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# Local woman stands out
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/local-woman-stands-out/
- Published: 2005-09-21T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:48:25.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Health, Venice, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

Mimi Lind is an outstanding woman. That’s according to the Santa Monica Commission on the Status of Women (COSW), which presented its first-ever “Outstanding Woman Leader” award earlier this month. The recipient was Lind, founder of the Safe Families Domestic Violence Intervention Program at Venice Family Clinic and past director of the Westside Domestic Violence Network.

The Outstanding Woman Leader is a quarterly award is given to a woman by COSW who has demonstrated exceptional personal and/or professional dedication to improving the lives of women and girls in Santa Monica.

“Mimi has devoted her professional and personal life to empowering women who are victims of domestic violence and has made a great impact on the way medical and community organizations in Santa Monica and Westside Los Angeles serve victims of domestic violence,” said Tia Skulski, chair of COSW.

Lind is a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in victims of trauma and domestic violence. In the early ’90s, she founded one of the first hospital-based domestic violence programs in the country at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. After arriving in California in 1994, Lind established the Safe Families Domestic Violence Intervention Program at the Venice Family Clinic, where she continues to train medical professionals across Santa Monica and Los Angeles to better screen for domestic violence. As part of her efforts to bridge the medical and domestic violence communities, Lind recently served as the director of the Westside Domestic Violence Network, which aims at improving community collaboration by providing trainings and professional task forces to the staffs of local agencies that serve victims of domestic violence. In her personal time, Lind, along with Skulski, volunteers as part of a planning group to start a regional women’s center to empower and provide support to women in Los Angeles.

“Even though women have made large strides in regards to human rights, entities like the Commission on the Status of Women are extremely important in ensuring women’s safety in the community and, unfortunately, in the home,” Lind said.

The COSW works to enhance the status of women in the community. The commission promotes these goals through investigation of, advocacy for and policy development regarding issues relevant to women and girls, and by creating leadership and career advancement opportunities for women and girls in the community.

Also in COSW news: To begin addressing the low number of women who are elected to local office, the commission will host “Tales from the Trail,” a discussion with women who have recently run for public office.

The discussion will take place Thursday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. at Ken Edwards Center, 1527 Fourth St. Five women who ran for Santa Monica City Council, Santa Monica College Board of Trustees or the Santa Monica Malibu School Board will participate in a roundtable discussion of their experiences running for office.

“When ranking nations for the involvement of women in public office, Rwanda ranks No. 1 and the U.S. ranks a dismal 61st,” said commission vice chair Kelly Hayes-Raitt, who will emcee the evening. Former candidates participating include Patricia Hoffman, Ana Jara, Maria Loya and Susanne Trimbath.

The evening also will feature a new video produced by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan (D-Oakland), “The Passion to Lead,” which includes interviews with assembly-women about their candidacies. Additionally, there will be presentations about two potential campaign reforms that could help women candidates: Amy Connolly from Santa Monica Ranked Choice Voting and Eric Tang from California Clean Money Campaign, who will present a hand-out titled “Clean Money Works for Women.”

The event is free to the public. For information, call at (310) 392-8715.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 21, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092105.pdf?ref=smdp.com)