It is critical for campus safety, law enforcement and other campus professionals to recognize that their response to victims of sexual assault has an immense impact on the victim's process of recovery. End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI) is a non-profit organization that promotes a victim-centered, multidisciplinary collaboration to strengthen the response of the criminal justice system, campus safety and other professionals, supporters, and community members to help make communities safer. EVAWI launched Start by Believing, a public awareness campaign "uniquely focused on the public response to sexual assault."
Victims typically confide in a family member or close friend after an assault, so the individual's reaction is "the first step in a long path toward justice and healing" for the victim. Therefore, "knowing how to respond is critical-a negative response can worsen the trauma and foster an environment where perpetrators face zero consequences for their crimes."
Start by Believing works to hold offenders accountable and change the outcomes for victims by "creating a positive community response, informing the public, uniting allies and supporters, and improving our personal reactions."
Your campus organization can join the movement and
launch a campaign. The
Start by Believing website provides detailed information on
how to build your campaign and offers a variety of
campaign resources such as free printed and downloadable materials; campaign logos; a national slideshow that highlights campaign initiatives; a customizable PowerPoint presentation template; and communication tools. The resources are customizable to meet the specific needs of your campus community.
Last month,
Start by Believing unveiled their newest campaign tool, an
interactive map highlighting communities that have joined the movement. Close to 100 communities have already implemented their own
Start by Believing campaigns; at least 15 of those are college and university campuses and campus police departments. To see your campaign featured on the map, you can submit a
campaign form. If your campus has implemented a campaign and you'd like to share how you're promoting awareness and improving your commitment to supporting victims, please
contact us so we may highlight your
Start by Believing community in a future communication.
Stay connected by joining EVAWI's mailing list, where Start by Believing communities are often highlighted. You can also follow Start by Believing on Facebook and Twitter and contact EVAWI if you need assistance.
