State grant to assist sexual assault victims

EL CENTRO — A $172,500 grant that the Sure Helpline Crisis Center was recently awarded will go toward providing advocacy, counseling and support for sexual assault victims currently jailed or detained locally.

The grant comes from the California Office of Emergency Services and is specifically designed to increase access to appropriate services for victims of sexual assault in detention facilities.

The grant funding will allow the crisis center to hire additional staff as well as give existing staff a pay raise, said Executive Director Margaret Sauza.

“That’s a lot of money for one year,” Sauza said. “We can do a lot of work.”

The center’s staff has been regularly visiting the Imperial Regional Detention Facility, where individuals detained for immigration-related offenses are housed.

At the facility, it is not uncommon to encounter individuals who may have been sexually assaulted while migrating to the United States, Sauza said.

“At first they don’t talk, but after two or three meetings they start letting it out,” Sauza said. “It’s therapy for them.”

The grant funding is made possible through the state’s Victim Advocacy in Detention Facilities program, and also helps facilities comply with the requirements of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.

PREA governs the prevention, intervention, treatment, investigation, tracking and reporting of sexual assault in federal, state and local detention facilities.

More recently, Sure Helpline began providing sexual assault victim services to the county jail and Centinela State Prison, Sauza said. It is expecting to expand its services to Calipatria State Prison in the near future as well, she said.

“They’re really serious about making sure they are abiding by the (PREA) regulations.” Sauza said.

The grant will be dispersed until Sept. 30, 2019, and allows recipients to apply for a oneyear extension before the grant period ends.

The Sure Helpline Crisis Center is a non-profit that provides confidential, around-the-clock crisis intervention, advocacy and emotional support to victims of sexual assault through accompaniment, short-term counseling and information and referral.