Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Programs: Sexual violence justice institute (svji)the sexual violence justice institute is a project of the minnesota coalition against sexual assault that promotes justice for victims of sexual violence through collaboration, leadership, training, and technical assistance. Svji guides multidisciplinary teams and allied professionals to develop effective and victim-centered responses to sexual assault, with a primary focus on improving the criminal justice system response. Svji works closely with 12 minnesota sexual assault multidisciplinary action response teams (smarts) to improve the responses to victims in local communities. The institute is a national technical assistance resource to sexual assault response teams (sarts) across the country. We train law enforcement, prosecutors, advocates, health care professionals, and other system practitioners on best practices when responding to sexual violence. We host the bi-annual national institute for sart leaders, quarterly webinars, and offer ongoing customized technical assistance. Additionally, we develop resources and toolkits for sart teams to use to create just and equitable responses to sexual violence.

prevention programsminnesota coalition against sexual assault works to make the prevention of sexual violence a priority in minnesota. We utilize three key strategies: providing training and technical assistance to build statewide capacity to prevent sexual violence; influencing policies and practicies at both the state and local level; and mobilizing community members to help make the prevention of sexual violence an urgent priority. Key highlights of prevention activities include:-community primary prevention partnership grants to three community based sexual assault advocacy agencies. These funds are used to support local partnerships that promote healthy relationship skills for students in middle and high school as well as college. -convene minnesota campus sexual violence prevention summit at st. Cloud state university in st. Cloud, minnesota. The 2017 summit brought together teams of staff from over 55 colleges to learn about effective policies, practices, and programs to respond to and prevent sexual violence. -provide training on evidence based programs, such as safe dates and green dot to leaders from throughout the state who bring these programs to their communities. In 2017, minnesota coalition against sexual assault was selected as one of 27 organizations nationwide to receive funding from raliance for our work to prevent the perpetration of sexual violence.

membership programsthe minnesota coalition against sexual assault provides support and assistance to sexual assault advocacy programs and other professionals and communities throughout the state. With more than 70 member programs serving victims/survivors, our primary goal is to be a catalyst in changing society's attitudes toward sexual violence and the systems, policies, and procedures that may further victimize survivors. Our members receive tools, resources, and training each year to improve the effectiveness of anti-sexual violence programs in mn. Key events to support our members include the annual training symposium, legal advocacy trainings, and regional meetings for purposes of planning and organizing around emerging issues in the field.