I think the headline says it all. After months of planning, discussion and organizing, the National Sexual Assault Conference is finally beginning on Wednesday. CALCASA is in Los Angeles at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel where the conference is being held.

Today kicked-off the California Statewide Pre-Conference. In this morning’s plenary session, attendees discussed confidentiality, mandated reporting and record keeping. Tomorrow is the CALCASA Annual Meeting. And Wednesday is the big day!

People from all over California, across the country and around the world will be attending NSAC. There are expected to be about 900 people at the conference. Some of the presenters are already arriving, and we’re excited to learn from them. The conference will feature workshops and plenaries about intervention, prevention, wellness, military, technology, film & media, legal and leadership as they relate to the movement of ending sexual violence.

Attendees are  tweeting — so join in the tweeting frenzy! The hashtag is #NSAC. And don’t forget to follow @CALCASA. We Tweet, You Tweet, Re-Tweet! If you have comments, questions or suggestions while at NSAC, feel free to use Twitter to communicate with CALCASA staff.

We’re so excited and honored to be hosting this conference. We hope everyone enjoys it just as much as we’ve enjoyed bringing together all the voices that are dedicated to building the world that we want to live in — a world free from violence.

College and university students organizing to combat sexual violence use a multi-tiered approach to advocate for themselves, their peers, and for future generations of students. Some students use Take Back the Night marches which draw attention to sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence. Performance theatre, dance, art and film are hugely popular with college students when looking to convey stories of survivors. However educational, powerful and provocative such strategies are to those engaged in the work or to observers, they require little to no institutional support.

Gaining institutional support is central when collaboratively developing a victim/survivor centered sexual assault policy that outlines what constitutes sexual violence, sanctions for perpetrators and campus/community resources for survivors and/or those that have witnessed violence. Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER) is an organization based in New York City that fights sexual violence and rape culture by empowering student-led campaigns to reform college sexual assault policies.

To learn more about SAFER, listen to the interview with SAFER’s Sarah Martino, Communications Coordinator and Christine Borges, Policy and Research Coordinator.

Hugo Rios, Education Coordinator at Resource Center for Survivors of Sexual Assault and Family Violence in Fresno, Calif.

Hugo Rios, Education Coordinator at Resource Center for Survivors of Sexual Assault and Family Violence (RCS) in Fresno, CA, attended the Women of Color Network‘s (WOCN) Call to Action Conference and Institute. Hugo facilitates MyStrength Clubs for young men to stand up and speak out against sexual assault.

Listen to Hugo by clicking on the recording at the bottom of this blog post. Here is a summary of Hugo’s experience at WOCN in his own words:

On May 10, 2010 my morning began at 5:30 a.m.  It was the start of a new journey for me.  I was nervous uncertain of what to expect and what the WOCN conference experience would be like.  It was my first time traveling by airplane and let me tell you, it was an experience I will never forget.  After a four-hour flight I arrived in New Orleans I knew was there for a reason but was uncertain of what exactly that reason was.  My experience checking into the hotel and trying to figure out the elevator is another long story, but another time.  You would have had to be there to know what I mean.  I rushed up to my room, rushed back to the elevator and prepared to walk into a room where I had no clue of what to expect; my new journey was about to begin.

Being in a room with over 40 men with the same needs, pain, anger and who cared about the importance of being a man, husband, father, friend and role model was powerful. I found being in a roomful of men who voiced our opinions on ending violence against all women was validated and encouraged. These men shared what violence on women has meant to us and how we as men have been affected by violence to women.

We as men praise other men for teaching young men how to hit a baseball, throw a football, punch someone, pin someone to the ground. However, when a man talks to a young man about violence against women they are viewed as different and treated as an outcast. The latter must be considered a priority for our young men in order to prevent violence against all women so our mothers and future mothers can be treated with respect and love.

Throughout the room during the two day Men’s Institute, men shared their experiences of trying to be accountable as they take on their roles in the field of domestic violence, family violence and sexual assault.  I shared experiences with what I heard from the other men about how we are seen by other men, women and among ourselves. Many of us reflected on our concerns about other men thinking something is wrong with us because we choose to be with our family instead of being out with the guys.  We explored the importance of being a good husband everyday versus being a husband when you want to or only on special occasions such as Valentines, birthdays or when you did something wrong. We talked about what it means to be a daddy versus a father.  We appreciated the importance of being a friend/role model without having to be someone else; that it is okay to be sensitive, equal, caring, emotional to a male friend without anyone thinking different about you.

All these shared and common feelings where bottled up within me. My experience at the WOCN Conference and the Men’s Institute Training allowed me to release these feelings, thoughts and values; it was accepted and it was liberating.

As I previously mentioned, arriving at the WOCN Conference I did not know what to expect; however, leaving the conference I realized that there are many men, like me, fighting the same fight.  The experience and the power of the voices of the women who are survivors of domestic and family violence made me proud and honored to have the opportunity to listen to them and meet them.  I am proud of the work I do and I am determined to work harder to lessen the number of stories of violence and increase the stories of change through the voices of women and men.  I would like to thank WOCN and A CALL TO MEN for their hard work, commitment and efforts of ending violence against ALL WOMEN.

Listen to an interview with Hugo Rios:

The Summer Campus 2010 TTI, sponsored by OVW in partnership with CALCASA, hosted the workshop “Addressing Issues of Violence Against Women in Faith-Based Institutions.” Amongst the many campuses that are funded through the OVW campus program grant, there are several that are faith based such as University of Sioux Falls, Pacific Lutheran University and St. Mary’s College.

During this workshop, the presenter, Venida Rodman Jenkins discussed secular versus sacred language that at times can cause friction in communicating how to address violence against women on campus. She mentioned that although we are saying the same thing, word choice may give the impression we are not on the same page. This was a very relevant point not only for faith-based institutions, but every campus that is doing this work that deals with challenges in communication. The misunderstanding is prompted by generational gaps, racial distinctions or moral codes. The differences in language has the potential to breed the sense of opposition, instead of unification.

After speaking with folks that attended the TTI, I found that the one sound solution is to create a safe space for similar campuses to voice openly their concerns, not as a venting session, but with the intent of removing the feeling of isolation for the sake of moving toward the solution of adherence to listening and creating a line of communication that the sacred and the secular feel comfortable speaking.

Coach Joe Ehrmann delivers his keynote address at the Campus Training & Technical Assistance Institute in Las Vegas.

Yesterday was the final day of CALCASA’s Campus Training & Technical Assistance Institute in Las Vegas. Present were about 500 attendees from college campuses and community agencies — these folks are ready and eager to do what it takes to end sexual violence.

Joe Ehrmann, from Coach for America, delivered one of the plenary sessions. He opened his speech by acknowledging that he was looking at an audience that represented hope. My first thought: Hope can’t be measured. It’s a word thrown around to mask inaction. Don’t get me wrong, his speech was inspiring. I felt motivated to become part of the solution to end destructive and damaging myths and stereotypes that are perpetuated by culture. But I was still struggling with the word hope. I felt as if that word made it easier to say, “Well, nice try,” when goals aren’t realized.

However, yesterday afternoon, I had my reality put in check. I was conducting an interview with Dr. Dorothy Edwards & Jennifer Sayre about their Green Dot training and, again, the word hope came up. Dr. Edwards said that the one thing she wants people to walk away with from the training is hope. Maybe I rolled my eyes, and she sensed that I needed to hear what she said next:

“We can be holding the solution in our hand, but if we don’t believe it, we will not inspire people to take it on. Those of us that are leading this work have to peel back those layers of fatigue and tired. We’ve seen victim after victim, and it’s hard to even imagine a different world. And we’ve got to step in and hold in our mind’s eye a vision — a crystallized vision — of this can happen. These numbers can come down, and it can happen as a direct result of my work. If we can hold on to that, if we can truly believe that, folks will follow us. People don’t act if they don’t believe what they’re doing will make a difference. So we’ve got to paint this picture that what you do will make a difference. We can bring the numbers down. My favorite reference is the notion that when Martin Luther King was standing up there at the great mall in Washington, D.C., he didn’t say, ‘I’ve got a great body of research.’ He said, ‘I have a dream.’ When he talked about that dream, he inspired a nation. We have to do the same thing.”

Wow, amazing. This completely changed my outlook. How can we begin to make change if we can’t even fill ourselves with a sense of hope to see a better future? Dr. Edwards’ words set me up for the endnote speaker Tony Porter who talked about how men need to understand the responsibility they have to challenge many of the norms that define manhood. I think that without my interview with Dr. Edwards, I might have walked away with a sense of false hope. But I do hope — with everything inside me — that the type of manhood Porter talked about becomes the norm. As Porter says in the above video: “We can really redefine the aspects of manhood that will then create a culture where humanity is the issue, where women are treated equal to men. And that in itself, violence will look different than it does today.”

Hope, hope, hope!

At CALCASA’s Campus Training & Technical Institute in Las Vegas, one of the themes that has been emphasized by most presenters is the necessity of campus coordinated community response (CCCR). Across the board — addressing bystander intervention, working with the justice system, attending a faith-based institutions, creating policies and approaching the needs of international students — CCCR is a key for strengthening campus responses to violence against women.

AEquitas, an organizations that provides prosecutors with resources to end violence against women, had representatives deliver presentations at the Institute. The presenters re-enforced the importance of CCCR. In the video, Jennifer G. Long and Christopher Mallios share their presentations and discuss their mission to improve the quality of justice in sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking cases by developing, evaluating and refining prosecution practices that increase victim safety and offender accountability.

As the Institute continues today, topics include alcohol-facilitated sexual assault, victim services, peer intervention and clinical forensic services. Right now, Joe Ehrmann, motivational speaker at Coach for America, is delivering his keynote. Attendees are live tweeting — for the most up-to-date information, following the hashtag #vegastti on Twitter.

At the National Sexual Assault Conference (NSAC) in September, one of the workshops offered will be about how musicians can help to change social norms. Ashley Maier, prevention program coordinator on Oregon’s Sexual Assault Task Force, and the band The Material will put together a panel of musicians who will make a case for and explore ways to engage musicians in the prevention of violence and the promotion of healthy relationships.

Some of the panelists include Brad Perry, from the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, and his fellow band members from Worn In Red. The discussion will involve the way in which music shapes environments and promotes behaviors. Conference attendees will learn how to build partnerships with musicians.

For more information about NSAC, visit the Registration Page.

Last month, CALCASA’s Director of Public Affairs Robert Coombs spent a weekend aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is the fifth Nimitz-class supercarrier in the United States Navy. He, along with bloggers and media, had the opportunity to explore the ship and meet with its crew.

While underway in the Pacific, Coombs learned about some of the initiatives the Navy has to deal with sexual assault. The timing was fitting because he was on board during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. In the video clip, he interviews Lt. Cmdr. William J. Marks, the ship’s public affairs officer, who talks about the Navy’s commitment to victim intervention, prevention and response.

Coombs also met S.A.V.I. advocates — that’s Sexual Assault Victim Intervention. These individuals are doing some of the same work that advocates in California are working on, in addition to dealing with the special nature of working with sexual assault in the military.

Denim Day California 2010 was another big hit in the Capitol region with hundreds of legislators and staff participating to increase sexual assault awareness and to show that there is never reason or an excuse to rape.

On a wet and rainy day, CALCASA’s Capitol event brought together legislators, agency allies and crime victim representatives to stand together against sexual assault.

Please click through the photo slideshow to see great photos of the Capitol event and watch the video to see legislators taking leadership on sexual assault awareness.

News of other successful Denim Day events permeated through the media and we want to thank all of our members and allies for making Denim Day 2010 a success. Let us work together over the next year to make sure sexual assault awareness is not just in the month of April but throughout the year.

St. Cloud, MN – When Dr. Dorothy Edwards addressed University of California staff and administrators about Green Dot in San Francisco last fall, she stressed the importance of investing time and energy to develop meaningful relationships with campus partners/allies working to end campus violence. As a social worker interested in community-based/participatory paradigms, I find Dr. Edwards’ notion of connecting with campus partners and allies relevant given that people are more likely to participate in social change when bonds are created over time specifically when there is a common language and trust.

Meeting Lee LaDue, the Project Director of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Grant to reduce sexual assault, domestic/dating violence, and stalking on campuses, Sheila Johnson, the Project Coordinator, as well as other campus partners reminded me of the challenges faced by campuses in small communities where people know each other.  Nationwide, sexual assault is a highly under-reported crime but particularly in small, rural communities where survivors often fear for their safety and privacy should they report their experience to local police.  What most struck me during the visit, besides seeing students wearing shorts and flip-flops in chilly 60 degree weather, is how St. Cloud State benefits from having a project coordinator familiar with how individuals in law enforcement speak and relate to each other.  Knowledge of how to communicate with law enforcement is critical when collaboratively developing survivor-centered training curriculum on sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking.

Over the course of two days, I met with administrators interested in furthering the university’s efforts surrounding training opportunities and prevention efforts and students committed to challenging and changing social norms on their campus surrounding gender, sex and violence.  I also had the opportunity to listen to Suzanne Koepplinger, Executive Director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, talk about her agency’s recent research study that examined trafficking of Native American girls and women in the state of Minnesota.  The study involved survivors throughout the research process and in the crafting of recommendations for combatting trafficking in Indian country.

Watch the above clip with interviews of St. Cloud State students and staff talk about activities for Sexual Assault Awareness Month and what brought them into the movement to end sexual violence.

As Sexual Assault Awareness Month comes to an end, here is a video of my talk to the California National Guard for their SAAM event on April 12, 2010. I talked about the importance of preventing sexual violence, the That’s Not Cool Campaign, and Denim Day.

Mia Mingus (left) facilitating a discussion at the University of New Hampshire

Durham, N.H. – At the January 2010 Campus Training & Technical Assistance Institute (TTI) in Orlando, Jane Stapleton, the project director of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Grant to reduce sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) attended the endnote presentation where Mia Mingus spoke about the intersection of violence and the urgency of not only responding to violence but collaborating with allies in preventing and ultimately ending sexual violence.  Jane’s enthusiasm in hearing Mia’s presentation carried over to having the out spoken activist facilitate a discussion on the intersection of violence at UNH.

A predominately white institution, with a 24 hour crisis center for students in need of services relating to sexual assault, and home to some of the country’s most exciting prevention efforts in sexual violence, UNH’s campus partners gathered for a morning filled with analysis and critique of violence as well as identifying campus resources in order to improve service delivery and responses to survivors of sexual violence.

Brig. Gen. Jeffrey C. Horne (I), Director, Army Human Resources Policy Directorate, introduces Robert Coombs who was a subject-matter expert at the third annual Army SHARP Summit.

Robert Coombs, CALCASA’s director of public affairs, attended the U.S. Army’s 2010 Sexual Harassment /Assault Prevention (SHARP) Summit in Arlington, Va. This is part of the Army’s I.AM.STRONG campaign, which is spreading the message to combat sexual assaults by engaging all soldiers in preventing sexual assaults before they occur.

“Every leader needs to see sexual assault as fundamentally counter to the warrior ethos,” said Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., chief of staff of the Army. “It’s all about leadership and leaders setting the right examples.”

For more information about the Summit, visit the SHARP Program website.

(13 min) Start Strong Idaho: Building Healthy Teen Relationships is an initiative in southwest Idaho to promote healthy teen relationships and prevent teen dating violence by helping 11- to 14-year-olds develop healthy and safe relationship knowledge and skills. It is part of the Start Strong Initiative, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in collaboration with the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

In this interview, Kelly Miller from the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence and Laura Hampikian, a teen advisor for Start Strong Idaho, talk about a survey about teenage dating violence they gave to teens waiting to see the film New Moon on it’s premier night in Boise, Idaho. By focusing on Team Respect, the film gave them an opportunity to talk to teens and the media about healthy teen relationships.

• New Moon Audience Survey
• Press Releases Nov. 18, 2009 – Southwest Idaho teens spark innovative approach to promoting healthy relationships.
• Press Releases Nov. 20, 2009 – Southwest Idaho 11- to 14-year-old teens report controlling and self-destructive behaviors and a willingness to give up everything as signs of true love.

Christy Chung

(12 min) The Respect for All Project (RFAP) is a program of GroundSpark, a nonprofit film production company founded in 1978 that creates and distributes documentary films on issues of social and economic justice. This project is one of the models used for the California Department of Public Health‘s Teen Dating Violence Primary Prevention Project.

In this interview Christy Chung, Community Programs Manager at GroundSpark, talks about her work in helping underserved school communities take steps to build more safe and inclusive learning environments. RFAP engages these communities through films, workshops, community actions, and curriculum guides that are available on the GroundSpring website.

She also talks about Straightlaced and Let’s Get Real, two Groundspark films. Straightlaced unearths how popular pressures around gender and sexuality are confining American teens in candid interviews with more than 50 teens from diverse backgrounds. Let’s Get Real examines a variety of issues that lead to taunting and bullying, including racial differences, perceived sexual orientation, learning disabilities, religious differences, sexual harassment and others.

As the National Sexual Assault Conference gets closer, CALCASA is calling on its partners to think about what it means to be in the movement to end sexual violence. Kay Buck, executive director, from the Coalition Against Slavery & Trafficking discusses how the work from her agency overlaps with the field of sexual violence. Sally Laskey, associate director, from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center — which is partnering with CALCASA to host the conference — shares her anticipation to meet with others in the field and learn from one another.

CALCASA has stopped taking abstract submissions for the conference. There were more than 190 submissions — we appreciate the tremendous response! Notification of abstract status will be sent in early May. If you have questions related to the conference, e-mail conference@calcasa.org.

Denice Ann Evans

(18 min) Spitting Game: The College Hook Up Culture is a documentary where “…students, experts, and parents speak openly about alcohol, drugs, sexual assault, and the state of relationships on college campuses. It is a candid and, ultimately scandalous, expose on the reasons, risks, and realities students face within the college hook up culture.”

In this interview Denice Ann Evans, the documentary’s writer and director, discusses the “hook up culture” on high school and college campuses. She talks about making Spitting Game, how the film explores the hook up culture, and how violence prevention educators can use the film to foster conversations about sex, consent, and hooking up.

Learn more about Spitting Game: The College Hook Up Culture on its website: http://www.collegehookupculture.com

At South by Southwest, representation from the sexual violence field was few and far between; however, I did get to meet with Sally Laskey, associate director, from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. She was at the conference to learn about why technology is an important part of the movement to end sexual violence. She and I talked about what our experience has been at the conference, and we made the observation that one of the messages across many of the sessions was the way technology can be used as a tool for listening to your audience. For CALCASA, this could mean how it uses the Website — and the technologies that make the blog possible — and social media tools to better serve members, advocates and staff.

One of the sessions I attended was “Managing Your Content Management System,” which basically provided advice about how to better handle the back end of Websites. The best tip that I took away from this was that successful Web sites — both the front end and the back end — cannot be executed by a designer alone. The editorial team (CALCASA staff) and Website audience (members, advocates, etc.) need to provide feedback, suggestions and usability advice to the designer(s). And on the other side of this sword, designers have to put on their listening ears in order to create the best product possible for the editorial team and users.

Following the same theme of listening to your audience was a session about “Conducting Great Interviews.” As CALCASA increases the amount of audio and video material it publishes on the Web, interview skills become increasingly important. The interviews we conduct must create value for those who watch it. Aside from the standard advice — be prepared, be prompt, be face-to-face — one way to start a successful interview is to really understand who you’re interviewing — and this comes back to listening. What does he/she represent? How is he/she feeling behind the camera and/or recorder? Are your questions going to invoke an interesting response? And after the interviewee is talking, truly be present. It’s so easy — and I know I’ve done this — to read off a list of questions and completely forget to listen to what the interviewee is talking about because you’re more concerned about your next question. I challenge myself and the rest of CALCASA’s staff to seriously try being present as we conduct interviews with members, experts, advocates and the public. I would be willing to bet that our audience is going to be able to tell these interviews apart.

We are listening. Technology, tools, books and education (the list could go on) is only part of what’s needed in the movement to end sexual violence; we all need to be communicating — sharing what’s working and what’s not. So leave us your comments. Give us your feedback.

Donna Martsolf

(19 min) This is an interview with Dr. Donna S. Martsolf and Dr. Claire Burke Draucker of the College of Nursing at Kent State University, and Terri Heckman, Director of the Battered Women’s Shelter of Summit and Medino Counties. They talk about their use of an innovative, qualitative research design to develop a theoretical framework that describes, explains, and predicts how dating violence unfolds during adolescence. They share their insights into teen dating violence that have come from their work, and some of the implications of this research for prevention. 

The following abstract describing this research can be found here on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Control and Prevention’s Grantee Abstracts page. 

 Abstract:

Dating violence among adolescents is a prevalent public health problem with serious proximal and distal effects, including increased risk for adult intimate partner violence. An in-depth explanatory theory that is focused on the development of dating violence during adolescence and informed by the perspective of those who have experienced adolescent dating violence has not been developed. The lack of theory has hindered efforts to develop dating violence prevention programs that show evidence of long-term efficacy. The purpose of the proposed research is to use an innovative, qualitative research design to develop a theoretical framework that describes, explains, and predicts how dating violence unfolds during adolescence. The specific aims are to:

• a) Identify common processes by which adolescents respond to their experiences of dating violence from a narrative/life course perspective,
• b) Develop a typology of common trajectories of violent events that occur over the course of adolescent dating relationships from a situational/events perspective,
• c) Examine the influence of social circumstances on adolescents’ experiences of dating violence, and
• d) Use grounded theory methods to analyze and integrate information about the processes, trajectories, and influential social circumstances in order to create the theoretical framework.

The project will be conducted by a collaborative team of university and community-based researchers. Women and men between the ages of 18 and 21 living in one of 12 Summit, Medina, or Portage counties in Ohio who have experienced dating violence as adolescents will be recruited by a community-based recruitment strategy developed by the researchers. In-depth interviews will be used to obtain narratives of the participants’ responses to dating violence and detailed descriptions of the violent events they experienced. These data will be supplemented by narratives of professionals who work with adolescents at risk for dating violence and information regarding community responses to dating violence. Grounded theory methods will be used to analyze the data and develop the theoretical framework. The university / community collaborative research team, with the assistance of a consultant who is a world renowned expert on interpersonal violence, will determine the implications of the theory for prevention efforts.

Diane Hall

(10 min) Dating Matters: Understanding Teen Dating Violence Prevention is a new 60-minute, interactive online training designed to help educators, youth-serving organizations, and others working with teens understand the risk factors and warning signs associated with teen dating violence. It was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in partnership with Liz Claiborne Inc.

In this interview, Dr. Diane Hall, a behavioral scientist with the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the CDC, talks about the goal of Dating Matters and how this new tool will provide educators with the knowledge and resources they need to implement prevention measures in their schools.

Click here to visit the Dating Matters online training at the CDC website.

Nancy Schwartzman

(17 min) THE LINE is a provocative short documentary about the filmmaker’s experience as an “imperfect victim” of sexual assault. THE LINE is also an innovative campaign that uses the film as a starting point to engage its audience in frank discussions about sex and consent, challenging audiences to answer the question, “Where is your line?” As a campaign, THE LINE makes effective use of screening events, blogging, social networking, and audience-generated media to foster a continuum of engagement.

In this interview, filmmaker Nancy Schwartzman talks about the process of making and touring the film, the concepts behind the campaign, and how prevention educators can use THE LINE to create opportunities for conversations about sexual consent.

THE LINE is available for purchase from the Media Education Foundation.

Mira Yusef

(20 min) Monsoon-United Asian Women of Iowa (MUAWI) is a non-profit committed to helping families of Asian descent in Iowa. The organization’s long-term mission is to eliminate domestic violence and sexual assault by promoting the social, economic, and political self-determination of all women.

In this interview, Executive Director Mira Yusef discusses the foundation and ongoing work of MUAWI. She describes their innovative work that bridges intergenerational perspectives about gender and violence, and empowers Asian youth to frame their experiences with violence in their own terms. The work of MAUWI generates culturally-appropriate prevention messages, and fosters critical community conversations about rape and domestic violence.

As the month of April fast approaches, agencies are putting together the final details for Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Denim Day. Liza Rodriguez, program manager, from Valley Oasis explains the various events that her agency is planning. Ellen Hong, director of programs, from the Center for Pacific Asian Family discusses how her agency is approaching some of the taboos in talking about sexual violence.

Manual Cover

(13 min) In this interview, four educators and advocates discuss the creation of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence‘s (Vermont Network) Youth and Child Advocate and Educator Manual of Activities and Exercises for Children and Youth. Bethany Pombar and Amy Tortchia of the Vermont Network, Kate Rohdenburg of WISE, and Sandy Hart of Umbrella talk about the process of gathering youth prevention education activities from across Vermont and the United States to create the Manual.

(Go to Interview)

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to travel down to Los Angeles with CALCASA’s Public Affairs Director Robert Coombs to meet with some of our members. This trip was a chance for us to hear what our members are excited about for the National Sexual Assault Conference that is taking place in September.

Our visit included a trip to Valley Oasis where we met with Program Manager Liza Rodriguez. Then we spoke with Executive Director Debra Suh from the Center For The Pacific Asian Family. And we wrapped up our trip with a visit to Peace Over Violence‘s new location and a tour from Executive Director Patti Giggans.

For more information about the 2010 National Sexual Assault Conference, please visit our NSAC 2010 page.

REMINDER: The deadline for abstract submissions has been extended to Monday, March 22.

Since 1999, Peace Over Violence has has organized Denim Day in LA & USA as a rape prevention education campaign. Emily Austin, division manager of prevention services at Peace Over Violence, explains in the above video that Denim Day’s history began in 1998 when an Italian Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore jeans, reasoning she must have helped her attacker remove them. Annually on Denim Day, people everywhere are encouraged to wear jeans as a sign of protest against the myths that surround sexual assault.

For 2010, Peace Over Violence has various plans to raise awareness about the need to end sexual violence. The agency is bringing Denim Day to the Los Angeles Unified School District by distributing materials that will allow students to become empowered advocates for justice. Additionally, each year it creates buttons for Denim Day, adding a new language each year. This year, there will be buttons in Sign Language. One event that is still in the works is the possibility of organizing a flash mob in order to bring attention to a topic that bystanders may not be familiar.

Last year, 1 million people signed up for the cause. With an increase in its online presence, Peace Over Violence hopes to double that number this year. For more information or to sign up, visit Denim Day in LA & USA.

Goleta, CA – The Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women Campus Grant program has four flagship systems that work towards meeting the minimum standards set by the grant.  The University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) is part of the University of California system, a 10 campus system that focuses efforts on research, teaching and public service.

UCSB’s Rape Prevention Education Program (RPEP) is led by Melanie Matson, Director, who brings a wealth of experience in the field of sexual assault having worked for several years in Minnesota.  RPEP’s efforts are supported by Kari Mansager, the Assistant Director of the RPEP, as well as student interns.

Jeff Morrill

(22 min) In this interview, Jeff Morrill talks about Boys to Men, an educational program in Portland, Maine, focused on supporting the development of adolescent boys into healthy, non-violent men. He describes the origins of the Boys to Men program, the construction of its curriculum, and the ways that it uses bystander intervention training as a core component of its work.

Jeff Morrill is the Program Coordinator for Boys to Men. You can learn more about Boys to Men at its Website.

(Go to Interview)

Brad Perry is the Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator for the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance (VSDVAA).  In addition to being a well respected prevention leader and author of wonderful articles in Moving Upstream: Virginia’s newsletter for the primary prevention of sexual violence and intimate partner violence, Brad is also the drummer of the band Worn in Red. I caught up with Brad as his band was playing at the 924 Gilman Project in California.

Join hundreds of people committed to addressing sexual violence at the 2010 National Sexual Assault Conference in Los Angeles. Click here for more information. Abstracts are due March 12, 2010 – please submit your proposals today.

Joan Tabachnick

(11 min) In this interview, Joan Tabachnick talks about Engaging Bystanders in Sexual Violence Prevention, a booklet she wrote for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC). She also talks about the practice of teaching bystanders to intervene, and about her new role as Editor of the NSVRC’s new blog, Letters for an Engaged Bystander.

The NSVRC has a large collection of bystander intervention resources available on its Website.

(Go to Interview)

On February 3, 2010, about 30 advocates from various Ca Rape Crisis Centers convened in Pacifia, CA for a workshop addressing vicarious trauma facilitated by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, author of  “Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others.”

As mentioned in the previous posts, A Time for Healing and Trauma Stewardship Workshop, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky has worked with trauma survivors for over a decade and has now shifted her focus on the effects of this work on other advocates in trauma-related fields. Laura addressed the importance of self-care, daily meditation, and embracing your everyday blessings without guilt.

It was great to see how many advocates were able to attend this workshop and take advantage of the tools and resources Laura provided.  One participant shared:

Laura’s presentation style was amazing. I think when doing the work that we do, and discussing how it affects us, it is important to not feel overwhelmed or be too judgmental of ourselves . Her use of humor and her ability to engage the audience seemed to bring people together and facilitated the openness for discussion.

You can hear more about the workshop and what participants had to say about it below.

Project ENVISION

(18 min) This is an interview with Meghan O’Connor and Laura Fidler of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault (the Alliance). In conjunction with eleven of the city’s rape crisis programs, in 2008 the Alliance initiated the second phase of Project ENVISION, a 6-year sexual violence primary prevention demonstration project. In this phase, the Alliance trained community researchers in participatory action research methods to conduct needs assessments in three New York City communities: Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the South Bronx and Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Participatory action research was utilized as a community mobilizing strategy. By emphasizing meaningful community involvement at all stages of the research and generating awareness about sexual violence prevention, this approach acts as a component of a primary prevention intervention. In this interview, O’Connor and Fidler discuss Project ENVISION and the research finding to date.

(Go to Interview)

Mia Mingus

Mia Mingus is a queer disabled woman of color, South Korean transracial adoptee, and organizer.  Through her work on disability, race, reproductive justice, gender, sexuality, and transracial adoption, she recognizes the urgency and barriers for oppressed communities to work together and build alliances for liberation.  Though her activism changes and evolves, her roots remain firmly planted in ending sexual violence.  Mia has been recognized for her work with the 2008 Creating Change Award by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

As the Endnote speaker at the Campus Winter Institute, Mia delivered a challenging, theoretical speech on the intersectionality of identities in sexual violence and how collaboration can help end sexual violence.

Diane Hall

(10 min) Dating Matters: Understanding Teen Dating Violence Prevention is a new 60-minute, interactive online training designed to help educators, youth-serving organizations, and others working with teens understand the risk factors and warning signs associated with teen dating violence. It was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in partnership with Liz Claiborne Inc.

In this interview, Dr. Diane Hall, a behavioral scientist with the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the CDC, talks about the goal of Dating Matters and how this new tool will provide educators with the knowledge and resources they need to implement prevention measures in their schools.

Dating Matters will be featured in the next Prevent Connect Web Conference “Violence is Everywhere” Countering a Culture of Violence Through Norms Change. Spaces for the March 16 session are still open. The March 9 session is full.

Click here to visit the Dating Matters online training at the CDC website.

(Go to Interview)

A recent visit to a grantee program at the University of Guam yielded great information on what is being done on campus to prevent sexual violence.  ISA Psychological Services and the Violence Against Women Prevention Program work to provide students with effective prevention and intervention programs with help from Guam’s Attorney General-Alicia G. Limtiaco and various community partners.

Violence Against Women Prevention Program: Dr. Seyda Turk Smith, Maira K. Rios, Junelyn L. Hautea, Dr. Iain Twaddle

Check out what they are doing…

Peggy Diggs

(14 min) In this interview with Peggy Diggs, artist and lecturer at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the role and potential uses for art in the prevention of violence against women is discussed. Diggs gives several examples, including work she created after talking to women incarcerated for murdering their abusive partners.

Her current portfolio is available online at:

http://www.williams.edu/humanities/pdiggs

(Go to Interview)

As SAAM 2010 quickly approaches, CA rape crisis centers are gearing up and preparing their various SAAM awareness events for 2010. We were excited to hear from Stephanie Mesones, client services specialist at the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center, about  their plans for SAAM 2010:

For more information about SAAM 2010, including resources, events and other Highlights, please visit our SAAM 2010 page.

As agencies gear up for Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, CALCASA  had the opportunity to speak with advocates from the YWCA-Greater Los Angeles about their preparations for SAAM 2010.  Alice Corona, Volunteer Coordinator; Vanessa Cardona, Site Manager; and Mikki Melton, Senior Site Manager, all share their agency’s plans for SAAM 2010:

For more information about SAAM 2010, including resources, events and other Highlights, please visit our SAAM 2010 page.

Oakland, CA – Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) is an especially exciting yet challenging time for advocates by investing concerted and heightened efforts to raise the level of awareness and education surrounding sexual assault across on the individual, community, organizational and public policy levels.  How to draw additional attention to sexual assault, advocates often ponder?  Art has long served as a medium through which to share ideas/events and elicit a variety of reactions from inspiration to provocation in order to create social change.

Breaking Silence

Inspired by the stories he heard while interviewing people, Bay Area-based artist Joe Schneider developed “Breaking Silence” an exhibition using photography and interviews that revolves around survivors of sexual assault.  The exhibition toured college and university campuses across the country where attendees, given a portable cd player, would walk through the room to see portrait photographs of survivors mounted and displayed on easels while listening to interviews where the survivors share their experiences.  ”There is a real range of the healing process [that comes appears in the exhibition].  I think some of these people are very evolved and others are much more raw.  Talking about it is a good thing no matter what.”

The exhibition is meant to serve as a space where people can individually connect with stories thereby reiterating how sexual violence is an issue that impacts diverse communities.  ”There’s something intimate about listening to the stories on a headset,” Joe adds.

Trent Wagler

(12 min) In this interview Trent Wagler, Prevention Educator for The Collins Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia, describes the Student Connections Club. This high school-based program to prevent sexual and dating violence uses multiple linked components to engage various levels of the social ecology of Harrisonburg high schools.The Student Connections Club was recognized as an example of comprehensive prevention efforts in the article Sexual Violence Prevention, written by David Lee et al. and published in The Prevention Researcher in 2007.

(Go to Interview)

Business leaders, faith leaders, government agencies, sports organizations joined sexual violence prevention practitioners to figure out how to prevent sexual violence in their communities. On December 3-4, 2010, over 200 people gathered in St. Paul at the Minnesota Summit to Prevent Sexual Violence.  (See my previous blog on the Summit.) The summary report has just been released highlighting the plans and actions that will be taken in Minnesota as a result of this summit.

PreventConnect attended the summit with its video and audio recorder.  We have recordings of the speakers from the Summit, videos demonstrating the integration of the arts in this work, and an interview with Summit organizers Donna Dunn, Cordelia Anderson and Patty Wetterling describing the Summit’s highlights.

Please click here for a summary of the Summit recordings and a link to the Summit’s Final Report.

Oakland, CA – Last week, the Bay Region met to discuss activities their centers are planning for Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) as well as share their excitement about the 2010 National Sexual Assault Conference in Los Angeles, California.  To watch the interviews, please click on the clip below.  For more information about the National Sexual Assault Conference, please visit www.calcasa.org/nsac.

As Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) April 2010 approaches, CALCASA wanted to take this opportunity to highlight some of the events that California Rape Crisis Centers have hosted during the month of April to raise awareness about sexual violence.  Every week we will be featuring a new Rape Crisis Center’s SAAM events in order to highlight what events are taking place throughout the State during SAAM.  It is also an opportunity for Rape Crisis Centers to share ideas and suggestions for SAAM events as well as the resources used or needed to put the event together.

This week we are excited to highlight Community Solutions in Morgan Hill, CA. Community Solutions offers supportive services to survivors of sexual and domestic violence to residents of South County, which include South Santa Clara County and San Benito County.  Emma Lucas, Debbie Ruiz and Louisa Velazquez share some of the events that Community Solutions hosted during SAAM 2009 and will be hosting for SAAM 2010:

To learn more about the Bandana Project, you can read our blog post here.

For more information about SAAM 2010, including resources, events and other Highlights, please visit our SAAM 2010 page.

At the 2010 National Sexual Assault Conference in September, CALCASA is creating space for attendees to share public service announcements. We will show PSAs developed by agencies and organizations across the country. We’re interested in learning the goals of your PSA, advice you can offer about the process and the resources necessary to create it.

PSAs should be about one minute, and they should include a clear message about ending sexual violence. This is an opportunity for you to share your experience and to learn from the experience of others.

Submission deadline: May 28, 2010 CLOSED

If you have questions about your submitted PSA, please e-mail conference@calcasa.org.

DELTA PREP is an initiative to support 19 state domestic violence coalitions to build their capacity to conduct primary prevention.  The effort is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in collaboration with the CDC Foundation. As last week’s National Leadership Committee meeting in Atlanta, we discussed how to support the growth and development of intimate partner violence prevention efforts.

One of the key steps identified by the participants was the need to honor and recognize the existing domestic violence movement and current efforts to prevent violence in relationships.  This work takes place in many sectors: state coalitions with DELTA funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local domestic violence agencies, and grassroots community groups making changes in their community to eradicate domestic violence.

While the public health field brings helpful prevention language, concepts and experiences, the domestic violence movement brings core values and a vibrant history of action.  In addition to providing services to those who are abused and holding accountable those who commit abuse, those people and organizations involved in domestic violence work are engaged in making fundamental changes to our society so domestic violence does not exist.

Just think of the changes over the last 30 years.  Here are just a few: “domestic violence” is language known to most people; better laws are in place; resources are available; government provides funding for domestic violence services and prevention; and sermons on domestic violence are heard in churches, mosques and temples throughout the country. The incredible increase of awareness and engagement of many sectors to address domestic violence provides a valuable foundation for our prevention efforts.

There is much more work to do to prevent intimate partner violence and sexual abuse. As we expand efforts to build prevention, we also should celebrate the work that has and is being done. Thank you for your work!

Brad Perry

In this interview with Brad Perry, Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator for the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance (VSDVAA), Perry talks to CALCASA’s David Lee about the VSDVAA’s Guidelines for the Primary Prevention of Sexual Violence & Intimate Partner Violence. These Guidelines are a synthesis of prevention research, practical implementation experience, and the public health perspective. Perry and Lee talk about the process of developing of the Guidelines, and review the opportunities and challenges for prevention work that the Guidelines represent.

VSDVAA’s Guidelines for the Primary Prevention of Sexual Violence & Intimate Partner Violence

Robert Coombs, CALCASA’s Director of Public Affairs, had the opportunity to interview Michael Balaoing yesterday. Balaoing works for the Entertainment Industry Foundation and talked about what his organization is up to and what they are interested in seeing from grantees.

Suzanne Brown-McBride’s highly regarded “Alice Talks” in which she discusses the future of victim advocacy and the role of victim advocates in the field of sex offender management:

The number of sex offenders in California is constantly changing, but the general trends are often surprising for those who are new to the field. In this talk, Suzanne Brown-McBride discusses a few categories of offenders, how many there are and those who are under supervision.