January 10, 2018
Contact:
Laura Palumbo, Communications Director
National Sexual Violence Resource Center
877-739-3895, ext. 128; lpalumbo@nsvrc.org
PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Global Women’s Institute Highlights NSVRC’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month Toolkit as an Innovative Tool Educating Communities About Sexual Violence Prevention
The Global Women’s Institute (GWI) at George Washington University recently selected the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) as one of three recipients of the 2017 Communications X-Change Awards, a global competition designed to exchange information on what works to end violence against women and girls.
NSVRC received the award for its 2017 Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) Toolkit, which was made available to state coalitions, community rape crisis centers and the broader community to guide their efforts to commemorate SAAM and raise awareness around prevention efforts. GWI received over 100 submissions from over 30 countries around the world and assessed the submissions on a number of factors, including innovation and developing materials with a clear message about violence against women and girls as a community and social problem. GWI narrowed down the submissions to 12 finalists and then selected the SAAM toolkit as one of three winners.
NSVRC plans to put the $3,000 prize that it received from GWI toward the Relief Fund for Sexual Assault Victims. This fund provides aid to sexual assault survivors and advocacy programs during and after natural disasters in the United States. Recently, the Relief Fund has paid nearly $32,000 to survivors and community organizations impacted by Hurricanes Maria, Irma and Harvey.
“The National Sexual Violence Resource Center is honored to receive this award from the Global Women’s Institute,” said NSVRC Director Karen Baker. “We hope that our Sexual Assault Awareness Month Toolkit will continue to inspire others to use their voices to change the culture to prevent sexual violence. We look forward to working with the Global Women’s Institute to continue fostering inclusive and productive conversations on sexual violence that will lead to better education, prevention efforts and outcomes.”
All competition submissions, including NSVRC’s SAAM Toolkit, are available for download within the global community of the Communications X-Change, which you can visit here.
Make sure to check out NSVRC’s 2018 SAAM Action Kit here.
ABOUT NSVRC
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) is the leading nonprofit in providing information and tools to prevent and respond to sexual violence. NSVRC translates research and trends into best practices that help individuals, communities and service providers achieve real and lasting change. The center also works with the media to promote informed reporting. Every April, NSVRC leads Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), a campaign to educate and engage the public in addressing this widespread issue. NSVRC is also one of the three founding organizations of Raliance, a national, collaborative initiative dedicated to ending sexual violence in one generation.