Mississippi Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Inc.

Mississippi Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Inc. (MSCASA) is a statewide non-profit, nongovernmental sexual violence advocacy and prevention organization based in Jackson, Mississippi, that has been registered to receive federal awards since 2004. MSCASA represents ten local rape crisis centers, five of which are funded through the CDC Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) program, and serves as the designated coalition for Mississippi under the Office on Violence Against Women's State Coalition grant program. The organization is dedicated to fostering health equity and reducing sexual violence rates through comprehensive preventive strategies, victim advocacy, and coordination of statewide services addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

MSCASA has successfully secured multiple federal grant awards totaling approximately $3.2 million from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women and the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Under the OVW State and Territory Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions Program (CFDA 16.556), MSCASA has received annual formula grants ranging from $172,076 to $252,846 to coordinate statewide victim services activities, provide training and technical assistance to member organizations, and collaborate with federal, state, and local entities on violence against women initiatives. Additionally, MSCASA has been awarded two significant cooperative agreements under the OVW Training and Technical Assistance Initiative (CFDA 16.526): a $250,000 award to provide technical assistance to institutions of higher education funded under the Expanding Sexual Assault Victim Services on Campus Pilot Program, and a $2,000,000 award to collaborate with the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault on the Culturally Specific Campus Consortium project, which delivers culturally relevant training to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities. MSCASA has also received project grants from the CDC totaling approximately $850,000 to build infrastructure for sexual violence prevention capacity and develop equity-focused prevention strategies targeting rural communities and populations with high burdens of sexual violence. Through these awards, MSCASA has conducted baseline campus assessments, developed customized resources, delivered webinars and virtual technical assistance, facilitated peer-to-peer connections, and worked with the Mississippi State Department of Health as its prime grantee on sub-awards supporting direct services to victims of crime, training and technical assistance initiatives, and the Mississippi Rural Collaborative Project addressing gaps in service provision across rural counties.