated a Multicultural Advisory Team for the Atlanta Victim Witness Assistance Program.
Aparna Bhattacharyya Named A Recipient Of The 2024 James A “Bud” Cody Community Impact Award
