RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, today announced $1 million in grants to support sexual assault survivors and their families.
The grants will go to programs providing mental health treatment, medical care, legal assistance, and services to help victims recover from the trauma of sexual assault.
RAINN said it had awarded $7 million to more than 260 programs across 48 states since 2004. The support provided by these grants is critical because sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes in America, with 68 percent of those assaulted never telling anyone what happened.
“These grants help survivors by providing long-term treatment, medical care, and rehabilitation services to victims and their families. The funding will help these programs provide services critical to the healing process,” said David Lisak, Ph.D., program director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a Clinical Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. “In addition to addressing the immediate needs of sexual assault survivors, these programs can also provide training opportunities that will give many professionals in our communities the tools they need to recognize and respond correctly in similar incidents that may not be immediately reported.”
The grants are awarded to programs that provide services to sexual assault survivors in the following categories:
Mental health treatment
Legal assistance
Medical care and rehabilitation
Education and prevention services
Support services, such as housing assistance, transportation, and other victim services.
For more information, please visit at https://news.gatech.edu/news/2022/04/13/voice-team-expands-call-services-rainn
The grants are part of RAINN’s overall strategy to strengthen the nation’s network of sexual assault service providers. RAINN is also funding research into promising practices in victim services, working with policymakers to improve laws and policies affecting sexual assault victims, and helping improve reporting rates by educating the general public about what constitutes rape. To date, RAINN has helped 1,113 communities develop plans to coordinate responses to sexual assault.