California’s Government Office for Emergency Services awarded California State University, Long Beach a $200 thousand grant to support sexual assault prevention toward the beginning of the semester. CSULB will receive these funds in the fall.
The grant will be directed towards the Women’s Resource Center and will focus on survivor assistance.
“I think [the grant] will be a benefit,” Pam Rayburn, the Women’s Resource Center coordinator, said. “[We will be] doing a lot more with prevention, and students will know where to go [for help].”
The grant will fund a full-time sexual assault crisis counselor that will be located in the Women’s Resource Center. Jeane Relleve Caveness, the assistant dean of students said the counselor will be brought in from the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles Sexual Assault Crisis Services, who has worked with CSULB for about three and half years.
“I think it must be really devastating for a man or a female to go through sexual assault, so I think it will do a lot of good to help them out,” Angie Bozeman, a sophomore speech and language pathology major, said.
Caveness said that the grant requires the hired counselor to spend half of his or her time at the university Police Department and the rest of the time in other areas.
“I just don’t want students to think it’s a mental health counselor,” Caveness said. “This person can be the first point of contact if a student experiences sexual violence.”
The counselor will work alongside a grant-funded, part-time position at the University Police Department that will assist in crisis intervention, survivor referral and confidential paperwork. The California Coalition Against Sexual Assault will provide training for both positions.
According to a press release, the grant could be renewed for three years, amounting to a $600 thousand grant.
Carmen Taylor, CSULB’s vice president for public affairs, said in the initial press release that sexual assaults on college campuses have “become a major focus of discussion in state and national legislatures, higher education boards and universities across the country.
Taylor also indicated that the new funds would help keep CSULB safe while giving more support to prevention and support programs on campus. These programs will be implemented around student services on campus including Daily 49er shops, Associated Student Inc., the Department of Athletics and the University Student Union.
Alva Moreno, executive director of the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles Sexual Assault Crisis Services said in a press release that they will bring a free 24-hour prevention and intervention service to “honor survivors that have broke their silence and support victims who have yet to find their voice.”
The grant will also fund marketing to promote the new services. The Women’s Resource Center will collaborate with ASI throughout the marketing campaign, which will take place sometime in the fall.
Required training for the hired counselor and police position and technical assistance to start up the new programs from the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault will also be funded form the grant. Programs will include training on primary and bystander intervention.
“[The grant] will be good for our campus, especially with all the sexual assault incidents throughout California as well as colleges nationwide,” Kyle Bachelder, a freshman kinesiology major said.
Caveness said in a press release that bystander training is an important tool in preventing gender violence across the country.
“What this grant allows us to do is to go deep and look at how we can be survivor centered,” Caveness said. “This grant is a wonderful step forward to help this campus reach out to survivors and let them know that we care about their well being first.”