Michelle Toledo-Cainas

Project Coordinator, Center for Justice Innovation

Mrs. Toledo Cainas holds criminal justice bachelor's and a master's in forensic psychology. She is currently a program manager at the Center for Justice Innovation's Domestic Violence Resource for Increasing Safety and Connection Project.  Her past experience includes founding the Georgia Latinos Against Domestic Violence (GLADV) task force in 2009 to support the Latino community and those who work with them. Mrs. Toledo-Cainas has led, organized, and developed meetings, training, and events. 

Through the years in working in advocacy, she has gained knowledge, skills, and abilities to present to a range of audiences on the subject matter of cultural responsiveness, language access, and trauma informed care and its intersection to domestic violence / gender-based violence. Examples of those conferences, are Arte Sana’s Nuestras Voces National Bilingual Sexual Assault in Des Moines, Iowa and Laredo, TX, Encuentro Latino National Institute on Family Violence Latinos and Domestic Violence: Increasing Access to Services in Austin, TX,  Latinos Against Domestic Violence in Dallas, as well as presented at the Conference on Crime Against Women and other domestic violence state coalition conferences. 

Her leadership skills have led her to be part of the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Arte Sana, and Ahimsa House Board of Directors. In addition, she has successfully engaged and increased participation for the Forsyth County Anti-Violence Task Force during her tenure as Chair. This led to the 2018 Task Force Member of the Year award from the GA Commission on Family Violence. 

Finally, developing content which impacts gender-violence on Latino community is a high passion of hers. She takes pride in advocating and educating the community about prevention and intervention strategies using cultural and linguistic responses to ensure services are available and appropriate for the community. Mrs. Toledo Cainas has experience with the media by having been interviewed and writing blogs and being an expert witness in criminal and civil cases to address the dynamics of domestic violence.