Grand Valley's Women's Center received a federal grant to raise awareness of sexual assault and dating violence and help reduce the number of such incidents on campus.
The $265,129 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on
Violence Against Women will help the Women’s Center further transform
the campus culture around violence prevention for dating/domestic
violence, sexual assault and stalking. It will also allow the center
to expand partnerships with on-campus offices that will benefit from
training such as the Counseling and Career Development Center, Public
Safety, and Judicial Services through the Dean of Students Office.
Marlene Kowalski-Braun, director of the Women's Center, said she
and other grant writers recognized a great disconnect between what
students informally share about their experience with violence and
what they formally report. In 2009, there were two reported sex
offenses on campus.
"This is a transformative grant in that we are trying to
further open communication with students who are victims of domestic
and dating violence, stalking and sexual assault to help them utilize
support systems that are already in place," Kowalski-Braun said.
"More importantly, we get to do important campus-wide prevention
work through the grant that will benefit all students."
The grant allows for hiring Theresa Rowland as grant
coordinator, increasing education and training programs, and expanding
partnerships with nonprofit agencies. One of the community partners is
the YWCA of West Central Michigan. Carla Blinkhorn, CEO of the YWCA,
said it took courage for the Women's Center to apply for this grant.
"The grant money focuses on preventing domestic violence
and sexual assault but it means that you have to recognize that it’s
an underreported number," Blinkhorn said.
The YWCA manages a free nurse examiner program for victims of
sexual assault. Blinkhorn said about 250 people ages 18-22 use the
program annually. She added that in the past three years, college-age
people account for nearly 50 percent of people who contact the sexual
assault crisis hot line.
Other community partners include the Center for Women in
Transition in Holland, Ottawa County Sheriff's Department, Lakeshore
Alliance Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Community Coordinated
Response Team in Grand Rapids, and Wesley Fellowship at Grand
Valley.
