Goshen College awarded federal grant to increase resources for sexual violence prevention

Goshen College has been awarded a $299,904 campus grant from the U.S. Department of Justice through the Office on Violence Against Women to build on current resources available to prevent domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking over the next three years.

While Goshen College has been dedicated and invested in prevention education initiatives, additional focus and resources will be beneficial to better address specific groups of students on campus, including athletes, LGBTQ+ students and Latino students. The grant will help develop a Community Coordinated Response Team, train Campus Safety officers and provide additional prevention education materials and assessment tools.

“We are pleased to receive the grant because it will allow us to build upon the bystander and sexual assault prevention education that is being offered through our student organization, Prevention Intervention Network,” said Gilberto Perez Jr., vice president of student life and dean of students. “The grant will also allow us to engage more fully with Latinx and LGBTQ+ students. These are student populations that continue to grow at Goshen College.”

With this grant, the college plans to significantly increase awareness on campus about domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, and what supports are available with on- and off-campus resources; improve campus coordination with external partners to provide better and more seamless services for survivors on campus; and better connect the existing prevention education programs to specific student population needs.

The college will partner with the Goshen Police Department and the YWCA of North-Central Indiana, which provides support services for survivors, including a 24-hour crisis line, an emergency shelter, individual and group counseling, legal services, bilingual services and prevention education programs. Through the grant GC will strengthen partnerships with regional organizations supporting LGBTQ+ partnerships, such as Mosaic Health & Healing Arts in Goshen.