VAWA Reauthorized

On December 16th and 17th respectively, the House and Senate voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 2005. With the President's signature, VAWA 2005 will become law.

VAWA 2005 includes many provisions to address sexual violence. New funding streams are included to support direct services, prevent sexual violence, serve teens and youth, and provide housing opportunities for victims. Some of the provisions of VAWA 2005 that UCASA would like to highlight include:

• The Sexual Assault Services Act (SASA) creates a new, separate and direct funding stream dedicated to sexual assault services. Under the formula grant, funding will be distributed to states, territories, tribes, as well as state, territorial and tribal sexual assault coalitions. Funding can be used to provide services, training and technical assistance. A discretionary grant program for non-profit organizations serving communities of color is also established. The program is authorized at $50 million.

• Rural Sexual Assault Enforcement Assistance VAWA 2005 expanded the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Enforcement Assistance Program to address the needs of rural victims of sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. The program was reauthorized at $55 million.

• Grants to Reduce Violence Against Women on Campus funds colleges and universities to prevent and respond to sexual violence, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking against students, faculty and staff. The program was reauthorized at $15 million - an increase of $5 million.

• Legal Assistance for Victims has been expanded to allow LAV-funded project attorneys to represent victims in criminal matters to protect thier civil rights. It allows for representation of adult and minor victims of sexual assault. The program was reauthorized at $65 million. Not less than 25% of appropriated funds shall be used to support projects focused solely or primarily on providing assistance to victims of sexual assault.

• The Center for Sex Offender Management Program funds training and technical assistance for the criminal justice system, states, and local jurisdictions to prevent sexual victimization through effective management of convicted sex offenders. The program was reauthorized at $5 million - an increase of $2 million.

• The Rape Prevention Education Program funds programs to increase awareness and provide education and training to prevent sexual assault. The program was reauthorized at $80 million.

Utah Sexual Violence Council (USVC) Restructured Under The Office of The Governor
Thanks to Governor Jon M. Huntman's commitment to the issue of preventing rape and sexual violence, and, in an effort to address the needs of each community, he has worked with UCASA, the Utah Department of Health, and the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) to restructure the Council so that it can be the most influential mechanism to improve the systems that serve victims and perpetrators of sexual violence in Utah. The Council will now be a subcommittee of the CCJJ. Michele Christiansen, CCJJ Director, has been appointed as Chair and Ned Searle, Director of the Governor's Violence Against Women and Families Cabinet Council, will serve as Vice-Chair.

Under the new structure, the Council will have several subcommittees: prevention; violence on campus; victims with disabilities; law enforcement; prosecution; registration; sentencing; and treatment. If you are interested in participating on one or more of these subcommittee, please email Ned Searle or call 801.538.1549.

Sexual Assault on Campus: What Colleges and Universities are Doing About It
National Institute of Justice-sponsored research into sexual assault on the campuses of America's universities and colleges has long contributed to public discourse. The Institute's latest release advances the dialogue, with a look at school compliance with reporting requirements under Federal law. The study also investigates the strengths and weaknesses of response policies and practices, formal and informal adjudication processes, and individual and institutional barriers to reporting. Among the findings is that although most school annually report crime, only a third do so in a way that complies with Federal law.
:report

Understanding the Special Needs of Adolescent Victims
"Reaching and Serving Teen Victims: A Practical Handbook" provides guidance for working more effectively with teenage victims of crime and understanding the unique impact that victimization has on teens. It is designed for victim advocates, law enforcement officers, educators, counselors, youth workers, and other professionals who come into contact with teen crime victims. :handbook

Webcast: Dating and Violence Should Never be a Couple - Preventing Teen Dating Violence
This webcast will feature presentations on Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Justice-funded programs targeting teen dating violence.
February 7th, noon-2:00pm
:register

The Children Affected by Domestic Violence: Understanding the impact and taking steps to promote healing
Conference Call Facilitators: Eliane Witman, Project Director, Sidran Institute, and Nancy Aiken, Executive Director, CHANA
January 5th, 10:00-11:00am

Mental health professionals and advocates working to treat and prevent family violence are invited to participate in this facilitated conference call. Please register by calling meredith soffrin at 800.343.2823. Participation is limited.

Promoting Multicultural Competence and Social Justice in the Mental Health Professions
The University of Utah Department of Educational Psychology, Women's Resource Center, University Counseling Center, and University of Utah Office for Diversity invite you to take part in a training conducted by Michael D'Andrea, Ph.D., Professor at the University of Hawaii and Executive Director of the National Institute for Multicultural Competence.

This training will provide a broad range of professional development training opportunities that are intentionally designed to promote administrators', faculty members' and students' level of multicultural competence and support thier commitment for social justice.

Specifically, the training is aimed at assisting individuals to acquire a broad array of new professional competencies that will enable them to work more effectively, respectfully, and ethically in promoting the educational and psychological well-being of large numbers of persons from cultural-racial groups that historically have been marginalized in the past.


January 20th, 8:00am-5:00pm
Saltair Room, Olpin Union Building
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
:more information :register

Thank you so much to all of you who made the UCASA professional development training: "rape in utah report/working with deaf victims of sexual assault" such a great success!

UCASA will be providing two professional development trainings during the 2006 year (exact times and dates will be announced in upcoming newsletters). The trainings are geared towards those who have already been 40-hour trained but would like continuing education on certain topics. We would like to provide you with practical information you can use in your current work such as latest research, current treatment methods, special populations/topics (native american victims, internet child predators, etc.) or in-depth reviews of topics that were covered in the 40-hour training that you would like more information on. If you have suggestions on topics, please email Rachel Jenkins-lloyd.

If you would like to be removed from this list, please write to info@ucasa.org

utah sexual violence council
governor's board room
state capitol complex
east bldg, E220
salt lake city, utah
january 12th, 9:30-11:30am
:more information

rape recovery center
salt lake city, utah
january 17th, 18th, 19th, 24th, 25th and 26th, 5:30-9:30pm, january 21st and 28th, 9am-5pm
:more information :register

dvsava
tooele, utah
february 7th, 9th, 15th, 16th, 21st and 23rd, 5:00-9:00pm, february 11th and 18th, 8am-5pm
:more information :register

ycc
ogden, utah
march 7th, 9th, 14th, 16th, 21st and 23rd, 5:00-9:00pm, march 11th and 18th, 8am-5pm
:more information :register

ucasa trainings meet the continuing education requirements for social work.

promoting multicultural competence and social justice in the mental health professions
january 20th, 2006, 8am-5pm
university of utah
salt lake city, ut
:more information :register

mentors in violence prevention (mvp) program institute for gender violence prevention and education
january 30th - february 1st, 2006
northeastern university
boston, ma
:more information :register