The grants for outreach and services to underserved populations (underserved program) was statutorily created in the violence against women reauthorization act of 2013 (vawa 2013) to develop and…

The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) was awarded a $600,000 three-year Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women under the Grants for Outreach and Services to Underserved Populations (CFDA 16.889) program. The purpose of the "MASS Collaboration" project is to prevent sexual violence and increase access to supports and services for survivors with disabilities in the Metro Boston area. Key activities include: 1) Providing guidance on safe and empowering personal care for people with disabilities and their caregivers; 2) Building the capacity of alternative response teams to support survivors with disabilities; 3) Developing and delivering inclusive workshops on consent, healthy relationships, and responding to disclosures; and 4) Engaging with marginalized community organizations to create safer environments for survivors with disabilities. The project will focus on underserved populations within the disability community, including those with intellectual/developmental disabilities, youth, and residents of predominantly BIPOC neighborhoods.

The grants for outreach and services to underserved populations (underserved program) was statutorily created in the violence against women reauthorization act of 2013 (vawa 2013) to develop and implement outreach strategies targeted at adult or youth victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking in underserved populations, and to provide victim services to meet the needs of such populations. Grant funds may be used to: 1) work with federal, state, tribal, territorial, and local governments, agencies, and organizations to develop or enhance population specific victim services; 2) strengthen the capacity of underserved populations to provide population specific victim services; 3) strengthen the capacity of traditional victim service providers to provide population specific victim services; 4) strengthen the effectiveness of criminal and civil justice interventions by providing training for law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and other court personnel on domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking in underserved populations; 5) work in cooperation with an underserved population to develop and implement outreach, education, prevention, and intervention strategies that highlight available resources and the specific issues faced by victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking from underserved populations; or, 6) strengthen the response of social and human services by providing population-specific training for service providers on domestic violence, dating violence sexual assault, or stalking in underserved populations. Eligible applicants are limited to: population specific organizations or victim service providers that are (1) deaf programs (2) lesbian, GAY, bisexual, and transgender (lgbt) organizations, (3) organizations serving underserved religious populations, (4) disability programs, or (5) organizations serving certain underserved racial and ethnic populations. The boston area rape crisis center (barcc) is applying with our partners the boston center for independent living (bcil), the city of cambridge community safety department (CSD), roxbury community college (RCC), and consumer consultants with lived experience. The current proposal builds on history and adds new partners as we grow in our response to the communities needs and strengths. The project title is mass collaboration (movement for access, safety, and survivors) and the purpose of the project is as follows. The mass collaborations purpose is to prevent sexual violence accessibly and inclusively against people with disabilities, while also working to increase access to supports and services for survivors of sexual violence with disabilities. To this end, we will address four goals: 1. Provide guidance on safe and empowering personal care to people with disabilities receiving care, and to caregivers, particularly those isolated by language barriers or by informal familial care; 2. Build the capacity of unarmed alternative response teams to provide skilled supportive responses to survivors of sexual violence with disabilities; 3. Develop and deliver inclusive and accessible skill-building workshops on consent, healthy relationships, and responding to disclosures; 4. Engage with organizations in marginalized communities and support them to create safer and more supportive environments for survivors of sexual violence with disabilities. Outcomes: we will: increase access to - and participants knowledge of - safe, trauma-informed care and supportive resources; provide alternative response teams with skills to provide accessible support to survivors with disabilities and raise community awareness of supportive resources; increase participants skills to practice healthy relationships and support others; increase access to supports and safe spaces within the community. This project will benefit people with disabilities living in metro boston. This includes sexual violence survivors with disabilities as well as the disability community at large. We will also pay extra focus to marginalized groups within the disability community, including people with ID/d, youth with disabilities, and people with disabilities living in the predominantly bipoc boston neighborhoods of dorchester, roxbury, and mattapan.