Asnuntuck Community College Receives Consortium Grant to Prevent Violence Against Women
Asnuntuck Community College awarded a $749,096, three-year consortium grant, as part of the government’s Grants to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on Campus Program.
The U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women awarded a $749,096, three-year consortium grant to Asnuntuck Community College (ACC) as part of the government’s Grants to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on Campus Program. This initiative is titled the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Safe and Friendly Environment Project (CSCU SAFE).
ACC will serve as the lead institution for the consortium grant which includes all 17 CSCU institutions and partners with the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence (CCADV), Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services (CONNSACS), Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (including the Division of the State Police), the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund, and CCADV and CONNSACS community partners.
CSCU SAFE will use a system-wide capacity building model to facilitate PA 12-78, which requires colleges to adopt sexual assault and intimate partner violence policies; and PA 14-11 which requires colleges to form Campus Resource Teams (CRTs), offer prevention and awareness programs, have victim service agency agreements, and to report on policies, prevention and incidents.
Grant funding will support: 1) Hiring a project coordinator to develop a project database, provide needs assessments and implement PA 12-78 and PA 14-11; 2) Forming a statewide Project Advisory Group to facilitate best practices and promote strategies to reach culturally specific or underserved populations; 3) Creating a CSCU system-wide training team to help faculty, staff and partners increase CSCU SAFE implementation; 4) Developing systems for access to on-demand awareness, prevention and education training for all incoming students; 5) Establishing training services from CCADV and CONNSACS community-based partners to build CRTs, campus disciplinary boards and law enforcement teams; and 5) Designing online reporting and system-wide sustainability plans.
“All of the CSCU institutions are committed to increasing awareness and prevention of sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking on our campuses, and to providing trauma informed care services to student and employee victims,” said ACC President James Lombella. “CSCU SAFE will allow for a coordinated approach toward these initiatives.”
“We take the issue of violence against women very seriously at the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities,” said CSCU President Gregory Gray. “This funding will help CSCU provide a secure community for its students and offer many services for victims of domestic violence.”