Sexual Assault Awareness Month 
Proclamation 
April 2024
Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) calls attention to the fact that sexual violence is widespread and impacts every person in every community. SAAM aims to raise public awareness about sexual abuse, harassment, and assault and educate communities about how to be involved in prevention. 
This year’s SAAM campaign theme, Building Connected Communities, calls on each of us to work together to prevent sexual abuse, harassment, and assault. We believe when anyone experiences sexual violence, every community member is affected. We must strive to build more connected, respectful, and inclusive communities to promote our collective well-being and protect against the risk of sexual violence. We believe all of our communities will be safer and stronger by making them more equitable for people of all gender identities and sexual orientations, races and ethnic backgrounds, ages, faiths, and abilities.
Statistics show:
●	Over 53% of women and over 29% of men reported experiencing contact sexual violence in their lifetime (Chen, et al., 2023).
●	Most women and men across all sexual identities who experienced contact sexual violence reported that the person who harmed them was someone they knew (Chen, et al., 2023).
●	More than 1 and 4 non-Hispanic Black women (29%) in the United States were raped in their lifetime (Basile et al., 2022).
●	1 in 3 Hispanic women (34.8%) reported unwanted sexual contact in their lifetime (Basile et al., 2022).
●	More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women (84.3%) have experienced violence in their lifetime (Rosay, 2016).
●	32.9% of adults with intellectual disabilities have experienced sexual violence (Tomsa et al., 2021).
●	47% of all transgender people have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lives (James et al., 2016).
As such, we must strive to create strong, connected communities that take care of one another and make decisions to ensure the safety and well-being of others to end sexual violence.

The  Building Connected Communities campaign is an opportunity for our community to join with others around the world in committing to prevent sexual abuse, assault, and harassment. 
I join advocates and communities across the country in taking action to prevent sexual violence. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and each day of the year is an opportunity to create change for the future.

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Name									Date

 Basile, K. C., Smith, S. G., Kresnow, M., Khatiwada S., & Leemis, R. W. (2022). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2016/2017 report on sexual violence. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs/nisvsReportonSexualViolence.pdf
Chen, J., Khatiwada, S., Chen, M. S., Smith, S. G., Leemis, R. W., Friar, N., Basile, K. C., and Kresnow, M. (2023). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) 2016/2017: Report on Victimization by Sexual Identity. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs/nisvsReportonSexualIdentity.pdf 
James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. National Center for Transgender Equality. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf 
Rosay, A. B. (2016, September). Violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women and men,. NIJ Journal, 277. National Institute of Justice. http://nij.gov/journals/277/Pages/violence-againstamerican-indians-alaska-natives.aspx 
Tomsa, R., Gutu, S., Cojocaru, D., Gutiérrez-Bermejo, B., Flores, N., & Jenaro, C. (2021). Prevalence of sexual abuse in adults with intellectual disability: Systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(4), 1980. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041980