#IBelieveYou Campaign Update

As the I Believe You Campaign runs through the month of September we wanted to keep our community of partners informed through a weekly update on how #IBelieveYou is achieving awareness of the issues of sexual assault and sexual abuse in our Province.

Campaign Launch a Huge Success

AASAS hosted simultaneous launches of the I Believe You Campaign on August 31, 2015 in Calgary and one in Edmonton.  Both were a huge success! The launches resulted in over 30 different media and news stories and interviews and #IBelieveYou trended on Twitter for hours. An article on #IBelieveYou even made it to Huffington Post and can be viewed here.

Special thank you to the Honourable Minister of Human Services, Irfan Sabir; the Honourable Minister of Innovation and Advance Education and Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour, Lori Sigurdson; and Honourable Minister of the Environment and the Ministry Responsible for the Status of Women, Shannon Phillips for their support and help launching the I Believe You Campaign. 

Alberta Post-Secondary Campuses Update

We are hoping that the momentum of the I Believe You Campaign continues as each of the 23 post-secondary campuses host their #IBeleiveYou booth days. So far, booths have been held at:

Keyano College hosted by the Fort McMurray Family Crisis Soceity: Sexual Assault Program

Concordia University and NorQuest College both hosted by the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton

Vermillion Lakeland and Lloydminster Lakeland both hosted by Lloydminster Sexual assault & Information Centre

Lethbridge College hosted by the Sexual Violence Action Committee 

There has been positive feedback from these booths and we will give you further updates on this over the next couple of weeks.

Thunderclap Update

We have chosen quite an ambitious goal of 497 pledges on Thunderclap – the 97 is to give recognition to the 97% of sexual assaults that go unreported. This number 97 is being used to demonstrate the need for this campaign, to assist people with not feeling so alone, and to help break the silence that so many sexual assault survivors experience after an assault. We are gaining more and more support every day. Currently, we have 50% of the pledges we need to reach our goal. 

We are in need of your help to gain Thunderclap pledges because we want #IBelieveYou to spread far and wide so that it can help survivors and their friends and family. We want the public to understand the powerful words of I Believe You and how having support from loved ones can positively influence a survivors experience when talking about their sexual assault or sexual abuse. 

Here is some general information about the Thunderclap aspect of the campaign: 

Thunderclap can be thought of as an “online flash mob.” 

To pledge on Thunderclap, simply to go www.ibelieveyou.info and click “Join the Movement.”

You can then sign up using your Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr account. 

If the social cause #IBelieveYou, reaches the goal number of 497, the single message of “Believing is a powerful defense against sexual assault. Who will you tell? #IBelieveYou” will be posted to the individuals feed on September 30 - all at the same time to create a trending effect on social media.

No other additional message will be posted

Thunderclap will ask for the users “friends” list – however, Thunderclap will NOT interact with friends, store their information, or post on their behalf. The access to friends list is only used to gain permission to calculate the social reach. 

The social reach is how many users will be able to see this message if #IBelieveYou reaches its goal.

People can also opt out of supporting a campaign if they no longer wish to support it. 

Screenings of The Hunting Ground

The Lethbridge Sexual Violence Action Committee hosted a screening of The Hunting Ground with community service providers on September 8, 2015.  The Sexual Violence Action Committee in partnership with Lethbridge University will be hosting a screening with Post-Secondary students September 23.

SAFFRON Centre is hosting a screening of The Hunting Ground, Monday September 21st, 12:30 p.m. at Galaxy Cinemas in Sherwood Park, AB.  Please click here for more information.  

Thank You and Keep It Up!

We would like to thank all of you for the support you have given to the #IBelieveYou campaign. Here are some photos from the booths at the Post-Secondary campuses and some ways that you can wear your #IBelieveYou!