The Resource The National Sexual Violence Resource Center Newsletter. Fall/Winter 2016 INTRODUCING OUR BOLD MISSION (Cover graphic is a podium with a sign reading: Raliance - Ending Sexual Violence in One Generation) Contact Us The National Sexual Violence Resource Center invites your comments: The Resource 123 North Enola Drive, Enola, PA 17025 Toll free: 877-739-3895 Fax: 717-909-0714 TTY: 717-909-0715 Email: resources@nsvrc.org Online: www.nsvrc.org COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT LAURA PALUMBO, Communications Director MEGAN THOMAS, Communications Specialist, Editor of The Resource SUSAN SULLIVAN, Prevention Campaign Specialist EMILY BIGGER, Graphic Design Specialist CHAD SNIFFEN, Online Resource Coordinator TAYLOR TEICHMAN, Online Resource Specialist LEADERSHIP DELILAH RUMBURG, CEO KAREN BAKER, NSVRC Director ADVISORY COUNCIL Pamela B. Brown, Atlanta, GA Susan Chasson, Provo, UT Maia Christopher, Beaverton, OR Nancy Hoffman, Fairmont, WV Keith L. Kaufman, Portland, OR Patrick Lemmon, Portland, OR Julie Lindahl, Huntsville, AL Sarah McMahon, New Brunswick, NJ Kelly Parsley, Helena, MT Holly Ramsey-Klawsnik, Canton, MA Jennifer Rauhouse, Phoenix, AZ Delilah Rumburg, Enola, PA Mira Yusef, Des Moines, IA This publication was supported by Cooperative Agreement #5UF2CE002359-04 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or NSVRC. ABOUT THE COVER This year marks the launch of the new national partnership, Raliance. Composed of National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA)-PreventConnect, and the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV). Read about how Raliance is working toward the goal of ending sexual violence in one generation on page 5. READ MORE 4 DIRECTOR'S VIEWPOINT 16 SEXUAL ABUSE TO PRISON PIPELINE 24 SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS MONTH UPDATE 25 MILESTONES: RECOGNIZING MAPA CONTENTS 5 RALIANCE LAUNCH Learn about the new collaborative initiative. 10 Q&A NSVRC spoke with Bonni Cohen, co-director of Audrie & Daisy (Still image of Daisy Coleman sitting on a porch from the film) 14 COMMUNITY VOICES We asked: How did you get started working to end sexual violence? 18 TECH ROUNDUP PreventConnect looks back on the first year of its online campus. 20 PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT Read how centers in Connecticut developed K-12 prevention programs. 26 SNAPSHOTS Check out the highlights of NSAC 2016. 28 FROM THE LIBRARY Read about four resources that might interest you. Contributors Michele Hamilton is the President of Pennsylvania National Organization for Women and a board member of the National Organization for Women. She is also the Assistant Director of Residential Services at the Centre County Women’s Resource Center, which provides services to survivors of domestic and sexual violence and stalking as well as prevention education and systems’ advocacy. In her “free” time, she is involved in many community activities, especially those involving civil and human rights. She tries to be a supportive daughter, a sister to her great family, a colleague, and a friend. Maria Jirau-Torres is the Language Access Coordinator for NSVRC,having worked in the domestic and sexual violence arena for almost eight years. In that time, she has advocated with and for victims of trafficking and Spanishspeaking-only survivors. She worked as the child advocate, counselor, prevention educator, medical, and legal advocate for the Spanish-speaking and Latinx community. In her current role, Maria facilitates culturally informed and linguistically accessible efforts, nurtures partnerships across languages and cultures, develops and provides trainings at local, state, and national levels, and provides culturally specific and linguistically accessible technical assistance. Ashleigh Klein-Jimenez is a Project Manager with the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) and works on CALCASA’s national online project, PreventConnect. She began her work in the movement to end sexual violence in 2005 as a volunteer with the local rape crisis center in her community. Ashleigh was quickly drawn to the social change elements of prevention work and worked in several community-based prevention programs. She has had the privilege of collaborating and partnering with numerous community stakeholders on implementing sexual violence prevention efforts. Julie Patrick is Raliance’s National Partners Liaison representing NSVRC, focused on bolstering prevention strategies, strengthening the response to victims of sexual assault, and improving the access to treatment for those who commit sexual violence. Julie has also served as the Senior Special Projects Coordinator with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Julie has also been a key and founding leader for the National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation. Charlotte Poth is the Communications and Prevention Coordinator at The Center for Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling and Education in Stamford, CT. She is very passionate about changing system responses to sexual assault in America, and believes that trauma-informed police, hospital, and judicial response is integral to the healing process and prevention. Prior to joining The Center, Charlotte was a creative partner with Pugmark Films. Charlotte holds a B.A. from Emerson College. Plus: A Q&A with Bonni Cohen, co-director of Audrie & Daisy Want to share success stories or innovative practices? We're always looking for story ideas! If you're interested in sharing great work your local center or coalition is doing with readers across the country, let us know: Email us your pitch at resources@nsvrc.org Reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter @NSVRC Or give us a call at 877-739-3895 Director’s Viewpoint Karen Baker, NSVRC Director As featured on the cover, in this issue of The Resource, we are sharing more about the launch of Raliance and the mission to end sexual violence. We believe now, more than ever, is the time for boldness and innovation – that’s why, with our partners at PreventConnect-CALCASA and the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, we are collaborating to change the culture. In this issue, you’ll read about our vision for the Raliance initiative and impact of our first year in the field. Raliance has already awarded nearly $1.2 million in competitive grants for 27 local projects, which are highlighted in this issue. We are preparing to release another round of funding in 2017 and a call for additional grant proposals. Funding is only one part of our multifaceted goal to serve the needs of policymakers, advocates, service providers, and the media. We are also hosting a policy think tank, symposium for journalists and summit for youth. These efforts are reaching across the nation, and we’ve also established the Raliance offices in Washington, D.C. The launch of Raliance is not the only mark we are leaving on D.C. In the Snapshots section, you will find highlights from the 2016 National Sexual Assault Conference, which brought a record-breaking 1,600 sexual violence prevention professionals, advocates, survivors, and others to Washington. For those who joined us or participated online using #NSAC2016, thank you for contributing to a dynamic, three-day dialogue on the future of the movement to end sexual violence. Be sure to mark your calendar for the 2017 conference, “From Courageous Conversations to Critical Action,” which will be hosted by the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault in Dallas, TX. It’s timely that the upcoming conference seeks to drive critical action. In this issue, we are spotlighting communities who are taking these critical steps. Learn how the National Organization for Women is working with communities to end the sexual abuse to prison pipeline. In Connecticut, we hear how state and local programs worked together to create a K-12 prevention curriculum to move from policy to practice. The co-director of the ground-breaking Netflix documentary Audrie & Daisy reflects on how the story of the two teenage girls featured in the film is driving families, schools, and communities to have conversations on sexual assault and online harassment. As you read and learn about these steps forward, we also invite you to look back with us. In the Community Voices section, we hear from readers about how they got their start working to end sexual violence. We also honor the members of our Multilingual Access Project Advisory (MAPA) who have given of themselves for the past seven years to promote the inclusion of Latinx voices in our work. Although we are excited to highlight all of the great work that’s captured in this issue of The Resource, we know it is only a glimpse at how individuals and organizations are working to support survivors and change the culture to end sexual violence. That’s why we want to hear from you, our colleagues and readers, to share your successes, challenges, and accomplishments with us. We know together we can change and are changing the culture, and the work you are doing matters now more than ever. In Partnership, Karen L. Baker ‘The NFL shares Raliance’s belief that we all have a responsibility to help change the culture to end sexual violence in our lifetime.’ — Karen Baker, NSVRC Director (Image of staff from MSVRC, CALCASA, and NAESV attending the Raliance launch celebration in Washington, D.C.) Raliance: Launching an unapologetically bold mission By Julie Patrick • Raliance (NSVRC) Raliance is a new collaborative initiative with a bold mission to end sexual violence in one generation. Three top sexual violence prevention organizations – the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA)-PreventConnect, and the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV) – created Raliance to serve as a central hub for effective allocation and distribution of programmatic funding and the go-to resource for policymakers, advocates, service providers, and the media. Why now? We are experiencing a watershed moment. With high-profile cases over the past few years triggering a national conversation on sexual violence, the time to rally communities and the public is now. We know prevention is happening – but more must be done. Without centralized support, misconceptions and barriers to accessing resources persist. We’ve catalogued the events and efforts responsible for creating this critical moment in our inaugural report, Ending Sexual Violence in One Generation: A Progress Report for the United States. The name Raliance was inspired by our desire to rally engagement from stakeholders and align goals and resources behind our overarching mission to end sexual violence once and for all. Raliance is committed to being unapologetically bold by driving innovation to end sexual violence, convening thought leadership, and distributing resources to advance the conversation. Driving Innovation Raliance awarded nearly $1.2 million in competitive grants for 27 local projects led by organizations across the country in an ongoing grant program that seeks to advance promising, replicable practices or policies that: • Improve the response to victims of sexual violence; • Reduce the likelihood of perpetration of sexual violence; or • Strengthen communities’ and organizations’ capacity to create safe environments. The diverse projects being funded will work with communities of color and LGBTQ populations, helping to provide treatment for people at risk of causing harm, and conducting outreach with sports teams, bars, restaurants, and other new partners. An additional round of funding will drive $600,000 to programs in 2017, and a third round of grants will be announced in spring 2017. For more information on our grant program, including a full list of selected first-round grantees, visit www.raliance.org. (Photo: Banner reading: "Welcome to the launch of Raliance") (Photo: Terri Poore, Director of NAESV) (Caption: The partners hosted a launch celebration on September 22, 2016 at the Arts Club of Washington in Washington, D.C. Attendees included Lynn Rosenthal, former White House Advisor on Violence Against Women; Anna Isaacson, NFL Social Responsibility; Kristina Thompson, Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus; and several grantees.) (Photo: Raliance staff members Julie Patrick, National Partners Liaison (NSVRC); Ebony Tucker, Advocacy Director (NAESV); and Lindsay McDaniel Mapp, Prevention Manager (PreventConnect-CALCASA).) (Photo: Small chocolate bars with the Raliance logo on them) With its research partner, the Center on Gender Equity and Health at the University of California, San Diego, Raliance has identified that sports culture has the opportunity to shape and transmit values and can also be used to prevent sexual violence. Raliance is also mapping prevention practices and programs throughout the sports pipeline from youth to professional leagues to identify promising initiatives as well as opportunities for new efforts. We also recognize that ending sexual violence requires meaningful policy solutions. Raliance hosted a policy think tank in December 2016 to engage experts across social justice issues and inform a robust forward-leaning policy agenda. Changing Conversations About Sexual Violence Changing conversations begins with improving society’s understanding of what enables sexual violence to exist and persist. This viewpoint is often shaped by the media. Raliance has invested in researching effective communication to promote clear and consistent conversations about sexual assault among individuals and in news coverage. In spring 2017, we will host a media summit for journalists and those in entertainment media to celebrate and advance informed and accurate reporting and storytelling. Engaging Youth as Change-Makers Through supporting youth and nurturing the conditions for their own empowerment, Raliance hopes to encourage youth to bring learning and activism back to their communities to end gender-based violence. To help us build collective power and voice to achieve this, we are convening ThisGEN: Youth Summit from March 6-10, 2017 in Washington, D.C. This five-day event will engage tenth and eleventh grade students in leadership and learning opportunities through three tracks: • Using social media and messaging to change public opinion and discourse about gender-based violence • Leveraging the influence of sports and athletes to end gender-based violence • Catalyzing individuals and communities through community organizing and policy advocacy to end gender-based violence Engaging the Field & Actively Listening Raliance is poised to support a continued discussion about ending sexual violence. But we cannot do this alone. In fact, Raliance is made possible through a multiyear, $10 million dollar commitment from the National Football League. We have seen a lot of organizations struggle with how to address sexual violence in a meaningful way. The NFL’s commitment to join the sexual violence prevention movement is unprecedented, representing the first-ever major corporate funding of sexual violence prevention initiatives. This level of corporate partnership from a national organization with extensive reach and influence is a major moment for our movement, and exactly what is needed to change our culture. We invite other corporate partners to join our efforts. The communities and organizations all of you represent are vital to achieving our mission. Our D.C. office is now open, and we look forward to collaborating to raise our collective voice and end sexual violence. (Photo: Executive Director of CALCASA, Sandra Henriquez.) (Photo: Raliance’s inaugural report, Ending Sexual Violence in One Generation.) (Photo: The NFL’s Vice President of Social Responsibility, Anna Isaacson.) ONLINE Find Raliance at www.raliance.org and on Facebook and Twitter @Ralianceorg. Learn about a few of Raliance’s first-round grantees Category 1: Services or advocacy for people who have been sexually victimized • Safe Berks (formerly Berks Women in Crisis) in Reading, PA will enhance its capacity to provide linguistically and culturally appropriate resources to Latinx community members through a survey of Latina women’s experience with sexual violence including cultural factors that may play a role. Safe Berks will also employ photovoice, a community-based participatory research technique using cameras and skill training to capture and convey images about their community needs, strengths, and story. • WEAVE in Sacramento, CA will partner with Wind Youth Services and the LGBT Center to increase access to crisis intervention, safety planning, and psychoeducational support group services for LGBT youth who have experienced sexual victimization and/or homelessness. Category 2: Strategies for reducing the likelihood of people to sexually offend • Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA) in St. Paul, MN will improve systems, policies, and practices for identifying, responding to, and providing effective services to children with sexual behavior problems. MNCASA will develop a report summarizing research on best practices, gaps in knowledge and practice, and specific policy recommendations to increase earlier identification and intervention. • Black Women’s Blueprint in Brooklyn, NY will launch its Emerging Sons program to enlist Black men and boys in ending sexual violence in 10 target Black communities around the nation. Emerging Sons seeks to equip Black communities with tools for earlier sexual violence interventions through culturally specific and historically grounded curriculum to disrupt generational cycles of violence. Category 3: Organizational, systemic, or community-level prevention strategies • Men as Peacemakers in Duluth, MN will expand its IMPACT Program. They will publish an IMPACT Implementation Manual to assist decision-makers in effectively incorporating sexual violence prevention in ways that are relevant and useful to athletic organizations, and will expand IMPACT coaching resources through a training and trainer’s guide for pre-kindergarten and early elementary-aged athletics programs. • Guam Coalition Against Sexual Assault & Family Violence (GCASAFV) in Hagatna, Guam will expand mandated comprehensive age-appropriate sexual abuse prevention curriculum into private school settings. GCASAFV will also implement its Project STAR (Strengthening Teens Awareness & Resources), integrate Safe Dates curriculum, and engage youth as peer advocates. Q&A with Audrie & Daisy co-director Bonni Cohen “We are hearing multiple times on a daily basis since the film has come out from girls whose lives have been really altered and changed...where they feel like they have a voice.” - Bonni Cohen The documentary Audrie & Daisy, co-directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, tells the parallel stories of two teenage girls who have never met. Both Audrie Pott and Daisy Coleman were sexually assaulted while in high school, and images of their assaults were circulated online. They were each subjected to harassment by classmates, and Audrie took her own life shortly after. Released on Netflix in September 2016, the film discusses the impact of sexual assault and how we can all work to change a culture that tolerates assault and harassment. NSVRC spoke with co-director Bonni Cohen about the film’s impact and the importance of early education in sexual assault prevention. (Image: Poster of the film Audrie & Daisy, showing the silhouette of a young woman sitting on the ground surrounded by silhouettes of people holding cell phones.) NSVRC: Recently, media and pop culture have begun talking more about the issue of sexual assault. We’ve seen it in documentaries like Audrie & Daisy as well as The Hunting Ground and in feature films like Spotlight. Why do you think this topic is becoming more prevalent in pop culture? Bonni Cohen: With the advent of more social media use, and comfort with having more anonymous or slightly less personal conversations online, with support groups or with friends around issues of sexual assault, I think that’s helped. I also think that because social media and pictures and videos being shared about sexual assault on social media has become kind of the new normal — this new public square of shame — there are many more cases being talked about and seen and discussed. NSVRC: What has been the biggest surprise to you about how the film has been received? Bonni Cohen: Jon [Shenk, co-director] and I have made a lot of films together that have had significant social impact around issues such as climate change or the refugee crisis or anti-Semitism. But for whatever reason, this is a very intimate issue — it hits very close to home. We have teenagers of our own, and so it felt very personal and intimate all of a sudden. I guess the most shocking thing to us is just how significant the impact has been of the film in the daily lives of these girls. And we are hearing multiple times on a daily basis since the film has come out from girls whose lives have been really altered and changed, having seen the film, where they feel they have a voice. It’s just this kind of direct impact that is, in a way, much more satisfying, certainly as a filmmaker, to see that kind of change. But I guess I didn’t realize even in the making of the film — even while it was so hard and while we knew it was so important — I didn’t really get the significance of just how important it would be for girls to see this until it came out. (Photo: Audrie Pott's story is told in the film) NSVRC: Including the perspectives of the perpetrators in the film is a very different approach. What is the impact of including the two teenage boys’ perspectives? Bonni Cohen: We included a lot of different male perspectives in the film. We sort of have a lot of different archetypes. We’ve got the perpetrators, we have a sheriff, a representative of law enforcement who has a very specific opinion. We’ve got Daisy Coleman’s brother, who becomes much more of a stand-up guy and speaks for the good boys, of which, I think, there are probably more good boys than not. But I think what ends up happening is you hear how young they [the perpetrators] are, and how uninformed their opinions are. It’s kind of a great metaphor for how important early education is. Because clearly the boys don’t express any knowledge of having known that they were necessarily doing something wrong, and certainly don’t have any tremendous amount of remorse in the aftermath. (Photo: Daisy Coleman speaks at an event.) NSVRC: There are so many elements of the internet playing into these cases. How can we flip the script and work together in the online community to support survivors? Bonni Cohen: 12 The Resource Q&A Daisy and Delaney [Henderson] and some of the other girls who were featured in the film, along with some of their friends, have started this organization called SafeBAE, which is sort of designed to be a safe haven for victims and other girls and boys online, who want to kind of reach out and talk to an online community about what’s going on in their lives. The truth is that the internet and ways of communicating on the internet have been a real safety net and source of support for a lot of girls. So it’s already happening, and I think that if we can structure more ways for it to happen, there’s a lot of work to be done in that space. NSVRC: There were several instances throughout the documentary of law enforcement and community leaders who were misinformed about sexual assault. What can the public take away from these examples? Bonni Cohen: I think that there are two things going on. One, we have to get our laws organized and figure out how we can best serve victims in these kinds of cases. That’s number one. And number two: I think that there is just a lack of education around the country. There’s a lot of victim blaming — that sounds like an old-school idea, but it’s still going on, especially in these rural communities where football is king, and a lot of these teenage boys are kind of deified and idolized at a very early age. The tendency is for the community to rally around the boys, and that is unfortunately a deep-seated way of being in our culture, in our society, and our communities. And we’ve got to turn that around, and that has to come from early education of our boys and girls. NSVRC: On the other hand, there are examples of people in the film, like Daisy’s brother and the four young women highlighted toward the end of the film, who have mobilized to support survivors and make change. What can viewers learn from these examples? Bonni Cohen: Well, I think Charlie [Coleman, Daisy’s brother] is a real hero in the film. Just the work that he’s doing organically with his Little League players, talking to them about girls and teaching them right from wrong. He knows he’s a real role model for these young boys, because he’s a super athlete and he is a good guy. And he sees the need for young men to teach boys the right way in these kinds of situations. In terms of the girls, they’ve been traveling around the country, talking to different high school communities, talking about how girls can support each other. They talk about bystander behavior, they talk about supporting each other at parties, buddy systems, alcohol use. They’re really doing an amazing job of trying to get out there and do that kind of work. But they’re only a few people, and what they are doing needs to be replicated. I would say that the gender groups in high schools that are starting to do this work and take it on, especially where the film has been seen, is very exciting. (Photo: Delaney Henderson, another survivor, reached out to Daisy after hearing her story.) NSVRC: What is your hope for the impact of this film? Bonni Cohen: One of the main reasons we went with Netflix is because we want every high school student to see the film — middle school, if possible — and we want the film to spark discussions as we know it can do. And we’ve seen it in our own community and the communities we’ve visited with the film, to get teenagers talking about what is going wrong, how we can fix it, how we can healthily use social media, and kind of help pave a way forward. Because we’re in a new era. None of us are really understanding it yet. We’re at the front end of understanding how social media is going to impact us in years to come. I would say that these kinds of conversations with health educators and teachers and parents with their students is the most vital thing we can do — kind of using the film as a discussion point. We have discussion guides and curriculum that have been created, that are on the site, that are incredibly useful for educators. ONLINE Learn more about Audrie & Daisy at www.audrieanddaisy.com and on Facebook and Twitter @AudrieandDaisy Audrie & Daisy is now available for streaming on Netflix Community Voices For every edition, we reach out to you, our partners and community members, to learn more about your work in the movement. We asked: How did you get started working to end sexual violence? "I worked with several agencies and kept seeing sexual assault being factored in but not being treated or given counseling. So I have started working as a prevention educator to help prevent sexual assault." -Kerri Thomas, CONTACT Rape Crisis Center "A group of us at the University of Wyoming came together to work as advocates on our campus to speak up and speak out against sexual assault." -Madisyn Kirby, Voices of Courage "I was working in the ER as I had been for 10+ years. One of my coworkers, who was also a SANE, told me ‘You should apply at the YWCA to be a SANE. You would be great for that.’ So I did and it has become my passion." -Alison Gary Edidin "In college, during counseling, I was given the opportunity to be part of a peer education group on campus. As part of that group, we educated others and I was able to tell my story. Those years not only helped in my healing journey, but also helped me help others in theirs." -Annie Foote Gebel "After having amazing advocates after my own sexual assault, I realized a need for prevention and education and wanted to ‘give back.’" -Melissa J. "I was approached by an advocate in college that thought I would be a good prevention educator." -Sally Laskey, International Association of Forensic Nurses "I got started working against sexual violence because I never wanted another survivor to be silenced by rape culture the way that I was." -Staci Luker, @lukermama Be a featured voice! We want to hear your response to our next Community Voices question: How are you/your organization an ally to LGBTQ communities? Tweet your answer to @NSVRC or email resources@nsvrc.org using the subject line “Community Voices.” Collaborating to end the sexual abuse to prison pipeline By Michele Hamilton National Organization for Women Imagine being a 15-year-old girl. Some boys in your class are harassing you. You feel unsafe and skip classes. Truancy is a statutory offense, and Child Protective Services may become involved. Under Title IX, you should have access to services and tools to keep you safe, but you do not know this. Instead, you may be suspended, expelled, or pushed into the juvenile detention system. As the National Organization for Women (NOW) prepared to celebrate our 50th anniversary, we wanted to create truly intersectional national actions that could be worked on by states and local chapters. Our national board created three strategic plans, chaired by our members. My committee, Ending the Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline, developed a plan that could be used on regional, state, and local levels by NOW leaders and members. It was made up of members from Texas, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland as well as our President Terry O’Neill and two grassroots policy fellows. This past August, we were honored to present a workshop at the National Sexual Assault Conference. The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline (SAPP) is the cycle of retraumatization in which girls and young women are survivors of sexual abuse or exploitation. They exhibit trauma responses, but because of a combination of sexism, racism, and transphobia, they are branded “difficult students,” criminalized, suspended, expelled, or incarcerated. Often the abuse issues are not addressed, and the girls are retraumatized again in juvenile facilities and alternative schools. The pushouts from school and community affect them throughout their lives; worsening their overall health, and decreasing their ability to attain jobs, further education, and housing. While many young people, especially girls, are affected by this, the SAPP disproportionately affects young women of color and transgender youth. It is directly related to the over-incarceration of young people. Our collaboration seeks to attack the issue on three levels. The first is the level of schools. We plan to tie the SAPP into issues of Title IX. Without proper counseling, young people only receive attention after “acting out” when dealing with the effects of sexual violence. Punitive school policies and statutory offences lead to Black and Latina girls being “pushed out” of schools. Our second area of focus is training for teachers and staff on how to recognize and respond to sexual abuse, increasing funding for counseling staff, and revising policies to see that punishments for victims are modified and applied appropriately. The second level is making sure that young people who are in the juvenile justice system have access to Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) counseling and health care including mental and reproductive health, as well as restricting policies that can cause retraumatization such as strip searches, use of restraints, and isolation. (Photo: A row of lockers in a school hallway.) The third level is supporting a Nordic model of legislation, which criminally punishes buying, brokering, and trafficking but not people who are exploited for sex. This will decriminalize the victims of trafficking and exploitation. We also want to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). How can you help? Support the expansion of Title IX in elementary, middle, and high schools. Do your local juvenile facilities have PREA coordinators? Are Children and Youth Services (CYS) caseworkers and teachers trained to respond to trauma responses due to sexual assault? Do they also have training in unconscious bias around race, class, and LGBTQ+ issues? Follow the Ending Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline Committee as we expand our work. I would like to thank The African American Policy Forum, Rights 4 Girls, and Georgetown Law Clinic for their research on this issue, which formed the foundation for our committee’s goals. ONLINE Find the Pennsylvania National Organization for Women at pennsylvanianow.org Visit the National Organization for Women online at now.org READ MORE To learn more about the Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline, check out these resources: Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected: http://bit.ly/BlackGirlsMatter_Report The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls’ Story: http://bit.ly/TheGirlsStory PreventConnect Campus: A look back at the first year By Ashleigh Klein-Jimenez California Coalition Against Sexual Assault Sexual violence on college and university campuses has dominated the headlines for several years now. The work of student activists, leadership from the White House, and media in the form of documentary films, best-selling books, and too many news articles to count have created major public discourse around the issue. Thanks to courageous survivors sharing their stories, public awareness has been raised about the prevalence of sexual violence on college campuses, and the troubling responses by institutions many survivors have experienced were brought to light. Recent mandates and regulations have also led campuses to take proactive measures to prevent sexual violence. Across the country, new staff positions have been created and prevention programs have been implemented. Despite this, campuses are often concerned with Title IX compliance, and many focus much of their efforts on response while little attention goes to prevention. In this environment and with the many systems, people, and opinions that make up a campus, prevention practitioners have a lot to balance. (Photo: A person holds a tablet playing a PreventConnect Campus video.) For over a decade, PreventConnect, a national project of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, has worked to improve our collective ability to prevent sexual and domestic violence while connecting to other forms of violence and social justice and health issues. Equally as important, PreventConnect has created an online space for prevention practitioners to connect with one another – to share knowledge, resources, successes and challenges. It has been a year since PreventConnect launched PreventConnect Campus with additional funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. PreventConnect Campus was developed for prevention practitioners working on or with campuses with the intention of creating an online space dedicated to building the capacity for campus-based prevention efforts. Over the last 12 months, PreventConnect Campus has produced numerous web conferences, developed two eLearning units, created a campus prevention resource guide, and released a report titled Sexual Assault Prevention on U.S. College Campuses: A National Scan. As we plan for the future, here are the things that I believe we are successfully building to: •Highlighting the need for intentional, strategic, and comprehensive prevention efforts on college and university campuses • Building an online community of prevention practitioners working on campus or in partnership with campuses • Strengthening the ability for campus-based prevention practitioners to do their work through capacity building and resource sharing • Providing tools for campuses to make informed and strategic decisions based on experiential, contextual, and research evidence • Including ALL campuses in the conversation – community colleges, HBCUs, trade schools, etc. As we move forward into this second year of PreventConnect Campus, we will continue to highlight the voices of campus-based prevention practitioners and draw on the collective knowledge of our audience. We will continue to create an online space and facilitate conversations so practitioners can learn from one another. We invite you to join us as we continue to build a community where campus prevention practitioners and community partners share successes, challenges, and lessons learned while striving to create healthy, thriving campus communities for all. ONLINE Visit PreventConnect online at www.preventconnect.org or on Twitter @PreventConnect Find the PreventConnect Campus at www.preventconnect.org/category/campus Check out the resources available at PreventConnect Campus, including: • Podcasts • Videos • eLearning courses • and more! PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT In Connecticut Member centers in Connecticut create K-12 prevention programs to fulfill new public act By Charlotte Poth The Center for Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling and Education In June of 2014, Connecticut took a major step in the direction of preventing sexual violence upon passing Public Act 14-196. This statute mandates that all regional and local school districts in the state must implement K-12 sexual assault and abuse prevention and awareness programs in their schools. The Act addresses the issue on two fronts. First, we’re actually going to talk about it. Outreach efforts to schools in the past have proven that sexual violence is an uncomfortable reality, with squeamish administrators declaring, “That doesn’t happen in our community,” or, “We wouldn’t want to upset the parents.” This contributes to a bubble of denial that fuels rape culture. That’s the scary truth. Neglecting to have conversations around sexual violence keeps the issue wrapped in a shroud of stigma and shame. Second, Public Act 14-196 asks for solutions to the problems presented. From recognizing covert sexism as a gateway to violence to identifying the toxicity of gender roles, we have to start analyzing social norms as early as possible in the classroom. So that maybe someday in the future, there won’t be vulgar signs above frat houses during freshman orientation week or chants yelled at midnight in front of dorms promoting rape. If we want to prevent college sexual assault, then we need to think further back than freshman year for education to begin. We have to start in kindergarten, if not earlier. Fostering empathy and respect in our youth and teaching them to identify feelings and build and maintain healthy boundaries needs to become as essential to K-12 education as teaching children to read and write. After the taskforce comprised of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, the Connecticut Board of Education, The Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, and many of its member centers created the standards within the framework of the mandate in 2015, it was time to craft the programs that would meet these performance indicators. The Center for Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling and Education was selected by The Alliance to head the working group comprised of the eight other member centers spanning across the state. When a mandate such as this passes, the question becomes: How do we create comprehensive programs that will honor Connecticut’s diversity and reach children with differing backgrounds and experiences? As we know, when it comes to prevention, language is everything. (Photo: Elementary school children in class.) The first step was to get all of us in a room together to pore over the language used in our respective programs. Words that seemed simple took on very complex meanings. Students in our service area respond well to the term “trusted adult,” but other programs found that this term would be scoffed at. Trusted adult? For some children, that concept is a luxury. We couldn’t use the word “house” because some children don’t live in one. Some children don’t have any sort of home at all. “Where you live” was our best option. The vast inequalities of the American public school system were quickly exposed during our first meeting. As advocates, we know all too well the risks that poverty exposes children to. We had to write programs for children who come to school with full lunchboxes, and those who arrive with empty bellies. The truth is, socioeconomics must be deeply considered when crafting programs like this. Think about a child being groomed for abuse by someone who gives them food when there isn’t any, or gives them money when the threat of eviction looms over their head. Or what about a child who is being abused by the breadwinner in the house? What if they tell? What happens then? We may teach children that they are the boss of their body and that it isn’t okay for anyone to touch them in an unhealthy and unsafe way, but we needed to understand the many reasons why this message may fall short. When it comes to the issue of sexual assault and abuse, the layers and complexities are as deep as it gets. Every shade of grey had to be considered and examined under a microscope. Only then would we truly understand how to reach as many students as possible. The Center’s existing programs were selected as the baseline the working group would start from. Already comprehensive and evidence-informed, the task was to enhance these programs to meet all of the outlined performance indicators. We looked closely at what other states are doing in prevention education. Vermont has been leading the way for decades, and we turned to them to gauge how interactive our programs would need to be. We observed how they catered to a variety of learning styles and crafted our programs with the same considerations in mind. When it comes to best practice in the field of sexual violence prevention in the United States, few programs exist. There is a great need for a K-12 prevention model to be created and subsequently measured to determine efficacy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been on the hunt for comprehensive prevention programs throughout the nation, yet few exist for them to actually put to the test. Therefore, when it came time to evaluate programs with proven outcomes, we had to look across the pond. The Netherlands has comprehensive K-12 programs created by Rutgers International, a sexuality research institute based there. For many years, The Netherlands has designated a week out of the school year called “Spring Fever,” where students receive sex education and prevention programming. These programs address the rigid gender norms and standards created by the media in tandem with the need for communication, empathy and respect in all relationships. Students are given tools on how to express their feelings and needs, along with recognizing and respecting the needs of others. According to the World Bank, the Netherlands has one of the lowest teen pregnancy and STI transmission rates in the world, although statistics on sexual violence still need to be assessed. As we know all too well, relying on reporting statistics in gauging sexual assault rates is a flawed measurement system, seeing as so many assaults go unreported or dismissed by authorities. When it comes to measuring sexual assault and abuse prevention, the Netherlands still has some work to do. Many will be watching and taking notes, hoping to learn from the successes their programs are predicted to achieve with the next generation. Our programs are rooted in challenging harmful social norms that lay the groundwork for sexual violence to flourish. Much like the Dutch model, we focus on teaching communication skills and enhancing student ability to decipher non-verbal cues. Empathy, respect, and healthy relationship dynamics are key components of every program. At age-appropriate levels, the grooming process is dissected, so that students learn to identify manipulation tactics and the motivations behind them. The goal of these programs is to present tools for disclosure and minimize self blame. We wanted children to know it is never their fault if this happens to them. Words can take on nuanced meanings in this work, and some can become loaded and blaming. Therefore, it is pivotal that these programs are delivered by trained professionals who fully understand the issue. Asking teachers to facilitate programs like these is potentially dangerous, for there is no guarantee delivery will not be marred by personal bias and false information. Utilizing member centers is not only a sound fiscal choice for schools, but it also gives students a neutral and trauma-informed advocate to potentially disclose to. Advocates can ensure that proper protocols are enacted upon disclosure, and that the child is protected from continually being asked to re-tell their story. Now that a prevention model has been created for member centers to implement across the state of Connecticut, the next task ahead of us is to create a concrete measuring tool to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs. We are hopeful that Connecticut could be a leading state in setting the standard for what sexual assault and abuse prevention education should look like. It is our wish that many more states will follow with K-12 legislation, and America can soon be on its way to changing rape culture nationwide. ONLINE Find The Center online at thecenter-ct.org/ Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Engaging New Voices By Susan Sullivan National Sexual Violence Resource Center During Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), survivors and advocates engage the greater community in prevention efforts, and there’s no better way to expand the scope of SAAM than by reaching out to a broader audience — that’s why Engaging New Voices is the theme of the 2017 SAAM campaign. The new audiences we’re reaching out to include: Members of Greek Life • Coaches • Parents • Faith leaders Resources for the Engaging New Voices campaign will be specific to each audience. They will help these groups identify how to shape the values of those they influence and empower them with clear steps on how to take action. In addition to resources for groups listed above, we’ll also have materials for online community members and survivors of sexual violence. Ultimately, the goal of all resources will be the same: to put an end to attitudes that support violence. Keep an eye out for the materials, including social media share graphics, a contest, and a promotional video. We’re also excited to be developing materials for the Spanish language SAAM campaign. We look forward to seeing how we can all engage new voices and bring about real change this April! ONLINE Keep up to date at www.nsvrc.org/saam or search #SAAM on Twitter Milestones Recognizing the Multilingual Access Project Advisory (MAPA) By Maria Jirau-Torres National Sexual Violence Resource Center Seven years ago, NSVRC collaborated with several individuals across the nation to ensure and promote the inclusion of a cultural context that reflects the diverse Latina, Latino, and Latinx (pronounced Latin-ex) cultures and communities. At the heart of this process has been and is the Multilingual Access Project Advisory (MAPA) committee. Each of these women has contributed their experiences, skills, expertise, and valuable time — while advocating for the rights and needs of survivors in their own communities. (Photo: NSVRC staff and members of MAPA met at NSAC 2016.) We’d like to honor each of these extraordinary individuals for their contribution, commitment, and support in the work they do every day in their communities and in collaboration with NSVRC: • Elizabeth Balcarcel, IowaCASA • Katryn Duarte, Rape Victims Advocacy Program, IA • Ramona Felix, Lideres Campesinas, CA • Dilcia Molina, La Clinica del Pueblo-Madre Tierra, VA • Leslie Moncada-Sauceda, Empower House, VA • Kimber Nicoletti, MESA, Purdue University, IN • Cristina Perez, WOAR, PA • Mónica Ramírez, National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, MD • Mily Trevino-Sauceda, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Inc., CA • Rebecca Ward, Rape, Prevention & Education Dept. de Salud in Puerto Rico Snapshots Hopeful Future, Honored Past: NSAC 2016 The National Sexual Assault Conference (NSAC) was held August 31 - September 2 in Washington, D.C. Keynote speakers included ME Hart, CEO of Hart Learning Group; Jonathan Saltzman, member of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team; Steven Starr, filmmaker and activist; and Tracy D. Wright, TA provider and Communities of Color Leadership Coordinator for the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Participants could choose from a number of different learning tracks, such as campus, media, and prevention, as well as mini-tracks sponsored by organizations like Move to End Violence, Just Detention International, and 1in6/FORGE. (Photo: Pieces from Arte Sana’s art exhibit Corazón Lastimado, Healing the Wounded Heart, were featured at the conference. The art display included hearts painted in various designs.) (Photo: A woman looks at a photo display from the Bristlecone Project, a campaign of 1in6 featuring men who have overcome sexual assault.) (Photo: Joan Tabachnick was presented the Gail-Burns Smith Award by ATSA Executive Director Maia Christopher and NSVRC Director Karen Baker.) (Photo: NSAC attendees could add their messages of hope and healing to watercolor leaves on the Tree of Hope art installation. Pictured leaf reads: "You are strong.") (Photo: NSVRC’s Kristen Houser interviewed Jonathan Saltzman from The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team and Steven Starr, a filmmaker and activist.) (Photo: The wellness room included self-care activities like coloring and a collective art journal.) From the library 4 resources worth checking out The National Sexual Violence Resource Center library is overflowing with great materials, with more than 38,000 unique titles and growing every day. NSVRC staff members share four of the collection’s resources you might want to grab for your own library. Looking for research materials? Search the database at www.nsvrclibrary.org. 1. Stuck in the Middle With You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan 2. She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan Exploring the meaning behind gender and what lies between for men and women, these unified memoirs look at the dynamics of love, sex, friendships, family, and the physical and emotional relationships we have with both others and ourselves. These memoirs dive into the author’s experiences of transitioning from man to woman, from father to mother, and the unique challenges and questions that gender plays in our experiences as parents, lovers, friends, individuals, and in the many ways a family can exist. -Taylor Teichman She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan. (Broadway Books, 2013) 337 p. Stuck in the Middle With You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan. (Broadway Books, 2013) 299 p. 3. Becoming Unbecoming This graphic memoir by Una traces the artist’s coming of age as she deals with her own experiences of sexual assault, set against the historical backdrop of 1970s England and her hometown’s search for a serial killer of women. Using stunning imagery, Una reflects on what it means to grow up in a culture of violence, victim-blaming, and silence. -Megan Thomas Becoming Unbecoming by Una. (Myriad, 2015) 208 p. 4. Attacks on the Press: Gender and Media Freedom Worldwide This collection of essays, including original reporting, and personal accounts by freelance journalists and other experts, examines gender-based online harassment, physical attacks, and institutional discrimination. The book also provides guidance for journalists on how to deal with gender-related threats and restrictions, including safety measures and advocacy with the diplomatic community. This definitive guide to the state of press freedom around the globe exposes abuses while exploring potential solutions. Attacks on the Press (2016 edition) is available full text at https://www.cpj.org/2016/04/attacks-on-the-press.php -Karen Litterer Attacks on the Press: Gender and Media Freedom Worldwide by the Committee to Protect Journalists. (Bloomberg Press, 2016) 156 p. Recommend a Resource Read something interesting? Let us know! We could add it to our library and feature it here. Tweet suggestions to @NSVRC, share them on NSVRC’s Facebook page, or email resources@nsvrc.org using the subject line, “From the Library.” (Advertisement: Primary Prevention Primer Use our new eLearning tool to familiarize yourself with primary prevention -- or teach it to others! Find it at www.campus.nsvrc.org) (In case you missed it Resources released this fall: Promoting Collaboration Between Victim Advocates and Sex Offender Management Professionals: A Resource Package Collaboration with Center for Sex Offender Management Sexual Violence on Campus: Strategies for Prevention CDC overview on campus sexual assault prevention Talking Points: "Considerations for School District Sexual Misconduct Policies"