Each member of your Board of Directors has accepted crucial responsibilities for the welfare of your agency, and needs training of the highest possible quality to carry out those responsibilities. The Office of Crime Victims Advocacy (OCVA) Accreditation Standards state:
Each member of the governing board or advisory committee for a sexual assault program must have orientation and training specific to their role.
The suggestions below are relevant…
Recently, WCSAP worked with a facilitator on clarifying our organizational values. It occurred to us that, as an organization, we may have been working under similarly understood implicit values of a Movement but had not, in recent years, explicitly stated our organizational values. Like us, you too, may wish to enrich your agency by identifying, revisiting, and discussing values with your board and staff.
Organizational values…
Sexual assault program managers are drawn to the coaching model of supervision because it is in line with the values we have in our field. The coaching approach is attractive because:
When we coach, we listen more than we talk, we facilitate rather than control, and we work with staff members to come up with…
Washington State has 37 accredited community based advocacy agencies serving each county, as well as many community based by and for community specific advocacy agencies. Some counties also have system based advocacy; many ask why have both and what are the differences? It is crucial for system partners, advocates and communities to understand the importance of the differences, and it is our role as community based sexual assault advocacy agencies to be able to clearly communicate this to…
The Office for Victims of Crimes (OVC) has recently released two free resources that should be helpful to community sexual assault program managers:
When you have a staff member who has a negative attitude and doesn't really seem to care about the work, the first thing that comes to mind is "burnout." However, it is important to distinguish whether the attitude and behavior is a result of vicarious trauma — the changes in a person's inner experience that come about because of handling an overload of other people's traumatic experiences — or burnout, which is dissatisfaction with the job itself. In either case, it is important to assess…
As managers of Community Sexual Assault Programs (CSAPs) you are aware of the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy accreditation standard (#AC1) that requires: “The agency ensures the cultural competency of its service delivery.”
This standard describes cultural competency as: “the ability of the organization to recognize and respect diverse cultural factors, and the effects of these factors on various communities’ need for and access to its services.”
Something unique to this…
Those in the non-profit field work hard to keep or expand funding sources in order to offer more to their community. Expanding primary prevention services can benefit the whole community though! Here are some highlights of funding sources out there and tips for writing those funding requests!
Within our non-profit world there is an underlying burden that we place on our teams as it relates to navigating financial controls in work-related spaces. Our structures almost always emulate, favor and support the structures and professionalism of white supremacy. This is severely problematic in that it does not encompass and champion everyone through an anti-oppressive lens. As a result the following issues often remain unchecked when financial operations are left solely to one individual…
The Office of Crime Victims Advocacy (OCVA) funding has a new condition that requires that all staff who are likely to have contact with minors must have fingerprint background checks completed. This requirement stems from new federal requirements impacting pass-through funding sources VOCA and VAWA. Agencies/programs must have the fingerprint background checks completed before any staff or volunteers can provide direct services in which they are likely to interact with minors.
…
