Yarimar (Yary) Soto Perez

I am fully bilingual, with Spanish as my first language and English as my second. I was born in New Jersey but spent my whole life in Puerto Rico, where I earned my degrees, including a master's degree in criminal justice and an advocate certificate. I came to Ohio around 12 years ago and started cleaning banks, using that money to pay for my English classes. I began working in the nonprofit environment with Metro Community Development in Cleveland, then transitioned to a housing coordinator role before moving into mental health work at the Centers for Family and Children as a behavioral health specialist. Something touched me personally about working with survivors of sexual assault, so I started working at Cleveland Rape Crisis Center in 2018 as an advocate. I was promoted to manager and now serve as the director of two departments, supervising the sexual assault department and the human trafficking department. I oversee Northeast Ohio, serving Cuyahoga County, Ashtabula, and Lake County, with 21 employees under me. My main area of expertise is advocacy for refugees, immigrants, survivors of sexual assault, and labor trafficking and human trafficking survivors. I have deep knowledge of collaboration with the prosecutor's office, law enforcement, and task forces. A typical day for me can start with a court hearing, an arraignment, or trial preparation. I work with juvenile court as the PREA coordinator, providing advocacy services to youth who experienced sexual assault while incarcerated. I'm also the SART Coordinator for the Sexual Assault Response Team, where I sit down with law enforcement, prosecutors, the medical field, and advocates to discuss challenging cases and improve community services for victims. I participate in multidisciplinary team meetings for children, working with survivors 12 and under to support families and advocate for case outcomes.