Coalition staff was invited to participate in the National Meeting for State and Territorial Sexual Assault Coalitions, hosted by the Resource Sharing Project (RSP) in Portland, Oregon, May 5 - 6, 2010. Coalition staff came to network, learn from experts in the field, share strategies, collect resources generated by other coalitions, build on ideas shared by colleagues and peers, mentor those new to this work, exchange ideas between those new to and those experienced in this movement, remember that we do not work in isolation, become re-energized, and acquire new skills.
The Resource Sharing Project National Meeting kicked off with a 1 and 1/2 day Pre-Meeting Women of Color Institute May 3-4, 2010. The meeting featured workshops and roundtables facilitated by women of color at coalitions as well as a general session with SCESA, the Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault.
The general meeting was held May 5-6, 2010 and featured plenary and breakout sessions for skill building, dialogue, peer-to-peer resource sharing, and emerging issues discussions. The meeting also had curbside consultation opportunities to meet one-on-one or in a small group with OVW grant managers and management professionals for more in depth and personalized technical assistance on pre-identified issues.
Breakout sessions included: (Materials for breakout sessions provided below)
Engaging Men and Boys, David Lee and Sally Laskey
Over the last several years, engaging men and boys into efforts to address sexual violence have increased. This workshop addressed these issues from the perspective of a sexual assault coalition including examination of how to frame engaging men and boys, and how to determine the coalitions and its member agencies capacity for engaging men.
Stalking on Campus: New Policies, Tools, and Resources for Coalitions and Campuses, Dan Esparza and Michelle Garcia, CALCASA and Stalking Resource Center
New Policies, Tools and Resources for Coalitions and Campuses: Research indicates that stalking and sexual assault are all too prevalent on college campuses. This session explored the nature of stalking on campus, including the intersection of stalking and sexual assault. We also discussed an effective campus response to stalking, including educational programming, working with victims, and policy development.
Civil Legal Needs of Sexual Assault Victims: Building Your Statewide Capacity, Jessie Mindlin
Building Your Statewide Capacity: Justice is More than Jail: What is “justice” for sexual assault survivors? Is there more to justice than what the criminal justice system offers? This interactive workshop redefined justice and expanded ideas for what options may exist for sexual assault survivors seeking to achieve a sense of justice. Through audience participation and discussion, we identified, discussed and explored the role that state coalitions and their member centers can play in identifying and pursuing opportunities for individuals and agencies to help survivors use the law to address their most pressing needs post-assault. The presenters shared ideas for how coalitions can lead and support efforts in this arena, and offer strategies and tools in support.
Dashboard Driving: Using the Dashboard to Communicate with Your Board, Steven D. Zimmerman, CPA, MBA Principal of Spectrum Nonprofit Services
Using the Dashboard to Communicate with Your Board: Engaging your board of directors in a strategic conversation about your organization while trying to keep them informed can be challenging. In this session, we introduced the dashboard – an engaging, brief document that highlights the key metrics for your organizations in a way that every board member can understand and allows you to drive the conversation towards those things that matter most. This workshop covered the concept as well as process for implementing.
The Wired Employee: Personnel Issues 2010 and Beyond, Melissa Humes, PHR, HR Consultant, Tompkins HR Group, Inc.
Personnel Issues 2010 and Beyond: When we consider how and where employees work, we now focus on the wired capabilities of blackberries, laptops with email and internet connections, work-from-home capabilities and social media. The wired employee and the numerous possibilities that are available to the employee in the workplace play an increasing role in the area of human resources as we continue to look for proactive ways to respond to the evolving mission, services offered and employee needs. We need to be mindful of the potential that being wired can bring to our organization in terms of mission and branding awareness, productivity, efficiencies, and risk mitigation. We heared what trends are impacting people’s love-hate relationship with technology as well as other organizations’ best practices for developing and monitoring policies.
Succession Planning with Member Centers: One State's Process, Nancy Hoffman and Christi Hurt
One State's Process: In this session, participants learned about and discussed how succession and sustainability planning are integral to organizational health. We heard about the West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information Services' hands-on sustainability work with their member centers and shared the one-day training agenda and template documents that jumpstarted the process in their state. Participants received building block resources to help them begin to do sustainability/succession work with their member centers – from crisis planning outlines to suggested checklists of documents all agencies and programs should maintain.
Demystifying Nonprofit Finance: Fiscal Management for Coalitions, Steven D. Zimmerman, CPA, MBA, Principal of Spectrum Nonprofit Services
Fiscal Management for Coalitions: In these challenging economic times, understanding your Coalition’s finances is more important than ever. But, jargon and hard to read statements often get in the way! This session will gave the confidence to be a financial leader in your organization, covering how to really read and use financial statements, how to communicate them to your board in an engaging manner, how to staff your organization’s finance function and what to consider in developing internal controls. This session presented realistic ideas that can be implemented today – as well as a little theory.
Social Networking to End Sexual Violence, Cynthia Fraser
This interactive online session to shared benefits and challenges of using social networking and media tools in our work to end sexual violence. What makes an effective presence on Facebook, My Space, SmugMug, YouTube or elsewhere? How might social marketing applications, subscriptions (SMS, RSS) or podcasts help promote your vision? What about personal use (including social location tracking) by coalition staff and rape crisis center membership? If perpetrators try hijacking our interactive online tools or survivors post online, what are the ethical, capacity and liability issues for you to proactively consider? We explored how to creatively and safely use these ever-evolving technologies in our work to end sexual violence.
Building Anti-Racist Organizations, Vanessa Timmons
This interactive workshop used a racial justice framework to guide participants to practical strategies for building inclusive and just organizations.
Serving Men and Boys, Emiliano Diaz de Leon
What Healthcare Reform Means for Survivors and Sexual Assault Agencies, Evelyn Larsen and Cat Fribley
Enhancing Rural Sexual Assault Services, Kris Bein
This workshop provided information on rural sexual assault services, with a focus on dual/multi-service agencies. We offered tools and strategies to enhance services to rural sexual violence survivors and updates on work being done around the country by sister coalitions and national allies. Participants collaborated on ways for coalitions to support rural programs and will learn about the rural projects coordinated by RSP and NSVRC.
