Shelby Holmes
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Natalie Delia Deckard
Gender and sexual-based violence is extensive across college campuses. However, much of the discussion around gender violence on college campuses can be exclusive to current students, who are predominantly wealthier and hold higher social capital than individuals who never attend college. While pervasive on campus, 18-24-year-old women who are not in college are at a four-times higher risk than the average woman. Many university guidelines and sexual assault procedures are more inclusive and punitive than criminal codes, as institutions of higher education move towards affirmative consent rules. As gender violence is not particular nor exclusive to university campuses, it is valuable to examine how campus gender- and sexual-based violence organizations interact with community-based organizations and advocacy groups. Although there is greater attention paid to sexual violence by health, human, and legal services relative to the 1970s and 1980s, the work by these sectors is not always universal nor effective. As such, victim services, nonprofit organizations, and local grassroots groups remain important responses to gender violence. Many nonprofit community-based organizations do intentional work in their areas, often serving more diverse populations than college campuses though access and cultural competency remain as issues of concern. How can these two types of gender violence advocacy organizations, campus and community, work together to best utilize resources in their local area? How can the boundaries blur so that both types of organizations are working effectively to serve survivors regardless of background and promote violence prevention? The goal of this workshop program is to work through these questions and questions like them.
The workshop, “Campus-Community Collaboration (C3): Organizing against Gender Violence,” works to bridge the gap between campus- and community-based organizations focused on gender violence, who are often operating in parallel spaces within their communities. During this 4-hour workshop (the pilot of which will be held in Davidson, NC), each organization will clearly articulate their own work, its strengths, and its challenges and will learn about the same from its partner organization. The workshop will include organizational presentations and three breakout sessions on initiatives surrounding survivor support, prevention/proactive education, and a clear outline for communication, including articulation of the formality of the relationship, the roles important for the maintenance of the relationship, a list of shared and non-shared resources, and at least three short-term commitments for collaboration. A grant proposal for a Social Action Initiative Grant from Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) is included as part of this project. Its funding would help develop scaffolding materials, pilot the program in Davidson, NC, analyze feedback to refine program structure and curriculum to create a refined flexible implementation program, and develop a plan for diffusion of the refined program to other campuses.
