Alameda County Family Justice Center

BAWAR is committed to offering Alameda County's growing and vital Latino community the same level and quality of services provided to English-speakers. A key step towards ensuring consistent and immediate access for Spanish-speaking survivors and their friends and family members is making certain that BAWAR's sexual assault hotline is covered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by Spanish-speaking volunteers-as well as English-speaking volunteers. By August 11, 2007 BAWAR will have Spanish-speaking advocates providing services on the rape crisis line.

By August 11, 2007, BAWAR will offer its full complement of services in Spanish, including immediate crisis intervention, telephone counseling, and referral; individual and group counseling to promote healing; hospital, police and court accompaniments; preparation of U-Visa applications for undocumented immigrant survivors; ongoing rape awareness education to inform and educate community members about the dynamics of sexual assault. The availability of local services will encourage Spanish-speaking survivors to seek help, will diminish individual risks, and will further promote community engagement.

Press Contact Information:

Kristina Molina, Latina Outreach Coordinator

Diane Beynon, Sexual Assault Response Team Coordinator

BAWAR Telephone: 510-430-1298

Bay Area Women Against Rape

470 27th Street, Oakland, CA 94612 FAX: 510-430-2579

Background Fact Sheet

About BAWAR (Bay Area Women Against Rape): BAWAR, the nation's first rape crisis center, is a feminist organization that was founded in 1971 by the mother of a teenage rape survivor. Each year BAWAR responds to 4,000 calls from survivors and their family members, and provides education to 11,000 community members. For 35 years BAWAR has helped shape a local, statewide and national movement dedicated to supporting survivors of sexual assault, improving the community's understanding of sexual assault, and reforming systems that affect survivors' lives. BAWAR's single-minded focus on ensuring survivors' well-being and healing, and its commitment to engaging community partners in innovative collaborations in service to survivors and their families, has had a profound impact in the agency's primary service area of Alameda County, as well as nationally and internationally. BAWAR is located in the hub of services of the Alameda County Family Justice Center, a nationally trailblazing one-stop service center for victims of rape/sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, and sexual exploitation with over 100 public, non-profit, and private partners.

About BAWAR's State, National and International Impact and Awards: BAWAR is recognized as the mother of the rape crisis movement, and its expertise is widely sought after. In the 1970s and 1980s, BAWAR played an important role in helping establish other rape crisis centers in Northern California and advised the leadership of centers in other states. The agency was also involved in shaping positive legislative reform and medical protocols in California and continues to provide expertise in support of further reforms. BAWAR has trained rape crisis professionals in Japan, India, Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary to establish those countries' first rape crisis centers. In recognition of its leadership and profound impact in the field of sexual assault services, BAWAR has received awards from the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Office of Criminal Justice Planning, the Department of Justice, the Governor of California, the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the California Department of Corrections, among others.

BAWAR's First Priority - Helping Survivors Heal: Survivors have access to BAWAR's confidential, 24-hour sexual assault emergency hotline, ongoing telephone assistance and referrals to other community resources, in-person counseling, and accompaniment to the hospital, police station and courtroom. Special outreach is conducted to insure that all survivors - including those who are from communities of color, non-English speakers, undocumented, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or male - know that BAWAR is available to assist them. All services are free of charge, and clients may remain anonymous.

Family and Friends - A Survivor's Support Network: Some survivors choose to tell their family and friends and seek their love and support following an assault. Yet family members often do not understand how they can best support their loved one. BAWAR staff and volunteers work very closely with family members to ensure that they understand the nature and the immediate affects of the assault on the survivor and the family, what kind of support might be most helpful, the role of a loving family and friends network in promoting successful healing, how the healing process may unfold, and how to receive support for their own feelings.

Facilitating Collaboration for Maximum Impact: BAWAR's successful approach is based on a model of developing collaborations with hospitals, mental health workers, social workers, police officers, prosecutors, court officials and other professionals in the field in order to best serve survivors and the community. All BAWAR staff members develop and sustain numerous long-lasting relationships with these professionals, and provide informal assistance to them on an ongoing basis. As a result, an extremely high level of trust has developed, services to survivors have improved markedly and innovative collaborations have been launched.

Community Involvement - Promoting Community Health and Safety: BAWAR views sexual assault as a community health and safety issue. A successful response demands broad awareness and discussion of the issues, and community education and participation. BAWAR's programs are designed to involve community members in meaningful and effective ways. BAWAR has also been forefront in providing victim impact programs that are directed at changing attitudes and altering negative behaviors of perpetrators in prison.