Do you know what Title IX is? How about the Clery Act? Do you know how these federal laws affect your rights as a student survivor? Read our handout to learn more!

The beginning of the school year is an exciting time for college students, but it also marks the start of the something known as the “red zone.” One in 5 women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college, more than 50% of those sexual assaults occur during the “red zone,” which takes place throughout August, September, October, and November.

As DC college and university students head back to school for a new year, we want to empower them with knowledge, information, and resources about sexual assault.

Click here for Volare’s current and all previous Annual Impact Reports!

If you were a victim of a crime where the person who harmed you was younger than 25 years old at the time, you may be affected by new laws that have gone into effect in DC. These laws allow the defendant to request to be released early. Victims/survivors in these cases have rights, including the right to be notified about these petitions and the right to be heard.

“[A]s some are reflecting on those we love and appreciate this month, this is my love letter to all the volunteers out there participating in acts of kindness. Infusing joy, community-led contributions, and deeper connections to those around us.”

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) is observed on June 15 each year. The purpose of WEAAD is to provide an opportunity for communities around the world to promote a better understanding of abuse and neglect of older persons. In truth, there are organizations, agencies, and people in our community who work every day to raise awareness about elder abuse, financial exploitation, support for older victims of crime, information on how to pursue civil or criminal action if appropriate, and on finding safe housing for those who need it. However, without the support of friends, family, clergy, community, and YOU, prevention of elder abuse is just out of grasp.

Whilst many people are aware of trauma caused through harm or extreme situations, not everyone is familiar with vicarious trauma. Vicarious trauma (also known as compassion fatigue) is an occupational hazard for people who work with survivors of trauma and violence. Vicarious trauma refers to experiencing negative symptoms due to exposure to another person’s trauma. Anyone who works with survivors of trauma or violence can be impacted by vicarious trauma.    

Teen dating violence (TDV) is especially harmful, particularly because many teens who experience it do not identify as victims/survivors, do not know they have autonomous legal rights as victims/survivors, and do not know where to turn to for help. Teens are also at an impressionable age, their minds are still developing, and in these formative years the abuses they may encounter are likely to instill long term and lasting effects that will shape the way they see themselves and how they get involved in, interact in, and maintain future relationships. Because of this, it is very important for teens to learn, as early and from as many adult sources as possible, what a healthy relationship is, how to model it, and where to get help if they are being abused by someone they have developed a relationship with.

[In the Epstein and Maxwell trials] what was often lost was the victims, both known and unknown, whose collective stories were silenced for decades. Their traumatization and re-traumatization whilst seeking justice relied on a form of societal complicity bound up in how we choose to see the most vulnerable among us, who we grant the status of “victim”,  and how these value judgments warp our legal systems as they make decisions on behalf of said victims, often to the benefit of the accused; often without their consent.