HOW WHITE HOUSE TASK FORCE PROTECTS STUDENTS FROM s*xUAL ASSAULTS (1865 hits)
Today, the White House Task Force to Protect Students from s*xual Assault (Task Force) announced the release of two essential resources to assist practitioners in their efforts to prevent and respond effectively to s*xual violence on college and university campuses across the country.
First, the Task Force released a Resource Guide, which is a compendium of materials that support students, administrators, and stakeholders in their efforts to create supportive campus communities, prevent s*xual assault, and improve the response to s*xual violence when it does occur on campuses. The Resource Guide includes links to previously released Task Force deliverables as well as other resources, and it serves as a one-stop shop for guidance, tools, emerging promising models and practices, training and technical assistance, and funding opportunities to help finance preventative resources and services for victims.
Also released today is Safe Place: Trauma-Sensitive Practice for Health Centers Serving Students. This is a new toolkit for health center managers, developed by the Department of Education’s National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments Technical Assistance Center. It is designed to promote the expansion of campus health centers that have a deep understanding of trauma and the needs of all students, particularly survivors of s*xual assault. Through tools like individualized online learning modules and materials to conduct a review of the physical environment, clinical encounters, and relevant policies and procedures, managers can learn how to actively engage with their centers to improve the delivery and care, and promote trauma-sensitive practices.
The Resource Guide can be found on the notalone.gov website alongside the Task Force’s initial report and deliverables released throughout the past 18 months. We at OCR, along with all of our partners, are eager to continue this critical work to ensure every student is safe in their learning environment.
Jessie Brown is Senior Counsel in the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education
