Mission, Vision, & Values

Our Mission

The Center for Victim and Human Rights (CVHR) is a 501(c)(3), legal services organization working to empower and advance the safety of victims through legal representation and educational outreach.

Our Vision

Access to justice for all victims.

Our Values

1. Integrity: honesty in ideas, words, and actions.
2. Humility: gratitude and open-mindedness towards all opportunities to learn as well as when seeking assistance.
3. Cooperation: recognizing and taking the opportunity to accept a role and/or task regardless of one’s position within the organization.
4. Empathy: an effort to understand the thoughts, words, actions of others, especially if contrary to our own.
5. Compassion: the ability to understand and act toward the end of other’s suffering.
6. Inclusiveness: creating a welcoming space for not only diversity of people, but also of ideas.
7. Respect: for internal team as well as those externally, e.g. clients, partners, opposing parties, etc.
8. Fairness: treating each person and event with the appropriate and proportional response.
9. Diversity: in not only the composition of the team, but also in who we serve and with whom we partner without consideration of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, gender, sexual identity, sexual orientation, physical disability, mental health issues, and/or substance abuse issues.
10. Obedience: to the Constitution of the United States and the laws of those jurisdictions in which the CVHR operates.
11. Civility: in the practice of law.
12. Creativity: recognizing existing problems, then developing and proposing solutions.
13. Skill: engaging in an activity mindfully with the intent of doing it to the best of your ability.
14. Courage: the strength to uphold these values even in the face of fear and adversity.
15. Accountability: accepting consequences, positive or negative, for the thoughts, words, actions of not only oneself, but also the team.

Our Seal

On our organizational seal, each symbol and color used reflects the ethics and values that guide our organization in providing expanded access to legal assistance for victims.

The directional compass on our seal reminds us that our mission requires us to think creatively in working towards the correct solution.  The compass is sharp-pointed because it reminds us that our work is often difficult, but nevertheless important. We value the importance of cooperation, practicing humility when the opportunity arises, and using our skills to engagingly and mindfully complete our work. We also place a great emphasis on keeping ourselves accountable for any positive or negative consequences that could arise.

The red in the directional compass and the lettering represents courage to do the right thing even in the face of fear and adversity. The yellow represents our belief in consistently upholding the highest ethical ideals. This means respecting and supporting diversity in a variety of forms, such as race, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, religious affiliation, and more.

The scales represent the balance of justice; we remind ourselves that while our goals are to take care of the client, we must balance this with ethical considerations and general notions of justice.  At the CVHR, this means having integrity, being civil in our practice of law, and properly operating under the jurisdictions in which the CVHR operates.

Finally, the CVHR seal is on a blue background because blue symbolizes justice.  It represents the ideal that all people everywhere would like to see a fair and just world. At the CVHR, a fair and just world is one that emphasizes respect and inclusivity for others, the ability to empathize with others, and the importance of compassion in working to end another person’s suffering.