Staff

Isela Arras

Deputy Director (Programs) at the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Isela directs the KCADV's continuing education program. Since joining KCADV in 2002, she has served as liaison and resource to KCADV’s member programs that are working with immigrant and refugee women and their children in order to increase accessibility to domestic violence services to immigrant communities. As part of her duties at KCADV, Isela also provides training in the areas of violence against women, immigration issues, language accessibility, public benefits, and cultural competency. Increasing overall accessibility to domestic violence services by underserved communities and culturally-specific groups is a key priority in her position. Areas of expertise for training, systems advocacy, and technical assistance: expanding the technological capacity of member programs; developing or enhancing standards of service for member programs that address the needs of culturally specific and underserved populations; engaging in activities that will promote coalition building at the local and state level that will address gaps in services and improve the coordination of services; meaningful access to non-discriminatory services; training development; service coordination; cultural competency; language accessibility; data collection; community engagement; direct service provision; and trauma-informed services.  Isela can be reached at iarras@kcadv.org or 502-209-5382, ext. 112. 

Lisa Gabbard

Certification Training Programs Administrator at the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Lisa Gabbard, Certification Training Programs Administrator, graduated from Georgetown College with a Master’s degree in Education in 1993. She taught in the public school system for 18 years, serving in several leadership roles, before moving into non-profit work. She has been at KCADV for 10 years, serving as the Training Coordinator/Administrator for 9 years. KCADV is the state domestic violence coalition, and as such, provides a certification program for the advocates who work in our 15 shelters across the Commonwealth. Since coming on board, Ms. Gabbard has revamped the Certification process twice, making it more interactive and specific to better serve the training needs of advocates. She is also an IRS-certified volunteer tax preparer and lobbies for social and economic legislation that benefits survivors of domestic violence. 

Simone Marx

BIP Program Specialist at the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence

I am a recent graduate of EKU with a BS in Social Justice Studies. I volunteered at the Jessamine County Victims Advocate Office for two years before joining AmeriCorps. I now serve as the BIP specialist with the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence.