Rape Prevention and Education Grant Project

El Programa Hispano Católico - Proyecto UNICA is located in the Portland area. Thier mission is to “advance racial equity and social justice through the power of our Latinx roots, culture, and community,” and the agency has provided culturally-specific services to this historically-underserved population for more than 35 years. All staff members are bilingual/bicultural and the majority identify as Latinx and/or immigrants.

Through their culturally specific PAS program (Prevencion de Agresion Sexual), they empower Latine youth and families to prevent gender-based violence with a bilingual and bicultural curriculum addressing its root causes. Their program engages youth, community, and culture by discussing barriers as well as aiming to increase participants’ knowledge of anti-violence strategies and strengthen positive behaviors and cultural norms that already exist within the community.

They work towards prevention through educational sessions, training for professionals, and community mobilization.

For more information about UNICA’s Prevention Program, check out Episode 2.6: Exploring Culturally Specific Prevention in SATF’s Exploring Prevention Audio Library AND check out Oregon SATF and PCAO’s Prevention Land Video: Connection to Culture and Community Prevents Violence and Abuse.

The Harbor serves Clatsop County, Oregon’s northernmost coastal communities. They provide advocacy, prevention and support to promote self-determination and hope for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.

The Harbor is working to create a large, cohesive protective community that actively promotes non-violence and safely intervenes to end violence. This includes creating healthy, supportive and inclusive environments, primarily for youth, where youth have access to trusted adults and learn how to have healthy relationships and challenge traditional gender norms. This also includes working with 2SLGBTQIA+ youth to help them empower themselves and form a sustainable peer support community.

The prevention program gives staff an opening to work in schools and in other places where youth spend time in order to build relationships and trust with youth, leading to an increase in youth survivors accessing services they need, and to youth getting the information they need to have healthy relationships and support their peers. The Harbor does this through educational and community mobilization strategies.

For more information about The Harbor’s Prevention Program, check out Episode 2.11: Preventing Violence through Community Building with The Harbor and Lower Columbia Q Center in SATF’s Exploring Prevention Audio Library.

Henderson House is located in Yamhill County. They strive to provide culturally aware outreach, education, and services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence through leadership, hope, and respect for thriving families.

The goals of the Henderson House Prevention Program are to engage Yamhill County youth in anti-violence and anti-oppression conversations, and empower them to engage their communities in anti-violence and anti-oppression conversations through student-led projects. Through these efforts they aim to change the climate of pro-violence and pro-oppression in their communities, as identified by school administrators, law enforcement, partner agencies, and mental health providers in schools in their county. Ultimately, they aim to decrease the likelihood that youth experience sexual violence.

In addition to prevention efforts, Henderson House provides general advocacy services to community based and shelter-based clients. Their services include confidential one-on-one advocacy, emergency confidential shelter, safety planning, court and emergency room accompaniment, protection order assistance, support groups, financial assistance, housing assistance, and resource referrals. Broadening their work to include prevention allows them to not only support individuals after abuse has occurred, but to empower community members in an effort to prevent abuse.

Self Enhancement Inc. (SEI), is a comprehensive, one-stop resource for youth and families, primarily African Americans and others living in poverty or seeking culturally responsive services. SEI is also one of the city’s leading multi-service organizations, providing thousands of youth, families, and adults with a wide array of education and social service on an annual basis. SEI’s strength is in its ability to meet the complex needs of the children and families it serves, including helping people to overcome cultural, educational and economic barriers.

The goal of SEI's prevention program is to develop an SEI community culture that views violence as preventable, not inevitable. As an anti-domestic and sexual violence program housed within a much larger organization that provides wraparound, culturally-specific services to the Black community of the Portland Metro Area, SEI is well-equipped to leverage existing resources to facilitate violence prevention. SEI's expansive services include providing youth and families with in-school and after-school programming, housing and energy support, workshops and community events related to economic empowerment, parenting, and public health, and advocacy within larger civil and judicial systems.

For more information about SEI’s Prevention Program, check out Episode 2.10 : Prevention through Relationships with Self Enhancement Inc. in SATF’s Exploring Prevention Audio Library.