In this month's newsletter, we cover:

• Native American Heritage Month
• November Dates to Remember
• Job and RFP Opportunities at OAESV
• 2024 Annual Conference
• Upcoming Trainings, Events, & Meetings
• OAESV in the News
• Community Corner
• OAESV Job Board

November is Native American Heritage Month

This month offers a dedicated time to recognize and celebrate the traditions, languages, and stories of Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and affiliated Island communities.

This month also presents an opportunity to learn more about Native Americans, increase our knowledge of the unique challenges faced by this population, and better understand how historical trauma has impacted Native peoples.

Native Americans have a rich and diverse culture, with over 570 federally recognized tribes in the United States alone.

Each tribe has its own distinct traditions and customs, from the Navajo tribe's intricate sand paintings to the Iroquois Confederacy's system of government. However, despite the immense contributions that Native Americans have made to American society, they continue to face significant challenges.

Native American communities have disproportionately high rates of poverty, unemployment, and health disparities, as well as rates of sexual violence at epidemic proportions.

This month, let's truly take the time to learn more about Native American history, culture, and experiences, and work towards creating a more equitable future for all. Ask yourself, what can I do this month? This week? Today?

How about right now?

• Listen to stories from Indigenous people. 
• Personal stories from Indigenous people about sexual assault:
• Restoration Magazine from the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center
• Donate to organizations that help Indigenous people:
• StrongHearts Native Helpline 
• National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center
• Guidance for Honest Conversations during the Holidays
• The Indigenous Solidarity Network has developed this toolkit geared for white folks to discuss settler privilege and Thanksgiving with family, friends, and broader community.

November Dates to Remember

Forensic Nurses Week (Nov. 5-11)

This week is intended to honor the hard work, expertise, and dedication of Forensic Nurse Examiners, who offer skilled, compassionate, trauma-informed care to victims of sexual assault and other trauma. They also play a crucial role in the criminal justice system by collecting forensic evidence during a Sexual Assault Forensic Exam and offering expert testimony in court about their findings.

In episode 8 of Teal Talk, we are joined by Tammy Robertson, OAESV’s Statewide Director of Forensic Nursing, to discuss how raising awareness about forensic nursing and establishing training standardization across Ohio can help improve outcomes for survivors and communities.

Election Day (Nov. 7)

Embrace your voice VOTE! When we show up to vote in every election, we decide the future of of our state. Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Learn more at voteohio.gov.

Veteran’s Day (Nov. 11)

A federal holiday for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces.

OAESV's Fall Training Institute (Nov. 13-17)

If you registered for our fall 40-Hour Advocate Training Institute, the 20-hour online portion will begin soon! Completion of the online portion is due by Nov. 12. If you have any questions, please email training@oaesv.org. If you missed registration, we will be offering this training again in the spring!

Diwali (Nov. 12)

Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights with its variations also celebrated in other Indian religions. It symbolises the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance."

Trans Day of Remembrance (Nov. 20)

A day to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia and to draw attention to the continued violence endured by transgender people. 

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (Nov. 25)

This day pays homage to the Mirabal sisters - women who set a precedent for being outspoken and fighting against oppression of the state. Their murders galvanized the people of the Dominican Republic and inspired them to finally put an end to Trujillo’s oppressive rule in 1961.

Giving Tuesday (Nov. 28)

Often described as a global day of giving or a global generosity movement, this holiday is held each year on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for more information on how you can support survivors of sexual violence in Ohio this #GivingTuesday!

OAESV Fall Break (Nov. 23-Nov 24)

Our offices will be closed, and will reopen Monday, November 27th. If you need help, please feel free to call the Ohio Sexual Violence Helpline 24/7 at 844.644.6435. 

Join Our Team!

We are hiring two NEW positions:

• Director of Grant Management & Sustainability
• Responsible for identifying fundable projects, writing proposals to secure privately and publicly funded grants, and cultivating relationships among constituencies to foster participation, involvement, and investment in OAESV.

• Director of Finance
• Responsible for assessing the fiscal health of the organization and ensuring the organization and its staff follow agency financial policies and funding requirements pertaining to fiscal accountability.

Are you the one we are looking for?! Learn more and apply here. Open until filled.

• We also seek proposals from qualified fund development consultants to assist in the identification, solicitation, and development of a local, regional, and statewide fundraising strategic plan.

Visit oaesv.org/FundingRFP for all the details.

OAESV 2024 Annual Conference

Let's all come together in person and ignite that passion for Sparking Collective Action from June 25-27.

We're so excited for another 2.5 days of incredible speakers, workshops, identity-based affinity groups, self-care, and more! Registration information will go live via email, social media, and on our website at oaesv.org/conference in early 2024. Stay tuned!

We now invite you to share your expertise by submitting workshop proposals for the conference. We can't wait to hear your thoughts, so don't hesitate! Submit your workshop proposals by December 17th at oaesv.org/2024conferenceproposals.

Mark Your Calendars!

Connect with an Attorney

The OAESV Legal Clinic holds virtual office hours to provide a safe space for Ohio survivors and their advocates to connect with an attorney. Virtual office hours will allow survivors to discuss legal options, connect with resources, and/or have a brief consultation. 

• November 9 from 12pm to 2pm
• November 28 from 4pm to 6pm

Quarterly RPE Workgroup

A quarterly meeting for programs receiving Rape Prevention Education (RPE) grant funds to navigate grant objectives and deliverables, troubleshoot potential challenges, and exchange strategies for meeting grant requirements. Open to OAESV members only.

State Prevention Plan Community of Practice Session

This Community of Practice (CoP) session seeks to bring together preventionists across the state of Ohio to implement a statewide prevention plan, centering those organizations and programs that provide direct services to community members who experience sexual and/or intimate partner violence. CoP members will represent their respective organizations and contribute through their participation in caucus groups, each following an anti-oppressive approach to statewide strategic priorities.

Advocate Roundtable

Advocate Roundtable is an opportunity for direct service advocates to pull their seat up to the table and discuss and be in community with direct service advocates all over the state. Having a safe space to come and take a break from their work and relight that advocacy fire. This is only for direct service advocates so please no upper level management staff.

This space is only for the direct service advocates within our field.

SART/CCRT Call

CCRT and SART chairs and co-chairs, join us for a monthly space to be in community with other leaders and to raise our glasses to team successes across our state!

November's call is on the 16th at 10am.

To join, email Nicole Kass Colvin, Director of Coordinated Community Responses, at ncolvin@oaesv.org and request to be added to the SART Coordinators and Co-Chairs Contact List. We will share the call link via this contact list.

Putting Conversations into Action

Join us for our last 2023 event in the series centering on anti-racism education, practice and action within the anti-violence fields in Ohio.

In November, we will learn about and discuss how to counteract white supremacy culture within the organizations and communities where we live and work.

Works in Progress

This section in our newsletter is a more proactive way to share what technical assistance items and projects OAESV is working on to support local program efforts!

• OAESV is committed to taking actionable steps to model the “nothing about us without us” prevention work that moves efforts from community engagement to community mobilization. With that best practices framework in mind, we are in process of transitioning the Be the One social marketing campaign to a youth-led structure. And while we are in the early stages of this transition, the 843 applications received remind us that Ohioan youth truly care about ending sexual violence

• Nicole Kass Colvin, Director of Coordinated Community Responses is compiling survey responses on advocate on-call stipends to create a resource. This is an informal survey, and if anyone hasn't participated and would like to, they can take the survey here.

• Several members of the OAESV Team are working on a Sexual Assault Kit training initiative. We will be partnering with the Forensic Nursing Network to present at the following trainings and will also be creating some trainings for law enforcement and forensic nurses. As we begin this project, we will be conducting law enforcement listening sessions to hear about their training needs around sexual violence. If you have a law enforcement contact who you'd like to nominate for listening sessions, please send contact information to ncolvin@oaesv.org.

• Thanks to Emily Gemar, Director of Public Policy, we are working with New York University students via their Capstone Program to support our public policy efforts. We will be working with these students to complete a project that will further support our public policy efforts around the state.

• Since its inception on March 24, 2023, we have provided 334 nights of hotel stays through our Meaningful Access Housing Program! We'd like to shout out the hard work of our incredible Housing & Economic Empowerment Manager, Jazmin Vera, for building this program from the ground up! For more information, visit oaesv.org/mahp

OAESV in the News

Community Corner

Want to add a message to our newsletter? Please email Laurie Hamame at Lhamame@oaesv.org at least 7 days prior to the first of the month with the details of your message request. Examples include event invitations and calls for proposals.

Workshop Presentation Proposal Request

Central Ohio Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2024 SAAM Conference

Submit your workshop or panel discussion proposals for the 2024 Central Ohio SAAM conference on April 10, 2024. Proposal submission deadline has been extended to November 15, 2023.

Trauma-Informed Care for Individuals with Disabilities Training

The Adult Advocacy Centers' Trauma-Informed Care for Individuals with Disabilities one-day training is designed for mental health professionals. This webinar will provide training on issues related to disability, as well as specific information on adapting interventions. Participants will learn the definition of disability from the ADA, clinical and functional perspectives, as well as the “medical model” vs. the “social model” of disability. We will review trauma basics and discuss their application to individuals with disabilities. We will also talk about the impact of trauma in the lives of individuals with disabilities, risk factors that contribute to high incidence, and the importance of recognizing the functional impact of trauma. The intersection of trauma- and disability-informed care will be explored using SAMHSA’s Six Principles of Trauma-Informed Care. Participants will learn about communication differences, as well as challenges in perspective taking that can influence the mental health professional’s choice of intervention approach, especially in work with clients with autism and Intellectual and developmental disabilities.

NAESV Save VOCA Toolkit

As we continue to advocate daily on the Hill and with the Administration on solutions to the VOCA crisis, lawmakers are still far from the finish line. We know a $700 million cut to VOCA would be devastating on programs that serve survivors and other victims of crime. You’ve met with your Members of Congress, participated in our Digital Day of Action, and now we ask you to join us on Wednesday, November 8 for a Call-In Day! Here’s a toolkit with all the information you need. Please act now and forward far and wide! We won’t give up until we’ve secured level funding for VOCA!  

Cuyahoga County SART Conference:

Supporting Those Impacted by Sextortion

This year's conference features expert presentations on topics such as how to identify sextortion, talking with youth about sextortion, prosecution of cases involving sextortion, and more.

These topics are relevant for multiple disciplines, including law enforcement, medical professionals, SANE, advocates, social workers, prosecutors, and K-12 educators.

Date: Friday, November 17, 2023, 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Location: Presented virtually on Zoom.

Cost: $30.

OAESV's Job Board

Are you or someone you know looking for employment? There are many open positions at rape crisis centers, sexual violence coalitions, and other allied organizations in Ohio and beyond! Please visit oaesv.org/employment and share with your networks.

To post a job opportunity, please email Laurie Hamame, lhamame@oaesv.org

This project was supported by Grant No. 15JOVW-22-GG-00917-MUMU awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice, to the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice.