In 2023, NSVRC became a Sexual Assault Capacity Building Center (SACBC) along with the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV). This work is funded by the Office of Family Violence and Prevention Services (OFVPS) through the American Rescue Act. For NSVRC, becoming a SACBC meant receiving funding from OFVPS to support existing work, including our Sexual Assault Awareness Month campaign, the National Sexual Assault Conference, and technical assistance services. This funding also enabled us to expand our work to support OFVPS administrators and grantees alike and to conduct the needs assessment described below. Unfortunately, this project ended early in September 2025 after only two years due to insufficient funding.
The first goal of the project was conducting a needs assessment, “to identify emerging issues, training and technical assistance needs, promising practices, and service demands for survivors of sexual assault.”
We were asked to engage advocates and service providers, coalition staff, national training and technical assistance providers, culturally specific organizations, tribal organizations, healthcare providers, survivors, and the general public.
At the outset of the project, the SACBCs wanted to review the data we were already gathering from the previously mentioned groups to minimize sending additional surveys and to avoid fatiguing partners, whose availability is already limited. It became clear that many of our partners were already completing many assessments, including an annual needs assessment of rape crisis center advocates conducted by NAESV and a survey on prevention worked under the Rape Prevention and Education program that NSVRC was already planning to conduct. Other national and state training and technical assistance providers also conduct semi-regular surveys and data collection with their constituents, including the National Network to End Domestic Violence’s (NNEDV) Annual Domestic Violence Counts Survey.
In 2025, NSVRC determined the biggest gap in the data was perspectives from the general public and survivors: how do they view and understand sexual assault services and resources available in the United States? With this goal in mind, we created a request for proposals to find researchers who could answer this question, and we were fortunate to connect with Dr. Laura Sinko from the Phoenix Gender-Based Violence Lab at Temple University College of Public Health. Dr. Sinko and her team not only brought the research skills necessary to conduct a needs assessment, but they also understood the importance of designing the project in a way that prioritized being trauma-informed and inclusive.
This process led us to conducting a trauma-informed needs assessment that surveyed 645 individuals nationwide to identify emerging issues and promising practices in sexual assault response and prevention, training and support needs, and service demands for sexual assault survivors. The people who took the survey represented a mix of ages, genders, races, ethnicities, abilities, sexualities, and other backgrounds. Additionally, twelve survivors who participated in the survey volunteered to participate in focus groups where a trained facilitator guided them in using photography to capture both meaningful support in their healing journeys as well as gaps and barriers in current services.
What did we learn?
- There are significant gaps in service accessibility. Survivors wanted to find help online/virtually, and it wasn’t always available.
- Survivors face persistent barriers to seeking help. Survivors expressed they were worried about cost, and the fees connected to options for care weren’t always clear.
- There were clear preferences for specific types of support resources. Survivors wanted care that met their personal needs, not a one-size-fits-all approach.
Why does it matter?
While this needs assessment was not large enough to provide a comprehensive overview, it offers valuable information for professionals working to support survivors and prevent sexual abuse, assault, and harassment. We believe the findings and ideas in the below resources can help rape crisis centers and coalitions consider what services survivors are looking for and how they can better promote their offerings and programs.
How can I learn more?
- The full findings of the needs assessment are outlined in the full report.
- We developed two infographics to summarize key findings:
- Overview findings from the needs assesment are highlighted in Bridging the Gaps: Needs Assessment to Strengthen Services for Survivors of Sexual Assault.
- This infographic highlights findings from the Focus Groups With Survivors
- Finally, you can also watch this recorded presentation with researcher Dr. Laura Sinko from the Phoenix Gender-Based Violence Lab at Temple University College of Public Health.