|
|
|
|
|
|
Year In Review: Proudly Highlighting our Accomplishments
- Our trained volunteers donated close to 19,000 hours of service providing education, counseling, advocacy, events, and referrals
- Over 3,700 people attended our 50+ workshops and events
- Trained over 970 professional, paraprofessionals, and graduate students
- Provided over 2,300 hours of counseling and advocacy and offered 18 support groups
- Collaborated with over 70 campus & community organizations and student groups
New Initiatives include:
- First annual Lower Central Area Block Party, celebrating the students in "our neighborhood" by sharing food, music, and fun
- UMass's new online Sexual Violence Prevention Training, YIS (Your Intervention Strategies) has been beta tested and is ready to be administered to all incoming UMass Students this Fall. This is one of the outcomes of a Federal Grant Award ($270,000 for 3 years) to help UMass strengthen sexual and relationship violence prevention & intervention efforts
- New discussion group at North Village for pregnant and parenting moms, co-sponsored by Graduate Student Senate and Counseling Services
- Completed Student Affairs and Campus Life comprehensive program review process. This intensive year long process included organizational assessment and feedback from staff and student as well as campus and community based partners.
- Specialized Teen Services established a new relationship with the Alternative Learning Program (ALP) at Northampton High School to provide a support group and individual counseling for survivors.
- New co-ed teen education and discussion group at Gateway Regional High School in Huntington.
- Launched our new website
All of our services are free and open to the public.
We offer a variety of events and workshops throughout the academic year including film screenings, performances, dialogues, and educational workshops related to salary negotiation, allyship, women of color, violence prevention, and more. We also offer programming through Hampshire County and Hilltown schools.
- Training and Professional Development
Each year we train professionals from across the Five College and Hampshire County communities including pre/para and professionals from Student Affairs, area Police Departments, Religious Leaders, Policy Makers, Graduate Students, and more.
- Counseling and Support Services
We provide general counseling and referrals. Our crisis counseling and advocacy services are offered through our 24-hotline and main office as well as through our satellite offices in Huntington, at three local police stations, at the hospital, and throughout middle and high schools across Hampshire County and the Hilltowns.
We are grateful to all our staff, volunteers and interns, and many collaborators for their hard work serving our community.
*|END:IF|*
|
|
Nine Things You Should Know about
- Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program that receives federal dollars.
- Under Title IX, sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking and relationship violence are considered to be gender based discrimination because these forms of violence significantly interfere with a student’s ability to learn and participate in education.
- The Dear Colleague Letter released by the Office of Civil Rights in April 2011, provides guidance for schools on the rights of victims who experience sex based discrimination, and the responsibilities of schools to respond appropriately to complaints. (http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201104.pdf)
- Harassing or discriminating against a person based on their gender appearance is also prohibited. Therefore, requiring a transgender person to dress a certain way (for example based on their biological sex vs. their gender identity), use a particular bathroom, or excluding them from specific activities is considered discrimination.
- All public schools, and any private institutions that accepts students who receive federal financial aid, are required to comply with Title IX.
- Any student who experiences sexual harassment in school, regardless of whether they identify as female, male or transgender, is eligible for and entitled to file a sexual harassment complaint.
- School officials, once they are notified that harassment has occurred, are required to take action to stop the harassment and provide support to the student who filed the complaint, regardless of the student’s gender identity.
- Every school district and every college must have a designated individual whose responsibility is to address Title IX complaints. This person’s name must be readily available to the public (for example on the district or college website).
- According to research conducted by the American Association of University Women in 2011, nearly 50% of students in grades 7-12 had experienced sexual harassment, including verbal harassment and physical assault (http://www.aauw.org/research/crossing-the-line/). Students who experience sexual harassment, sexual assault, relationship violence or stalking are much more likely to skip classes; drop a class; change schools and drop out of high school and college. (http://www.wowonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ESS-Population-Policy-Series-Adolescent-Survivors.pdf)
For more information:
Title IX and Sex Discrimination: US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html
Title IX | Know Your IX: knowyourix.org/title-ix/
|
|
Our Staff Recognized
We are thrilled to announce that three of our staff have received awards recognizing their outstanding talent and achievements.
|
|
|
2016 Gerald F. Scanlan Student Employee of the Year Award
|
|
|
|
Alisha Ross, 2016 Gerald F. Scanlan Student Employee of the Year Award
Alisha began her work at CWC four years ago, first in Information & Referral, where she worked for three years, and most recently, as a Counselor Advocate. Alisha was honored not only for her excellent work, from staffing the crisis line, to training new I&R staff—but for the way she does it—with patience, professionalism, empathy, and dedication. Congratulations, Alisha, we are grateful for all you do!
|
|
|
2016 Chancellor's Citation Award
|
|
|
|
gisella zuniga, 2016 Chancellor’s Citation Award
gisella zúñiga, one of our Associate Directors, was honored for her unique contributions to the campus community, for her ability to work collaboratively with different constituents across campus, and for her role in the development of innovative training and education tools, including Your Intervention Strategies (YIS), UMass’s new sexual assault prevention tool. She is a systems-thinker, highly creative, and deeply thoughtful in all that she does. Thank you, gisella, and congratulations!
|
|
Carrie Nagle, Priscilla Clarkson AwardCongratulations to Carrie Nagle who recently won the Priscilla Clarkson Award. This award recognizes students who share Priscilla’s leadership traits: knowledge-seeking, trailblazing, vision, and collaboration. This award is designed to celebrate a student who is a trailblazer on campus, and who seeks creative and collaborative solutions to issues that arise. Carrie just received a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health with a minor in Sociology and Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies and will be attending an MBA graduate program in health at Suffolk University. Carrie started her work as an Educator Advocate in her first year at UMass and has been in charge of organizing events and conducting various workshops. This upcoming summer, Carrie will be directing a program exposing high schoolers to different medical and health procedures in India. She is excited to utilize the skills she learned at CWC. We congratulate you Carrie and wish you luck on achieving your goals!
|
|
ACPA Presentation
“Very interesting topic that will continue to trend in higher education. The interviews shown were very powerful and really gave a “face” to the information provided in the presentation.”
- Participant
........................................
Hind Mari, Director of Women of Color Leadership Network and Abed Jaradat from Residential Education presented at ACPA's Annual Convention in Montreal Canada this March.
Their presentation, "Beyond the veil:Representations of Arab and Muslim Women" discussed the conflation of Arab and Muslim; the real issues that Arab/Muslim women struggle with versus what western feminists often discuss on their behalf; and brief conversations with a few Arab, Arab American, and Muslim women living in the US discussed their daily struggles with stereotypes. The other presentation, "Can We Be More Inclusive? The Case of Arab/Muslim College Students" covered the historical background and discussed current issues of terrorism and Islamophobia and their effect on college students. Presentation also covered what educators can do to support students of these backgrounds.
|
|
Shout out: Chief Casper Inducted into
Westfield State University Hall of Fame!
CWC Civilian Advocate with Chief Kasper Northampton Chief of Police Jody Kasper was honored by Westfield State University and inducted into WSU Criminal Justice Hall of Fame. The Northampton Police Department (NPD) is an important partner in CWC’s Civilian Advocate program.
NPD hosts an onsite Civilian Advocate who assists survivors of sexual and domestic violence. NPD Officers also participate in the Hampshire County Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) coordinated by CWC in collaboration with the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
Chief Casper has been with the Northampton Police Department since 1998. After almost two decades on the force and a lengthy selection process, Jody Kasper was sworn in as Northampton’s first female police chief, in June, 2015. Chief Casper is an alumnus of the WSU Criminal Justice program. The WSU Criminal Justice Hall of Fame honors alumni who have excelled in the field and given back to the university by serving as role models for students and supporting the department. Congratulations to Chief Casper!
|
|
Alumni Spotlight
Tasha Jeannette Bjork
“I am so grateful to CWC for giving me the experience that it did and supporting me in becoming empowered to speak out and up about very important issues.” - Tasha
................................................................................
Tasha graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 2014 with a major in Public Health and minors in both Education and Psychology. Tasha, a member of our Community Education team, co-facilitated workshops to promote healthy relationships and violence prevention around campus. She also completed her public health internship with us.
After graduating, Tasha brought the skills and passion for community education that she had developed at CWC into her current position serving as the Community Educator/Advocate at Voices Against Violence, a dual domestic violence and rape crisis center in Framingham, MA. She provides education to middle and high school aged students, organizations, teachers, and police officers; she also trains new staff and volunteers, and provides counseling and advocacy. In addition, Tasha participates in a committee on the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable and was recently featured on NECN discussing domestic and sexual violence in the news.
........................................
Tasha believes that self care is critical in this line of work. She says, “The reason I am able to do this work is because I engage in a lot of self care, get good rest, exercise, eat healthy and have great friends and family. It is so important for people entering this field to do self care in whatever capacity feels right for them. I am grateful to CWC for teaching me this early on, I would not be able to do this work without those skills.“
........................................
Thank you Tasha for your continued commitment to ending violence in our larger community.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
