Berks Women in Crisis (BWIC) has been selected to receive a grant of $34,631 in funding from Raliance, a newly launched, collaborative initiative dedicated to ending sexual violence in one generation. The grant will go toward enhancing BWIC’s capacity to provide linguistically and culturally appropriate resources to Latin@ community members. Berks Women in Crisis was chosen to receive this funding among a competitive pool of more than 250 applications.
“Berks Women in Crisis is honored to receive this funding, and to join Raliance in its work to end sexual violence in one generation,” said Executive Director Mary Kay Bernosky. “This funding will allow us to continue our important work of providing culturally competent resources for the Latin@ community, which is critical to strengthening support for survivors and strengthening our community’s ability to create a safe environment.”
In collaboration with culturally-relevant community organizations such as the Hispanic Center of Reading and Berks County and other response agencies including medical, legal and law enforcement, BWIC will conduct a community needs assessment to identify gaps in services and barriers to access as well as community assets and strengths.
In order to conduct the community needs assessment, Berks Women in Crisis will partner with Dr. Chiara Sabina. Dr. Sabina will serve as the senior scientific advisor for this project. Also assisting with the project is Nicole Myers, public health graduate student at Oregon Health & Science University. Myers will serve as the research coordinator for the Reaching Latin@ Survivors of Sexual Assault Project.
2016 marks BWIC’s 40th anniversary of providing crisis intervention and ongoing support to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Berks County. A year-long observance entitled The BWIC Healthy Village Project is planned to highlight the agency, focusing on community education and sexual assault services such as the Reaching Latin@ Survivors of Sexual Assault Project. The BWIC Healthy Village Project is a series of educational programs and talks that will be presented to a variety of Berks County audiences who have a stake in promoting the healthy, peaceful and supportive coexistence of the people of the Berks County community. Audiences will include high school and college students, legal professionals, medical professionals, faith-based organizations, women’s groups, professional groups and the general public.
Raliance was recently founded by three leading sexual violence prevention organizations – the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA)-PreventConnect and the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV). Raliance will serve as the central hub for effective allocation and distribution of programmatic funding for sexual violence response and prevention efforts and as the go-to resource on sexual violence for policy makers, advocates, service providers and the media.
As its first initiative, Raliance has funded 27 projects – including Berks Women in Crisis – totaling nearly $1.2 million in the first round of an ongoing grant program seeking to advance promising, replicable practices or policies that improve the response to victims of sexual violence; reduce the likelihood of perpetration of sexual violence; or strengthen communities’ and organizations’ capacity to create safe environments. This initiative is made possible through a multiyear, $10 million commitment from the National Football League (NFL).
