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Coalition Connection
Your Weekly Source of News, Trainings, and Events
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Through a collective voice,
the WCADVSA is committed to provide leadership, education, and systems advocacy to advance social change and end violence.
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Welcome to your weekly edition of the Coalition Connection!
Not sure of the purpose of this newsletter? Click here to learn more. Are you having difficulty viewing this e-mail or do you feel like you are missing some of the information in the Connection? If so, click here for a few helpful hints.
We will highlight important information in this section each week that requires your action or attention. This week's highlights include:
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Opportunity
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Women Sexual Assault Survivors' Attitudes and Experiences Survey
We are a research team in the Department of Psychology at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. We are conducting a study on women sexual assault survivors' attitudes and experiences. This online research survey will ask you to answer questions about your feelings, thoughts, and experiences you may have had as a sexual assault survivor, participation in various types of activities, mental health, and demographics. We invite you to participate in this survey to help us better understand the lives of women, including the impact of assault on psychological health.
To be eligible for this study, you must be a woman who is at least 18 years old, have had at least one experience of non-consensual sexual contact since the age of 14 years, and live in the United States. The survey is deidentified and takes about 45-60 minutes to complete. Click here to participate.
Dawn M. Szymanski, PhD, University of Tennessee
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Your Expertise is Needed to Advance Sexual Violence Prevention Program Sustainability
My name is Rachel Jackson-Gordon, and I'm a PhD candidate at the University of Cincinnati. I'm currently conducting research on adolescent sexual violence prevention program implementation and sustainability for my dissertation.
This research is dependent on learning from individuals doing primary prevention programming for adolescents to prevent sexual violence.
I'm currently collecting survey responses about program characteristics and sustainability, and I am requesting the survey participation of adolescent sexual violence prevention practitioners, including program managers, coordinators, facilitators, and so on involved in primary prevention work. To be clear, this research is not evaluating the effectiveness of programs. The research is ultimately designed to produce recommendations to help practitioners sustain their programs.
I really appreciate your help with this project and thank you in advance for your time. I would be happy to answer any questions you have about this project. Please feel free to email me or call me at (614) 557-1474.
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WCADVSA Staff Attorney Position
The WCADVSA Legal Project is funded through a grant received from the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program. The Legal Project has been funded by OVW since 1998 in competitive grant cycles. Two Staff Attorney positions and a Legal Assistant position are funded to complete the grant goals which include providing direct civil legal services on behalf of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking statewide.
Qualifications:
- Licensed to practice law in Wyoming.
- Knowledge of Wyoming courts, laws and procedures.
- Thorough understanding of family law, civil procedure, evidence, ethics and familiarity with criminal law.
- Understanding of issues and willingness to continue to learn about issues related to
domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault and a strong commitment to ending
violence against women. - Ability to provide professional, high quality and sensitive legal services to victims of
domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. - Ability to counsel and advise clients and provide referrals for people who are in crisis.
- Willingness and ability to work with people from varied backgrounds, cultures,
ethnicities and abilities. - Proficiency with computer and Internet technologies and software programs,
including Microsoft Word and Excel. - Ability to work with law office management databases, including ABACUS.
- Strong written and oral communication skills.
- Demonstrated ability to manage time, keep detailed statistics, evaluate progress and
adjust activities to complete work within established time frames. - Ability to handle multiple projects and work independently as well as collaboratively.
- Demonstrated team building, limit setting, problem solving, creative/analytical
thinking and organizational skills, including report writing and grant writing. - Demonstrated project management skills, including staff supervision.
- Commitment to collaboration, team-building and professional development of staff.
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Our Work
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2021-2022 Allstate Moving Ahead Grant Program RFA 
The WCADVSA has received another Moving Ahead Grant from The Allstate Foundation in the amount of $75,000. Funds will be set aside to continue the Matched Savings Program and to assist survivors with education and employment barrier reduction. Last year we sub-granted to Big Horn County C.A.R.E.S., Teton County Community Safety Network, and Uinta County SAFV Task Force and we will continue to support these three sub-grantees. In addition, we are seeking applications to support one or two new sub-grantees to implement innovative financial education services to support survivors and asset building activities in at least one of the following areas: job readiness and job training; matched savings; micro-loans; credit building and/or repair; or micro- enterprise. The Allstate Foundation and the WCADVSA recognize asset-building activities as those that benefit or add strength, value or resources to the lives of survivors, helping them move from short-term safety to long-term security.
The Allstate Foundation hopes to build the capacity of communities to better respond to the complex financial needs of domestic violence survivors by supporting collaborative financial empowerment efforts between State Domestic Violence Coalitions, local programs, and other community partners. The goal is to reach as many survivors with financial empowerment services and train as many advocates as possible.
If your program shares our commitment to ending domestic violence through financial empowerment, we encourage you to apply here. The application deadline is Wednesday, June 16, 2021 at 5:00 p.m.
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Transitional Housing Voluntary Services Training E-Learning 
The NNEDV Voluntary Services Training in 2021 will be completed through an e-learning module. MOU partners (WCADVSA member programs) are encouraged to participate in the e-learning module if they are providing direct services. There is no limit on the number of staff who can take this e-learning course. But at least one person needs to complete the courses for the agency.
There are 8 lessons available. In total, you'll need to view 6 lessons to complete the training requirement. There are 5 mandatory lessons in Track A and 3 elective lessons in Track B. At least 1 lesson from Track B must be completed to meet the minimum lesson requirement.
Click this link to find the registration page. When you register, you will automatically be registered for both Tracks A and B and you will have access to all eight lessons. When you register, you'll be asked to create a username and password that is unique for you. Each person, who wants to take the course, should enroll separately. That way the certificate generates with your name on it.
The e-learning platform will track your progress. You can start, pause, and restart all of the lessons. Once you've viewed all of the lessons in Track A, and the lesson(s) you want to view in Track B, you'll need to complete the Course Completion Certification to obtain a certificate. In that quiz, you'll note the lesson(s) you viewed, and then click the "Print Your Certificate" button.
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Save The Date! 16th Annual DV Counts Day - September 9 
NNEDV is pleased to announce the date for this year's Domestic Violence Counts Day. This year the count will begin at 8:00 AM Eastern on Thursday, September 9th. An informational packet will be sent out in the next month or so detailing the specifics of the DV Counts Day, including what time you will begin counting in your time zone, reporting your data, important definitions, and frequently asked questions.
This year, NNEDV will be moving away from SurveyMonkey to a new platform for data collection. As with years past, NNEDV will host an information webinar before the day of the count to walk programs through the survey structure and questions being asked. Because we will be using a new reporting platform, it may be helpful to have your staff member that will be reporting the data for your organization join the webinar or watch the recording.
If you would like to have another staff member added to the listserv to ensure they receive the information regarding the day of the count, please email their information to [email protected] to be added.
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Silent Witness Initiative
Planning for the 2021 Silent Witness Ceremony is underway, and we are so excited to be working with Taneesa Congdon of the Sweetwater County YWCA The Center for Families and Children who will be hosting the 24th-year ceremony October 9 in Rock Springs..
A couple of notes and requests to help us in organizing the initiative:
1. The WCADVSA is responsible for the addition of new silhouettes to the exhibit. If you are aware of a DV homicide victim in your community that meets the criteria below, please share this information with Pam by June 18. We will connect with each program that submits information to discuss the process to connect with the family about inclusion into the exhibit. Criteria for inclusion in the Wyoming Silent Witness Initiative: - GENDER: Initiative focus is on women who have been murdered as a result of domestic violence.
- RELATIONSHIP: Spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend or ex-boyfriend (established relationship), share a child or is pregnant by perpetrator. Other extenuating circumstances will be evaluated on a case by case basis.
- ASSOCIATED VICTIMS: Males who are murdered during a domestic violence homicide may be included on the Male silhouette with a small shield that includes their name and age at time of death.
- TIME FRAME: Crime occurred/or was prosecuted since 1985. (If crime or prosecution does not fall within the last ten years, the Silhouette may be added for 2 years then retired.) Silhouette cannot be added until there has been an adjudication of the case.
- CAUSE OF DEATH: Must have been a domestic violence homicide.
- OTHER: Women who have been murdered as a result of domestic violence in another state, territory or country who may or may not be a native of Wyoming but have family living in Wyoming requesting their loved one be included in the exhibit.
2. If you have updated contact information for Silent Witness family members, please share that with Pam. 3. We would love to have more involvement on the committee from program members, advocates, law enforcement, victim witness associates, etc. If interested in participating, please connect with Kristen. The role of the State Silent Witness Committee is to provide a state level voice and perspective for the Wyoming Silent Witness Initiative. The duties of the committee are to: - Be involved!
- Annually review and approve the Guidelines
- Select the annual host community
- Annually review the mission statement
- Attend the Silent Witness Ceremony each year to support programs and provide assistance the day of.
- The Division of Victim Services may be able to help with per-diem expenses for committee members.
- Host a call with the prior community, the committee, and the current community to open the dialogue, allow for initial questions to be answered.
- Host a call after the Silent Witness Ceremony for the committee to debrief and make a plan to stay committed to and increase involvement around the call to action.
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Don't Miss This Opportunity! Funds to Reduce Education, Employment, and Job Training Barriers for Survivors
REMINDER - funds need to be spent by June 30, 2020.
With support from The Allstate Foundation, the WCADVSA has funds to support education, employment, and job training barriers for survivors. These funds can be used to help support survivors in obtaining G.E.D.s, job skills training, certifications, licenses, continuing education, education/job-related supplies such as uniforms, tools, and/or other equipment, transportation-related support, etc. If your program is offering training on the Allstate Moving Ahead Curriculum or other economic empowerment training, you may request funds to support and encourage survivor participation such as offering food and/or childcare during economic empowerment events and training or gas gift cards for survivors to get to the training). Member programs may also inquire about offering scholarships to help support survivor participation in job training programs. If you have any questions, please connect with Trish Worley.
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Policy Updates
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Monthly Policy Calls for Program Staff/Board/Volunteers Only
Tara Muir, our public policy director, will connect with all of you on federal and state policy issues! Usually 4th Fridays at lunch. All questions welcome.
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Training and Events |
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Wyoming Webinars, Training, and Events
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Healthy Moms, Happy Babies (HMHB) Community-Based Webinar 
Coming to Your Community in Summer 2021!
Many staff of home visitation, early childhood and similar programs struggle with how best to address issues of domestic violence (DV) among their clients. The impact of DV on parents' and children's physical and mental health and risk for substance use and persistent perinatal depression is well documented. To support communities' capacity in DV prevention, response, and healing, we are providing Healthy Moms, Happy Babies (HMHB) webinars. We aspire to reach each county in Wyoming, and invite you to lead in identifying community partners to invite to the webinars.
This summer and early fall, a team of people from Wyoming Departments of Family Services, Health, and Corrections, along with Wyoming Children's Trust Fund and WCADVSA, will provide training. The 3-hour webinar provides healing approaches to DV prevention and response for staff of home visitation, early childhood, and other community programs, with attuned approaches to DV for survivors.
HMHB is an interactive curriculum that addresses the barriers and difficulties staff experience in addressing DV. The training will address how personal and or vicarious trauma or abuse may impact our ability to do this work. Specific strategies and tools, personal and organizational, will be presented to address the needs of front-line staff and managers so that they feel adequately situated to hear a positive disclosure of abuse.
We hope sharing in this interactive learning space with your fellow community members and organizations will be another capacity building opportunity for all. If you're interested, please click here to choose some weeks that look good for a potential webinar for your community, and Susie will reach out to you to talk about this in more detail. For more information email Susie Markus or call her at 307-222-3352 or 307-274-6292.
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My name is Kimmy Moon, and I'm reaching out from the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, a project funded by the Administration for Community Living.
In honor of Older Americans Month (May) and World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD), June 15th, the NCEA is hosting our very first virtual awareness walk, Walk for WEAAD from May 1 st to June 15 th. Walk for WEAAD is hosted on the Walker Tracker platform which converts a number of activities (e.g., wheel-chair exercises, yoga, gardening, etc.) into step counts so people of all ages and abilities can participate. Walker Tracker also has a leaderboard function where states and territories are organized as "teams."
We noticed that Wyoming was not represented in Walk for WEAAD, so we wanted to personally reach out to share this campaign as well as promotional materials to help spread the word.
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National Webinars, Training, and Events
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Bystander Intervention To Stop Anti-LGBTQIA+ Harassment Workshop 
We've had the opportunity this year to update our curriculum and offer four free public dates of our training to address anti-LGBTQIA+ harassment. We are excited to be able to offer this training, and continue our work to provide tools of de-escalation to the communities who need them the most.
This is a free 1-hour interactive training, and it is open to all who want to show up to disrupt harassment and disrespect towards members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Register here.
We are thankful for the support you have shown for our trainings recently, not just by attending but by also practicing the secret 6th D of Donating. Your donations help us keep offering these free workshops, and we are proud to be meeting this moment with 16 free public sessions in June.
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Advocates' & Directors' Institute 
Join us at JDI's first Advocates' & Directors' Institute on Wednesday, June 23 from
Sexual and domestic violence advocates, anti-violence educators and preventionists, activists, community organizers, human services, health care providers, and allies are invited to come learn, share, and network as we work towards "Building a Resilience Ecosystem and Thriving Together."
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SUNNY Spectrum - June 28- July 2 Registration Now Open
SPECTRUM is the nation's largest education conference devoted to preventing and responding to sexual and interpersonal violence against members of the LGBTQI+ community. It provides cutting-edge training to enhance the knowledge and skills of attendees. Faculty, staff, law enforcement, medical professionals, and community service providers are trained on turning the dial on sexual and interpersonal violence against sexual and gender minorities, while also providing the trauma-informed and culturally-competent care when incidents do occur.
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33rd Annual Crimes Against Children Conference - Virtual Edition
Internationally recognized, the Crimes Against Children Conference is the premier conference of its kind, providing practical and interactive instruction to those fighting crimes against children and helping children heal. There were more than 6,900 professionals from around the world in 2020!
The conference is presented annually by the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center. The conference is conducted to provide training to those employed by government or nonprofit agencies in the fields of law enforcement, child protective services, social work, children's advocacy, therapy, and medicine who work directly with child victims of crime.
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Click here to view a variety of upcoming webinars, national training, and conferences.
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Resource Center |
Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking Podcast 
Human Powered, is a podcast series about people who are making places better. The podcast comes from Wisconsin Humanities, the state office of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Power of Untold Stories is the most recent episode. It features the founder of a legal clinic for victims of human trafficking and people who have been directly impacted by human trafficking.
Rachel Monaco-Wilcox is a lawyer, artist, and survivor of childhood sexual assault who founded LOTUS, a free victim rights legal clinic. She is at the center of the episode. She also started Untold Stories, a writing workshop for survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault. In this episode, we talk with Rachel about her work, as well as participants of the workshop who put their stories into words and often moved to activism. For example, Lisa McCormick's son died while being trafficked and she now works with law enforcement to address arrest policies for youth.
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1) June is Pride Month - a time to celebrate the LGBTQ community and work to dismantle systems that perpetuate violence, discrimination, harassment, and bias based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
In a nutshell: Passing the Equality Act would provide LGBTQ people nationwide with protection against discrimination. The House of Representatives recently passed the legislation. Now the Senate must do the same.
2) President Biden's budget proposal excluded the Hyde Amendment
(which bans Medicaid coverage of abortion) and included historical investments to combat gender-based violence stop the gun violence epidemic, and launch a national paid family and medical leave program.
In a nutshell: Removing the Hyde Amendment would help low-income pregnant people have greater freedom to make decisions about their reproductive health, families, and futures.
Take action: Tell your members of Congress to pass appropriations bills that reflect Biden's budget proposal and advance women's health, safety, and economic security!
3) 2020 saw the highest rate of gun deaths in more than two decades - and the violence continues to surge this year.
In a nutshell: Friday is National Gun Violence Awareness Day. We can build a future free from gun violence if we all step up to make change and compel our elected officials to do the same.
Take action: Participate in Wear Orange events for National Gun Violence Awareness Day this Friday, June 4. Text ORANGE to 644-33 to find an event with folks near you.
Speak out in support of gun reform with our one-click congressional advocacy platform.
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Male Survivors Podcast Series
We know that at least 1 in 6 men have experienced sexual abuse or assault.
We also know that the impact of the silence surrounding male sexual abuse is twofold: It prevents survivors from coming forward and leads to a lack of understanding of these experiences. As advocates, supporting these survivors starts with learning about the unique effects that sexual abuse and assault can have on men.
To open up a conversation, we've created a podcast series that focuses on the specific needs of male survivors. Throughout the series, we chat with advocates who share valuable lessons learned from firsthand experiences working with men.
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"Modesty Editing?" Bartram Trail High School in Florida received a lot of attention this past week. News outlets across the country have critiqued its yearbook, specifically the edited pictures of almost eighty female students. The yearbook editors targeted girls whose clothing revealed too much skin, digitally editing them to replace their cleavage and chests with black, blue, and pink bars. The school called it "modesty editing." However, they did not contact the girls or their parents for permission to alter the photos. Read more here.
State of Media Report - It's here! You can now check out The Rep Project's 2021 State of Media Report. This report examines the current state of media representation in films, television, advertising, video games, and music. With intersectionality at the heart of the report, we analyze data from the past decade on representations of gender, race, age, disability, body size, and sexuality in different media types-providing insight and actionable recommendations to improve representation in the media for EVERYONE
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Storybook Trail Prevention Video 
This video was created after the Violence Free Coalition, a program of the Abuse and Rape Crisis Shelter of Warren County used some of their DELTA funding to create story walks as an environmental violence prevention strategy. Thought this might be of interest to you. Notice, not a single mention of IPV or prevention.
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Access to comprehensive reproductive health care is central to gender equity and women's full participation in the workplace. For businesses, restrictions on access to reproductive health care are not only at odds with stated corporate values, such as equity and inclusion, they also affect the ability of companies to deliver on their value propositions.
In recent decades, a rise in state efforts to limit access to comprehensive reproductive health care has threatened women's equality and participation in the workforce and put state and regional economies at risk. Between January 1st and April 29, 2021, alone, 536 abortion restrictions, including 146 abortion bans, were introduced across 46 states. Sixty-one of those restrictions have been enacted across 13 states, including eight bans. The effect of these restrictions is amplified by federal policies such as the Hyde Amendment, which limits the use of federal dollars for abortion. These measures fall hardest on women that already face systemic obstacles accessing health care and economic opportunities-including Black women, Hispanic women, low-income women, rural women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and more. To date, the economic costs of these restrictions have not been fully articulated.
This new tool seeks to capture the costs of reproductive health restrictions at the state level."
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ERAP Payment Disbursed and Where to find ERAP Help 
The Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) application review and payment process is taking longer than the initial estimated four weeks. So far 39 applications, requesting $124K, have been approved for payment. As of May 28, 2021, 2,500 applicants have requested over $5 million in rent and utility assistance.
If facing eviction or in need of additional help, please Dial 2-1-1 or visit wy211.communityos.org to be connected to available resources or to an organization that can help. Legal Aid of Wyoming may also be able to provide legal assistance to eligible renters living in Wyoming. Visit www.lawyoming.org or call 1-877-432-9955 for Legal Aid.
The Emergency Rental Assistance Program directly pays landlords for unpaid rent, utilities and internet for qualified renters in Wyoming. This program provides more flexible eligibility than the 2020 program.
IN PERSON: If needing assistance with an application, there are community based organizations set up in counties to provide help.
VIA PHONE: The call center is open 9 am - 6 pm, Monday through Friday.
The toll-free number is 1-877-WYO-ERAP.
1) Please check your application status on the online portal or call the call center 1-877-WYO-ERAP.
2) All correspondence will come from [email protected]. Please add this email to your contact list to avoid missing important emails.
Troubleshooting Tip - Finding your application status or application/case number
ERAP applicants can find out their application status and their application/case number by following these steps.
- Go to dfs.wyo.gov/erap and click the "APPLY NOW" button, which takes you to the online application portal.
- Once in the application portal, click on the "LOG IN" button near the far right side of the screen.
- Enter your username (your email address) and password and click the "LOG IN" button.
- Click on the "TRACK STATUS" button in the white bubble
- A screen will be displayed and your case number (also called your application number) will be shown here. Click the 3 blue dots to select "Upload documents" or to see your "Case Summary"
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Spotlight |
P.E.A.C.E. Awards Nominations Open
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Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
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Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved.
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