“Our Violence-Free Campus,” a collaboration between the University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia College, has been awarded $500,000 by the Office on Violence Against Women, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice. It is the first time UW Bothell has received a Campus Program grant from the OVW, which this year awarded a total of $16.2 million to only 52 programs across the country.
The vision for the funding is that all students within the co-located institutions will have access to prevention education, that all community members will have the training they need to prevent harm from happening and that confidential advocacy will be available to all who have experienced harm.
“The funding and technical support provided by this award will be transformational for UW Bothell and Cascadia College,” said Elizabeth Wilmerding, UW Bothell’s Violence Prevention & Advocacy program manager and director of Our Violence-Free Campus. “This is a significant investment in our community, and we anticipate it will have a meaningful impact on the experiences of students, faculty and staff on our campus. Receiving the news as we recognize Domestic Violence Awareness Month is especially appropriate.”
Upon announcing the awards, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said, “Domestic Violence Awareness Month is a sobering reminder of the harm domestic violence inflicts across our country, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic means that for many survivors, abuse may be compounded by being isolated with an abuser, loss of income and stress over the virus.
“These OVW grants will provide local organizations with resources to support survivors as they heal, promote victim access to justice, and further local, state and tribal training efforts to best prepare officials to respond to these dangerous calls.”
On receiving the award, Wilmerding acknowledged the 11 units at UW Bothell and Cascadia College that supported the proposal, including the Office of the Chancellor and Division of Student Affairs at UW Bothell, the Office of the President and Division of Student Success at Cascadia College, and Title IX coordinators from both campuses. LifeWire, a community-based agency focused on domestic violence prevention and response, and the Bothell Police Department are lending their expertise to the initiative.
“It is so important that we now have additional resources to prevent and respond to sexual and relationship violence, including training conduct officers and campus safety officers,” said Myra Rahman, UW Bothell student and a member of HERO (Health Educators Reaching Out). “It will for sure make campus feel more safe. I’m so glad this happened.”
The OVW Grants to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on Campus Program encourages institutions of higher education to develop and strengthen effective security and investigation strategies to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus, develop and strengthen victim services in cases involving such crimes on campus, and develop and strengthen prevention education and awareness programs.
Campus Resources
This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and throughout the year, resources are available for students and employees who have been impacted by sex- and gender-based violence. If you are a student seeking support for yourself, you are encouraged to reach out to a confidential advocate through the Violence Prevention & Advocacy Program: Call 425.352.3851 or email uwbvae@uw.edu.
If you are worried about the safety or well-being of another person, or are a staff or faculty in need of resources, contact SafeCampus at 206.685.7233. You may remain anonymous when you call SafeCampus.
Learn about your rights, options and resources at uwb.edu/sexualassault.
