Immaculata partners with Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County

WEST CHESTER » Immaculata University will be collaborating with The Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County, Inc. (CVC) as part of the 2018 “It’s On Us PA” grant program which focuses on combating sexual violence on university campuses. The University was recently awarded a grant under the “It’s on Us PA” program and will use the funding to expand sexual violence resources and education on Immaculata’s campus with CVC’s direction on policy review, training, awareness, and prevention strategies.

“Immaculata University is thankful to the State of Pennsylvania for providing funds that will allow us to continue the dialog with students about sexual assault,” said Patricia Canterino, vice president for Student Development and Engagement. “’It’s On Us’ program will help students understand what constitutes sexual assault and to help them identify potentially dangerous situations.”

CVC is the only organization in Chester County that provides a comprehensive range of free, immediate, supportive services to victims of crime and violence and their families. They provide assistance through counseling, advocacy, resources and education. The new program is directly in line with CVC’s mission to foster community awareness and understanding through their comprehensive outreach and prevention programs.

The partnership is in keeping with the objective of the CVC’s new Chief Executive Officer, Christine Zaccarelli, to bring the organization’s services more to the attention of the community. Zaccarelli said, “We are looking forward to working with Immaculata to increase awareness about sexual assault on college campuses and to help educate the students, faculty and public safety officers about the prevention of and other critical issues surrounding sexual assault on college campuses.”

The agency’s P/E Department is led by Joe Myers, Community Outreach Supervisor, who will be leading this collaboration with Immaculata University on behalf of CVC.

“Strengthening our partnership with Immaculata helps us with our ultimate goal of eliminating sexual and gender-based violence,” said Myers “We hope to empower every member of the Chester County community to become an agent of positive change. This partnership connects us with so many amazing individuals on Immaculata’s campus who can create that positive change.”

The major points of focus for the grant are to: increase awareness of sexual assaults on campus; provide training to leadership students, public safety officers and student resident assistants; map out clear avenues for reporting by reviewing existing policies and procedures; participate in Immaculata University’s New Student Orientation; and create and disseminate a climate survey to gauge the awareness, knowledge, and feelings of the campus community towards issues including sexual assault.