CEO/ Senior Advocate at Latinos in Virginia 

Elvira De la Cruz studied Economics and holds a Master’s in Administration. Additionally, she is a bicultural and bilingual Spanish/English professional, trained in the fields of domestic and sexual violence. During the past fifteen years, she has provided and supervised the delivery of crisis intervention, case management, court accompaniment, legal advocacy, and community referrals. She has been working closely with Virginia’s Hispanic community through various companies and has implemented a solid program to serve Spanish-speaking victims of domestic and sexual violence at the Latinos in Virginia Empowerment Center, located in Chesterfield County.

De la Cruz strives every day to ensure that men, women, teens, and children impacted by interpersonal violence have access to quality, trauma-informed, culturally appropriate services designed to empower them to become healthy, safe, and self-sufficient.  She works diligently to develop and implement programming specifically geared toward engaging the Spanish-speaking community. In 2018, she established the Latinos in Virginia Empowerment Center, Virginia’s first and only agency that provides culturally specific advocacy for Hispanic/Latino families affected by violence and injustice that can guarantee its services are always delivered by bilingual, and bicultural trained advocates. She has also implemented the first 24/7 bilingual Spanish/English hotline for victims of violence and established an interpreter bank to service victims of violence in the Latino/Hispanic Community.

For this work, de la Cruz has been recognized as a Hometown Hero in 2021 (Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen Law firm), a Persona de Poder in 2021 (Radio Poder), and an Unsung Hero in 2018 (Office of the Attorney General).