Community violence solutions, the rape crisis center for contra costa county, california proposes an expansion of the county's ability to provide sexual assault forensic exams

The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, Victims of Crime (OVC) awarded a $500,000 three-year Cooperative Agreement to Community Violence Solutions, a non-profit organization in San Pablo, California. The award is funded through the Sexual Assault Forensic Examinations (CFDA 16.053) federal grant program, which aims to expand access to sexual assault forensic exams and increase the availability of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs).

Under this Cooperative Agreement, Community Violence Solutions, in partnership with Contra Costa Health Services, will: 1) increase the number of SANE-certified healthcare providers from 2 to 7; 2) provide timely, trauma-informed, and comprehensive medical forensic exams and assessments on-site in Contra Costa County; 3) expand access to SANE training and certification for 5 candidates; 4) incorporate victim advocates from the initial intake to link survivors to supportive services; and 5) strengthen the coordinated community response by reviewing and revising protocols for the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) and Multidisciplinary Team (MDT).

Together with its partner, contra costa health services, CVS will work to: 1) increase the number and availability of health care providers who are sane-certified from the current two professionals to seven; 2) provide timely, high quality, victim-centered, and trauma-informed medical forensic exams and full medical assessments on site in contra costa county, as contrasted with the current need to refer many cases out of county; 3) expand access to training and clinical education for sanes by providing funding for and linking five candidates to the required training for certifications, while also building in-house capacity to provide these trainings in the future; 4) improve access to post-assault care, by incorporating CVS victim advocates from the moment of intake to ensure victims are cared for not just during the examination, but that they are provided case management and linked to other supportive services; and 5) support activities that strengthen coordinated community response by reviewing and revising existing sart and MDT protocols and reinvigorating cooperation among all the sart and MDT partners.