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THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2007

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MESAs prevention education faces deficit

BoulderCountys onlyadultrapecrisisteam loses$35Kgrant;preventionworkatrisk
Story by Brit Horvat
horvatb@YourHub.com

For more than a decade, Boulder County nonprofit Moving to End Sexual Assault (MESA) has relied ontheannualfederallyfundedSexual Assault Prevention Grant (SAPG), amounting up to $35,000. This funding, aimed primarily at their prevention education programs,wascutJune30. While Blue Sky Bridge in Boulder focuses on child sexual abuse prevention and intervention and CUs VictimAssistanceprogramis accessibletoallstudents,theonlyrapecrisis center that serves adult sex assault survivors and implements adult prevention in all of Boulder Countyis MESA. With seven people on MESAs paid staff and closeto 75 volunteers, the nonprofitoffers preventioneducation programs such as Men Aligned for Social Change (MASC) andPeersBuildingJustice(PBJ). MASC consists of male volunteersfrom the communitywho conduct presentationsfor local schools and communitygroups,focusingon how to end sexual assault, sexual harassmentand other forms of genderviolence. PBJ consists of high school student volunteers who conduct presentations to middle and high schoolstudentson theissuesof dating abuse,sexualharassment,sexualassaultand oppression. Across the nation, thousands of victims experience sexual assault and many remain uneducated on the facts. According to the MESA

Web site, 70 to 95 percent of sexual assaultsurvivorsknow their attackersand onlyabout10 percentof sexualassaultsarereportedtopolice. Through implementing MASC and PBJ, MESA reached nearly 4,000 people in Boulder County in 2006. However, due to a statewide need to fund other nonprofits, they recentlylosttheSAPGfunding. MESAs total annual budget is about $450,000, with the prevention education programs alone costing close to $90,000 a year. With the SAPG cut, MESA has lost 40 percent of their prevention education funding. They wontbe able to reapplyfortheSAPGuntil2010. According to a press release sent out by the nonprofit, the denial letter that MESA received explained that the State of Colorado received $236,000 in federal funding for sexualassaultpreventiontobedistributed throughout the state. However, Colorado-basednonprofitsrequested $522,000. With programs in need of supportstatewide,fundingpriorities have been shifted from Front Range programs to help rural areas as well. Janine DAnniballe, MESAsexecutive director, said, Our prevention educationprogramsare the cornerstoneofMESAsworkinthecommunity. If we donthave funds available for prevention education, then we are simply being reactiveto this epidemicproblemand nottakingsteps tomakeourcommunitysafer. Accordingto Dr. Marti Hopper, assistant director, the two programs that may struggle to keep planning presentationsand recruiting volunteersare MASC and PBJ. OurMen

Aligned for Social Change program is the only community-based,mens sexualviolencepreventionprogram in Colorado and a true primary preventionprogram,Hoppersaid. PBJ, a collaborative program between MESA and Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Non-Violence, hasbecomea statewidemodelforinnovative prevention efforts with youth. John Puterbaugh, a currentvolunteer for MASC, has noticed the impact of these programs on the community. When we speak to schools, we generally split them into gender-separate classes. And since we are the gender doing most of the repressing, then its time we do something about it, said Puterbaugh. When you tell young men how much young women think about their general security, theyre shocked. There arent a lot of mens programs across the country; it amazesmewhata needit is. Forfartoolong,thishasbeencarriedas a womensissue,butmen are includedas well. Yes, sexual assault isnt confined to females being the only victims, but most of it is perpetrated by men on women and wed besillytoignorethat,hesaid. Casemanagerand outreachcoordinator Angela Lujan-Ogle, is grateful for those who are stepping up to helpMESA. In the past few weeks, the Lookabaugh-Cadwell Family Foundation has donated a challenge grant. The Fish Foundation also has donated. Many supporters have been planning privatepartiestoraisefunds. But to keep impacting the thousands of people in Boulder County that MESA does each year, it now seeks serious help of its own. For informationongettinginvolved,volunteering or making a donation, visit www.movingtoendsexualassault.org.

COURTESY CASSIE OCONNOR

John Puterbaugh, a volunteer for Men Aligned for Social Change, one of MESAs education prevention programs, poses during a volunteer fair in January 2007. Participants decorated signs about spreading MESAs mission to the community. To read the entire story, visit denver.yourhub.com/boulder/story 337332.

Acquaintance rape: High stats, little knowledge

Posted by Melinda Marquis
YourHub.com user

Hotline helps victims through worst moments

Posted by Sally Powell-Ashby
YourHub.com user

When I was 27 yearsold, the worldI lived in became terrifying. I no longer could go jogging in broaddaylight alone. I couldnot walk through a parking lot at night alone. I could notbeatthehousetolettheappliancerepairmanin. In 1992,my sisterwasgang-raped. That crime was committed by men she had met earlier that day in a professional meeting,acquaintanceswhoheinouslyviolated her trust. Statistical data show that most sexualassailants know their victims, and the attackonmy sisterdrovethispointhome. A former U.S. Supreme Court justice once wrotethat,apartfrommurder,rapeis theultimateviolationof self.Afterhearingsomeof the details of the rape of my sister, I feel that rape is a greater violation of self than is murder. In the wake of the crime,my sisterstruggledwiththeusualinexorableconsequences:

depression, thoughts of suicide, loss of job, loss of friends, shatteredself identityand the relativeindifferenceofthejusticesystem.Sexual assaultis themostunder-reportedcrime, partly because victims suffer grave doubts about themselvesand about whether calling the police will ultimately yield a modicum of justice. Barbaric, even if unintentional, victim-blamingis stillcommon. Sexual assault is ubiquitous, a continuing epidemic. Chances are, someone you know has beenraped. In fact, chancesare that severalpeopleyouknowhavesufferedorwillsuffer the crime. This is why I'm committed to helping Moving to End Sexual Assault, a local nonprofit that supports victim-survivors ofsexualassaultandconductsprevention-education programs to reduce the incidence of sexualviolencein ourcommunity.
BoulderresidentMelindaMarquisisa dedicatedvolunteeranddonorforMESA.

I became a volunteer hotline counselor with Moving To End Sexual Assault (MESA) almost 4 years ago. At the time, Colorado was embroiled in the Kobe Bryant case and CU was making national headline news. Having a son who was college-bound to CU and my daughter to Boulder High School, I was very concerned about what was going on in my town,my stateand my country. I sensed that my thinking was off, but I didnthave any goodanswersor resources for understandingthe myths and realities of sexual assault. When I saw the sidebar inourlocalnewspaperaboutvolunteeropportunities with MESA, I knew that I could educate myself and, hopefully, be of helptoothers. MESA has a thorough and comprehen-

sive training program for its volunteers. Theworkis hugeand oftenfeelslikean uphill battle in a society that would prefer to ignore entrenched beliefs and dismiss the reality and gravity of sexual assault. But MESA has a dedicated and tireless team committedtochange. TheprimaryworkofMESAisthe24/7crisis hotline. Originally, I thought that answering the hotline would be the hardest partfor me. Instead,I find it to bethemost rewarding. When I am on call, I know that Ivehelpedsomeonein oneoftheworstmomentsof theirlife. The work I do with MESA has opened up my awareness. I feel more empowered to bring up the subject on a routine basis with the hope that sexual assault will no longerbea hiddenand unspokencrime.
SallyPowell-AshbyvolunteersfortheMESA hotline.