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The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault

SAFE Skills Lab Training September 19, 2023

For medical professionals who have completed the 40-hour introductory SAFE course

REGISTER HERE

Date/Time:

Tuesday, September 19, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Location:

Virtual via Zoom

Course Fee:

FREE

Course Description:

Skills Lab fulfills the NYS DOH preceptorship requirements, and helps participants submit paperwork necessary to become a Certified Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE in NY.
The course is an excellent way for SAFEs to refresh their skills and knowledge base in the areas of evidence collection, interviewing techniques, and more under the supervision of an experienced NYS and International Association of Forensic Nurses certified SAFE/SANE.

Questions:

Contact Anita Krasniqi, SAFE Coordinator

We support choice today. And we will support choice tomorrow

The Alliance commits to an active role in the struggle for reproductive justice in response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
The right to the choice not to continue with an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy is an essential, non-negotiable component of the support that survivors of sexual violence deserve after sexual assault.
In standing with survivors, the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault supports ready, safe, and unrestricted abortion access in our city and beyond. We deplore today’s decision by the Supreme Court to strike down Roe vs. Wade. Today’s decision will not end abortions in the United States – but it will make abortion much less safe and more difficult to obtain. Today’s decision will disproportionately impact BIPOC communities as well as pregnant people from other marginalized identities. This is a justice issue. And we pledge to do everything within our power to advocate for survivors’ access to abortions if they want them through policy and activism.

-NYC ALLIANCE AGAINST SEXUAL ASSAULT

Senior Prevention Coordinator Shilpy Chatterjee was recently interviewed in Urdu on Voice of America, a news channel with over 4 million subscribers across various platforms and is broadcast across the world.

US Supreme Court Ruling on Abortion: Will the Struggle for Women’s Rights be Affected? — Voice of America

Feminist activists are concerned about the US Supreme Court’s removal of constitutional protections for the right to abortion. Shilpy Chatterjee of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault says the decision has pushed [back the progress of] women’s rights movements.

“Abortion has always existed, it is as old as pregnancy. By overturning Roe vs Wade now it is being made unsafe and life threatening.”

This interview is in Urdu and can be viewed below!

Alliance statement written by Senior Campus Coordinator, Sam Skaller .E.R.F stands for “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist,” a term credited to Viv Smythe in 2008. It is commonly used as “a shorthand to describe one cohort of feminists who self-identify as radical and are unwilling to recognise transgender women as sisters, unlike those of us who do.”

While coined in 2008, the exclusion of Trans folks in so-called feminist spaces unfortunately originates much earlier in our history.

The term “TERF” is central to the current public discourse surrounding the upcoming release of the Biden Administration’s Department of Education’s new Title IX Regulations. It is rumored that the new draft rules will redefine “sex” to “gender” and “gender identity.” This potential change in language alone would be a massive win for Trans student rights to an education free from discrimination.

The backlash to this possible progress takes form in TERF rhetoric and ideology. For example, so-called feminists, often holding a combination of white heterosexual skinny cisgender womananhoods and other privileged identities, are being given platforms in some of the most major national news outlets to share their thoughts about pending changes to Title IX. TERF opinion pieces are arguing that any Biden Administration re-write to the draft rule would “erase women and undermine constitutional liberties” while others baselessly claim that allowing trangender women to participate in college athletics takes away opportunities for cisgender women. 

As we await the draft changes to Title IX for the second year in a row, we at the Alliance will continue to reiterate that trans women are women, nonbinary folks are nonbinary folks, and trans men are men. No matter what the future holds for Title IX, the Alliance will remain unwavering in our support for trans students’ right to an education free from discrimination. 

Visit our Campus Program page to read additional Title IX statements written in the past several years and to stay up-to-date on the upcoming changes to Title IX.

Watch Now

On June 24, 2022 the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Ending our constitutional right to abortion undoubtedly impacts survivors and victims of sexual violence. Click the heading above to access the full recording of a virtual panel discussion highlighting the intersections between abortion access and the sexual violence prevention movement. Through an action-oriented lens alongside legal, medical, and education experts we will discuss how everyone can get involved in defending bodily autonomy in a post-Roe America. Available on Youtube!

As many of you know, after a brief period of shutdown this summer, the Alliance hired me as Executive Director in late October, with a charge to work with the broader gender-based violence community to restart operations in a way that is both culturally competent and fiscally responsible. The last two and a half months have been a whirlwind, and I am so grateful to the many who have offered their support and critical feedback as we work to rebuild and reform the Alliance.

Sexual assault and sexual violence impact all communities, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, or ability. Every survivor deserves access to differentiated services grounded in the unique needs of their community and a system that supports them in a manner that is both trauma-informed and culturally competent. In working to restart Alliance operations, we seek to use this time to reflect on how our work can be strengthened to better support the full diversity of survivor experiences, to develop stronger programming and organizational practices reflective of those needs, and to further invest in sexual violence prevention efforts. To accomplish this, we have taken several actions:

Community Listening Tour- The Alliance recently launched a community listening tour designed to gather critical feedback that will inform the development of future Alliance program and policy work. Data collected through interviews, focus groups, and an online survey will be used to develop a set of short and long-term recommendations for Alliance next steps that will be released in late Spring 2022.

New Leadership- The Alliance is proud to welcome our new Board of Directors, comprised of leaders in the areas of gender-based violence and nonprofit management. We will continue adding to this Board, specifically seeking out those with expertise, lived experience, and deep connections to the diverse communities throughout New York City.

While we are excited about the Alliance’s next steps, we must also acknowledge and own the harm the shutdown had on former staff, partner organizations, and the survivors that we served. A key element to our future work will be repairing those relationships and rebuilding trust that was broken. We have much work ahead of us, but I know that staying grounded in the needs of partner organizations and the survivors we ultimately serve will point us in the direction of a brighter future.

I look forward to our work over the upcoming months as the Alliance moves to fully restart and better define its mission and vision, and in partnering with many of you to do so. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions, questions, or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.

In partnership,

Emily Miles, Executive Director