Urban Resource Institute

10/09/2026

Another woman killed. How many more before we act?

We mourn Pheona Premraji and stand with her loved ones.

Domestic violence is an epidemic, and our response must match the magnitude of the crisis.

10/09/2026

An 8-month-old baby survived an act of violence that took her mother’s life. She is not a bystander to domestic violence.

Children may witness abuse, experience fear and instability, lose a parent—or become direct targets of violence themselves. Even when they cannot tell us what they have experienced, the impact is real.

Urban Resource Institute (URI) CEO Nathaniel Fields spoke with NBC New York about the impact of domestic violence on entire families and why children must be part of how we understand, prevent and respond to abuse.

This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we are asking everyone to Hear Their Silence. Children are part of the story. They must be part of the response.

Hear their silence. Fund their safety: https://bit.ly/HearTheirSilence

10/08/2026

New York already recognizes that a person can be too intoxicated to consent. But that protection changes when a survivor moves from a college campus into a courtroom.

Under New York’s Enough is Enough law, the focus is on a person’s capacity to consent, not how they became impaired. Criminal law does not provide the same protection when someone voluntarily consumed alcohol or drugs.

That contradiction leaves a gap for survivors.

We applaud Governor Hochul’s appointment of Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the Cornell case. Now, URI urges the New York State Legislature to pass A.101/S.10632 and strengthen protections for every New Yorker.

Swipe to understand the gap, the proposed solution, and why it matters.

Consent requires the capacity to consent.

10/07/2026

Domestic and family violence rarely has only one victim. Children are not bystanders to domestic violence. They experience it. They carry it. The deaths of Nathaly Ramirez, and Lora and Sloane Grodnick, are devastating reminders of this reality.

https://give.urinyc.org/a/hear-their-silence

10/07/2026

This year's Purple on the Plaza event, sponsored by the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, presented a powerful message on the need for survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally-responsive support for gender-based violence.

URI CEO Nathaniel M. Fields spoke on the importance of prevention and early intervention to break the cycles of domestic violence. This is especially important for the invisible voices of domestic violence—children, who constitute 65% of those served by URI programs and services each year.

Thank you to Kelli Nicholas Owens, Executive Director of the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, and survivors Rebecca Reynolds and Yutong Guo for your impactful words that brought together a message of hope and determination for survivors and supporters.

10/05/2026

In 2015, New York made a promise to college students: if you were drinking or using drugs when you were assaulted, that will never stand between you and help. New York State’s Enough is Enough law protects survivors from discipline for their drinking or drug use when they come forward, and it recognizes that a person can be too intoxicated to consent, judged by how impaired they were, not how they became impaired. But when a survivor steps off campus and into a courtroom, that promise disappears. Under our criminal law, a survivor who drank or took something on their own is not considered legally incapacitated, even if they could not understand or control what was happening to them. That contradiction fails survivors across our state. We applaud Governor Hochul for appointing Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the Cornell case so that every fact is examined and justice is pursued. Now we urge the New York State Legislature to pass A.101/S.10632 and make the standard we set for our campuses the law for every New Yorker.

URI Supports Special Prosecutor in Cornell Case, Calls on New York State Legislature to Strengthen Survivor Protections URI urges action to close New York’s voluntary intoxication loophole and strengthen accountability in the digital age NEW YORK, NY | October 5, 2026 — Urban Resource Institute ...

10/02/2026

This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, URI is asking people to Hear Their Silence. Hear Their Silence is not simply about whether a child speaks. It is about whether the rest of us are paying attention.

https://urinyc.org/the-children-we-leave-out-of-the-domestic-violence-conversation/

10/01/2026

At Urban Resource Institute (URI), 65% of the people we serve are children.

That number should change how we think about domestic violence.

When we talk about domestic violence, our attention understandably turns to the survivor experiencing abuse and the person causing harm. Too often, however, there are others living through that violence whose experiences remain unseen: children.

Children are not simply standing on the sidelines. They see violence, hear it, anticipate it, or learn to navigate their lives around it. They worry about their parents, siblings, and pets. They learn when to leave a room, when not to ask a question, or when being quiet feels safer than being heard.

That silence should never automatically be mistaken for peace.

This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, URI is asking our community to Hear Their Silence and look more closely at how domestic violence affects children.

Read our full statement: https://urinyc.org/download/hear-their-silence-children-are-not-bystanders-to-domestic-violence/