Sexual assault center hosts open house
Jack Willems
Issue date: 4/8/09 Section: News
The Sexual Assault Recovery and Prevention Agency for Northwest Arkansas will host an open house at its new office 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today.
The new office is in Springdale at 589 White Road Suite, located just off the Elm Springs exit.
April 8 is the Day of Action, a time to spread awareness about sexual assault and educate the public, according to the Web site of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. April is Sexual Assault Awareness month, according to the Web site.
The open house will have on display a proclamation of support from local mayors and the Clothesline Project, said Jen Carlson, program director for SARPA.
The Clothesline Project is a national art exhibit where sexual-assault survivors express their feelings on T-shirts, she said. The full project first goes on display at John Brown University, and then some of the T-shirts are sent to the UA for their Clothesline Project, Carlson said.
Lunch from Osegueras will be served at the open house.
This year's theme for Sexual Assault Awareness Month is sexual assault in the workplace, according to the Web site of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. People spend a lot of time with their co-workers, so they naturally start to trust their co-workers even if they do not know them very well, Carlson said.
"Proximity is the greatest predictor of crime," she said.
To prevent sexual violence, employers can invite SARPA to do educational programs for employees and provide resources on sexual assault, Carlson said. SARPA representatives speak to more than 1,000 people a year in NWA, and all educational material is free.
In addition to education, SARPA also advocates for victims of sexual violence and provides one-on-one support for victims, Carlson said. Also, SARPA has six support groups for sexual assault victims, and the organization has medical exams that can determine if someone has been raped within the last 72 hours, she said.
Sexual assault includes everything from forcible rape, which Arkansas law defines as penetration, to groping, to comments that are considered sexually harassing, Carlson said.
The UA Police Department received four reports of rape on campus in 2007, according to the 2007 Clery Report.
In the first half of 2008, the rate of forcible rape decreased 3.3 percent, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Web site.
In 2007, the FBI estimated that there were 59.1 instances of forcible rape for every 100,000 female inhabitants, according to the Web site.
The new office is in Springdale at 589 White Road Suite, located just off the Elm Springs exit.
April 8 is the Day of Action, a time to spread awareness about sexual assault and educate the public, according to the Web site of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. April is Sexual Assault Awareness month, according to the Web site.
The open house will have on display a proclamation of support from local mayors and the Clothesline Project, said Jen Carlson, program director for SARPA.
The Clothesline Project is a national art exhibit where sexual-assault survivors express their feelings on T-shirts, she said. The full project first goes on display at John Brown University, and then some of the T-shirts are sent to the UA for their Clothesline Project, Carlson said.
Lunch from Osegueras will be served at the open house.
This year's theme for Sexual Assault Awareness Month is sexual assault in the workplace, according to the Web site of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. People spend a lot of time with their co-workers, so they naturally start to trust their co-workers even if they do not know them very well, Carlson said.
"Proximity is the greatest predictor of crime," she said.
To prevent sexual violence, employers can invite SARPA to do educational programs for employees and provide resources on sexual assault, Carlson said. SARPA representatives speak to more than 1,000 people a year in NWA, and all educational material is free.
In addition to education, SARPA also advocates for victims of sexual violence and provides one-on-one support for victims, Carlson said. Also, SARPA has six support groups for sexual assault victims, and the organization has medical exams that can determine if someone has been raped within the last 72 hours, she said.
Sexual assault includes everything from forcible rape, which Arkansas law defines as penetration, to groping, to comments that are considered sexually harassing, Carlson said.
The UA Police Department received four reports of rape on campus in 2007, according to the 2007 Clery Report.
In the first half of 2008, the rate of forcible rape decreased 3.3 percent, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Web site.
In 2007, the FBI estimated that there were 59.1 instances of forcible rape for every 100,000 female inhabitants, according to the Web site.
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