The Crime Victims Treatment Center has appointed Felipe Ellena Ferreira, LMSW as its next executive director, effective April 22nd, 2024. Felipe joins CVTC in its work to help people heal from interpersonal violence.

Felipe becomes only the third leader in CVTC’s storied forty-seven-year history, succeeding founder Susan Xenarios and former executive director Christopher Bromson. CVTC was founded in 1977 as the first rape crisis center in New York City. From there, the program’s firsts only continued: CVTC was the first victim treatment program to offer psychiatric services, the first to implement a sexual assault forensic examiner program, the first to establish a clinical program specifically for male-identifying survivors, and the first to partner with the state to provide services to incarcerated survivors. In 2018, CVTC stepped away from the hospital system where it was first established in order to become a standalone nonprofit. It has tripled its staff, budget, and service areas since then, providing life-changing support to thousands of survivors of violence. Though relatively newly independent, CVTC has nearly half a century of experience serving survivors—and all its services are completely confidential and free of charge.

“There’s nowhere else like CVTC. On behalf of CVTC’s board, I am thrilled to welcome Felipe as our new executive director,” said Richard Aftanas, Chair of the Crime Victims Treatment Center Board of Directors. “Felipe is the perfect person to take us forward. With Felipe at the helm, CVTC will continue to serve and support survivors.”

Felipe comes to CVTC from Henry Street Settlement, where he worked for more than a decade, most recently as the director of social services for its Urban Family Center. While he’s been embedded in New York City’s nonprofits for years now, his professional experience extends both nationally, to Arts for Learning in Miami, and internationally, to Escola de Gente and Programa Repertórios in his native Brazil. He is a skilled, collaborative, and supportive leader, as comfortable with fixing a leaking pipe as weathering fiscal storms—both things that crop up in the course of nonprofit management. During the extensive six-month search for a new executive director, CVTC’s board and staff were amazed by his warmth, ability to build community, and passionate commitment to this program’s mission.

“For 47 years CVTC has been accompanying and servicing people at their most vulnerable hour,” said Felipe, “I come to join a skilled and dedicated team who made this timely mission their own. Now, together, we will make sure we continue to be trailblazers in how we care for survivors of interpersonal violence.”