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President Obama Officially Proclaims April to be National Sexual Assault Awareness Month
The month of April is the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s (NSVRC) National Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). The NSVRC is the U.S.’s main source of information for the prevention of sexual violence and resources for sexual assault victims. It is largely funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
While it was first observed nationally in 2001, April “officially” became National Sexual Assault Awareness Month when President Obama proclaimed it to be so, earlier this month.
The focus of this year’s SAAM campaign is the prevention of sexual assault on college campuses. Many school administrators have recently been under fire for not taking strong enough preventative and/or punitive measures for what is a prevalent problem on their campuses.
It is estimated that one in every five women will be sexually assaulted before they graduate from college, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Some estimates are as high as one in four. President Obama called these numbers “alarming” and his actions in this matter underscored the need for awareness and prevention of sexual assault in the United States as well as the need for funds to help victims.
“During National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we recommit ourselves not only to lifting the veil of secrecy and shame surrounding sexual violence, but also to raising awareness, expanding support for victims, and strengthening our response,” said the President in his press release on the first of April.
In line with his mandate, the President doubled the funding for the Sexual Assault Services Program, which is the first-ever fund designed solely to provide services to sexual assault victims. The Sexual Assault Services Program is part of the Violence Against Women Act, which was reauthorized by Vice President Biden in 2005.
This year’s SAAM campaign was designed to bring resources and information together. The NSVRC creates many of the materials for the campaign, but they encourage local organizations that are dedicated to creating awareness of sexual assault to tailor the materials to the needs of their specific community, with prevention being the main objective.
To honor the 2010 SAAM campaign, Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli, along with eight members of DOJ’s top leadership, traveled to eleven different public and private college campuses around the U.S. In each location, they held a series of events and meetings with faculty, students, community partners and law enforcement. Their main purpose was to promote discussion about how colleges can respond in innovative ways to the problem of violence against women – not just sexual assault but also relationship violence and stalking.
Many of these campuses receive a grant from the DOJ’s Office of Violence Against Women to encourage colleges and universities to react strongly to these crimes against women that are perpetrated by their male students.
SAAM 2010 ramps up with the “SAAM Day of Action,” which is Tuesday, April 20, with a day of special focus on awareness of sexual assault, coordinated special events and media coverage.
If you have been a victim of a sexual assault, contact us – we specialize in this type of personal injury. Don’t let this crime go unnoticed or unpunished. We can help.
