Dear survivors, RCC programs, community partners, and funders,
I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well.
If this year has taught us anything, it’s to be grateful for our health, families, staff, survivors, and partners. Let me express my heartfelt gratitude for your continued partnership with OAESV and our team. We value your support and collaboration, especially at a time that has stretched us all in unexpected ways.
At OAESV, like many non-profits, community-based agencies with a social justice focus and survived-centered approached, we discovered new and innovative ways to connect and fulfill our mission, and we also survived the many storms. We have been able to recognize the resiliency of our staff and self; we have focused on tangible steps toward building a truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive model of service that is ever-changing and never seen before. We have invested in technologies that are enabling today’s hybrid work environment as well as solving tomorrow’s challenges. And I couldn’t be more proud of how our team supported your agencies, advocates, preventionists, survivors, frontline workers, and society during the crisis, providing everything from community forums, critical conversations, safe spaces to speak, samples of language and procedures for handbooks, videos for survivors and SANE nurses, COVID information and updates, virtual platforms for trainings, advocating for funding--even hand sanitizer and masks.
2020 has been a tipping point year, a year of immense challenges, but we are still standing. In March, we were plunged into a global pandemic and then civil unrest every day since then. While 2020 wasn’t the year any of us planned, it is the year that demonstrated the importance of turning setbacks into opportunities, and recognizing that there is strength and power in the collective. As we move forward with the promise of multiple vaccines and an economic rebound globally, our team at OAESV looks forward to working with you to help your organization strive while supporting survivors.
The OAESV team, as your designated training and technical assistance coalition, is always available for assistance on a range of issues in sexual assault services that stand alone/multi-service agencies frequently face, such as:
* Developing an outreach plan for sexual assault survivors in your community
* Eradicating sexual violence with an anti-oppression and social justice lens
* Board development and support
* Performing a sexual assault needs assessment
* Providing culturally and linguistically specific/accessible services to sexual assault survivors
* Advocacy for the unique needs of sexual violence survivors
* Embracing survivors' voices and agency needs in the public policy arena
* ...And many more topics!
There is still so much that we can accomplish together. Thank you again for your incredible support this year!
Let me end by saying thank you for your trust in OAESV. From me, the OAESV team, and the Board, we wish you peace, health, and prosperity this holiday season and in the new year.
In peace and community,
