Community-Based Funded Prevention Strategies
Four community-based coalitions chosen through competitive request for applications are currently funded through the Sexual Violence Prevention & Education program. These coalitions are tasked with completing a community needs assessment that takes a shared risk and protective factor approach, developing an action plan based on the results of the needs assessment, and implementing strategies that prevent sexual violence. The four coalitions have their individual assessments, action plans and strategies.
Highlighted approaches and examples include:
Civic Engagement
- Provided avenues for engagement in the civic process by making voting accessible, giving access to government functions, and providing opportunities for candidates to hear from disparate populations.
- Provided summaries of meetings including proposed policies, especially those that affect housing, transportation and employment, as there was no public news outlet and thus no way for citizens to stay informed of city and government commission meetings.
Community Connectedness
- Produced and disseminated a video with instructions for how to access computer skills to connect virtually to keep vulnerable populations connected.
- Produced a commercial connecting those without computer literacy to free resources to gain computer skills.
- Conducted a survey to gage community connectedness and developed strategies for improvement.
Data
- Coalitions committed to using data to select focus populations and work to build equity.
Strengthening Economic Supports
- Researched society level housing policy strategies and provided implementation strategies to the city.
- Educated groups on the connection between safe and affordable housing and sexual violence.
- Connected individuals who are facing eviction or significant financial hardships with rental assistance to prevent homelessness, increase housing stability and promote community and society level protective factors.
- Secured Kids Are Good Business Surveys, an assessment of a business’ Family Friendly Workplace Policies, that will be used to inform recommended changes.
Create Protective Environments
- Created a toolkit for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) which works to make changes to the built and social environment by addressing community engagement and connectedness as well as environmental changes, especially where there are high levels of crime and other forms of violence.
- Completed a large community art project, Stories on Stories, that was done according to CPTED.
- Provided signage in multiple languages to assist refugees, immigrants, and other non-English speakers/readers to improve their access to services and participation in civic life of the community.
Promote Social Norms that Protect Against Violence
- Developed a multi-layer policy and practice approach to gender equity and improving the workplace culture including climate survey, bystander training for staff, communication strategy, and environmental changes.
- Addressed high alcohol outlet density by providing training to bar staff on bystander intervention techniques, education about alcohol facilitated sexual violence, and a facilitated conversation about environmental and policy change.
- Researched and in development of a Gender Equity Toolkit.
Support Victims
- Staffed a 24-hour anonymous sexual violence hotline where trained advocates provide emotional support, crisis intervention, information, referrals, and problem solving to victims of sexual violence as well as their friends and family members.
Training Provided to Coalitons
- Coalition Building and Strategic Development
- Community Check Box and Other Data Collection
- Data Visualization
- Development of an Action Plan and Logic Model
- Social Norms Change by the Montana Institute
- ToPS Facilitation
- Ongoing Monthly Technical Assistance
This program is supported by Cooperative Agreement 1 NUF2CE002495 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.