35 Years of Working to End Sexual Violence

Compiled and Published by Em Westerlund

Cover Design by Mary Salisbury

2009/2010 April, 2010

This year, we celebrate PAVSA’s 35th Anniversary. When this agency was started by a small core of women in 1975, I’m sure they were hoping that by the 21st century rape would be a “crime of the past.” Unfortunately that’s not true. In spite of the best efforts of hundreds of men and women over the years, sexual violence is still of epidemic proportions in our country and community. So, celebrating 35 years of services, while a momentous occasion, is also a bittersweet one – we would much rather be celebrating the end of sexual violence.

Over the past few months, in an effort to commemorate the agency’s “herstory,” we have been paging through scrapbooks, going through files and interviewing individuals who have had strong associations with PAVSA. Talking with these women has brought back poignant memories, but consistently we have found that these individuals continue to support “the cause.” PAVSA’s “herstory” is largely an oral one, based on individual memories and experiences and thus, very personal. We recognize that the stories contained in this document may be different than some of your memories, but hopefully we have captured the energy and commitment that went into forming this organization, especially during the early years.

During our 35th year, we want to honor many individuals – the strong women who founded the organization, the many women and men who have served as employees, board members or volunteer advocates, our community allies, but more than anyone, we want to honor the courageous individuals who have allowed us to accompany them on their healing journeys. Most of those individuals have been women, thousands of them over the past three and a half decades. It is primarily women who founded this agency, who have staffed it, supported it and built it into the multi-service organization it is today.

To all of the victims and survivors, staff and advocates, board members and allies, a deep thank you for the part that you have played in our herstory! Moving forward, we will continue to honor you by doing all that we can to address sexual violence. We appreciate your ongoing support.

With gratitude,

Candice Harshner, Executive Director

1975

The idea for PAVSA began to sprout when Arlene Borgorson, Rosemary Rocco, Peggy Spector, Tina Welsh and Denetta Wickstrom from the North Country Women’s Center got together to discuss the issues surrounding rape and “Things actually got started in sexual 1973… A woman named Randi assault. Goldstone from the Cities came The wom- north to do a workshop for the en then Superior Police Department and the held a Duluth Police Department. The community meeting at the YWCA which led to first rape crisis center in Minnesota the conclusion that a rape crisis center was was at the Neighborhood Improve- needed for Northeastern Minnesota. ment Center in Minneapolis, and Randi came to speak about the work happening there to address sexual assault and child sexual abuse. It was just at the time when there was federal money becoming available to start rape crisis centers … and for us, that workshop was like, ‘Wow, this is a huge problem. Somebody should do something about this!’ Being presented with the scope of the problem was what pushed us to action.” —Rosemary Rocco, a founding member and former Executive Direc- tor of PAVSA PAVSA’s “founding mothers,” together again in 1987.

The group of women submitted a grant to the Minnesota Law Enforcement Assis- tance Act (LEAA) to establish the rape crisis center. That proposal was denied, citing that there were “only 28 rapes” reported in the city of Duluth during the previous year. It became clear that a central part of the issue was increasing the rate of reporting, so the women got to work brainstorming how to address that problem. 1976 The women from the North Country Women’s Center spent 1976 gathering infor- mation and statistics from ministers, counse- “For our program and move- lors, and other professionals in the community ment to get clearance in hos- who worked with victims of sexual assault. pitals, police departments, Those numbers helped to more accurately and the county attorney’s reflect the prevalence of sexual violence in office to make it safe for Duluth. The women re-submitted the LE- women to report – that was a AA grant the following year. In the grant, the tangible accomplishment.” women wrote that if hospitals and police de- --Rosemary Rocco partments could be more victim-centered, the rate of reporting for sexual assault would increase. The grant was approved, and coupled with money from St. Louis Coun- ty and the State of Minnesota, the Program for Aid to “I remember racing all over St. Victims of Louis County, Carlton County, Sexual As- Cook County … I was talking sault became to law enforcement, health a reality. administrators, and doing a lot of community education in the colleges and high schools. Law enforcement trainings were the most challenging because of some of the attitudes and stere- otypes. Even going into the toughest of audiences, I liked that challenge of being able to help people start changing their attitudes and looking at the issue [of rape] differently.” —Susan Gillespie, PAVSA Program Director 1976—1979 1977

In 1977, PAVSA continued to spread the word about the services they could offer to victims of incest, date rape, and other forms of sexual violence. Director Susan Gillespie was busy recruiting volunteers to serve as advocates and board members, presenting in schools and to community groups, and working with several law enforcement departments to improve their response to victims of sexual assault. Volunteer advocates kept the crisis line “womaned” 24 “We were able to organize really well. hours a day, serving victims across several Our advocates were excellent, and the counties in Northeastern Minnesota. program was able to get board mem- Much of 1977 was also spent researching bers that were passionate [about the how to go about preparing the Articles of issue of sexual violence]. Our volun- Incorporation so that the Program for Aid to teers did an excellent job, both in Du- Victims of Sexual Assault could become a luth and up on the Range. Absolutely formalized organization. The board of direc- wonderful. We were fortunate to have tors put their heads together to prepare all of such a great group of advocates.” the documentation and financial elements to — Susan Gillespie file the articles of incorporation. “I did support a woman one time who was raped. She had been a dancer in a strip club and basically they sent her back to Montana and gave her the money so she would leave. They wanted the problem to go away.” —Nancy Massey, former director of the Duluth Community Health Center 1978 “[It was a big accomplishment] to get the money to open an office up in Virginia. Just getting rape and sexual assault talked about . . . getting ourselves into positions to go to clas- ses at UWS, UMD, CSS to talk about victimi- zation. To begin breaking the myths at that level, with people going into criminal justice and social work . . . That was a huge deal.” —Rosemary Rocco

In 1978, the program moved into the Duluth Community Health Center and officially became incorporated as PAVSA. In addition to moving the Duluth PAVSA office to a new location, a second PAVSA office was opened in Virginia, Minnesota with Peggy Metzer as the Program Director of the Iron Range office. With the addition of the second office, PAVSA continued to train professionals in medical services, law enforcement, and other sectors to be more non-judgmental to survivors of sexual assault. PAVSA also continued the ongoing struggle to secure operating funds from a variety of sources.

“At that time, women of all ages, younger and older, were getting together and talking about what had happened to them and what they hoped to get done for women. Consciousness-Raising, or “C-R” groups. People started talking about how enraged they were about rape, domestic abuse, and they were really fired up . . . It felt like we were up against an entrenched white male system. We were up for anything.” —Nancy Massey 1979

With the articles of incorporation in hand, the PAVSA board of directors, staff, and volunteer advocates worked together to build a strong base to sustain services to the community and to survivors of sexual assault. The directors of the Duluth and Virginia PAVSA offices collaborated to secure grants and other sources of funding to keep the doors of the organization open. Volunteers and staff continued to educate members of the community about the issues of sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and incest.

“In 1979 we got a grant, and we went around to all of the area counties and law enforcement offices and we did training on sexual assault. Everybody was very sur- prised about us getting the grant, but that’s exactly what we did!” —Tina Welsh, former director of the Duluth office of PAVSA 1980 “I started working at PAVSA in 1980 doing the community education presentations … We trained police officers, crisis line advocates, negotiated with social services, and did interagency training. At that time, all of the women’s organizations were in a house together on 5th and Lake. As a movement, we did a good job progressing the women’s front; it was truly for women.” —Phyllis Cook, community educator

In 1980, Inez Wagner was hired as PAVSA’s first Executive Director. She was to oversee the funding and management of both offices. The regional co-directors managed the everyday op- erations of staffing their offices, training advocates, and providing services to victims of sexual violence. PAVSA began to receive grants for the services that they provided to Lake and Carlton Counties, making it geo- graphically the largest victim advocacy service provider in the state. With an increase in requests for services and in the reporting of child sexual abuse, prevention education became a priority. In 1980, a prevention curriculum was developed with an emphasis on Kindergarten through 12th grade.

“What drew me to Northern Minnesota was the incredible strength and vision of women, at a time when [women’s organizations] did not exist anywhere … These women made amazing sacrifices.” —Inez [Wagner] Wildwood, former Executive Director of PAVSA The Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Project began as a pilot project in 1981. The curriculum was so well received that PAVSA obtained the funding to hire two educators and 1981 purchase enough materials to develop a specialized curriculum for preschoolers and adolescents.

1981 was also the year of the first PAVSA Art * Auction ! The inaugural fundraising event was held at the Chinese Lantern in Duluth, with over 150 people in attendance.

* Around this same time, the Range Family Sexual Abuse Project opened. The program worked with victims of incest by treating the entire family, rather than using the traditional approach which was to focus only on the * victim. By the mid-1980s, the Family Sexual Abuse Treatment Project had doubled in size, effectively building a network of support groups for adult women who were survivors of * incest.

PAVSA was instrumental in securing Minnesota as the site for the 1983 National Coalition Against Sexual Assault Conference. Executive Director * Inez Wagner was elected to chair the Minnesota Coalition of Sexual Assault Services.

Also in 1983, PAVSA became the first sexual assault program in the country to develop * Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for television broadcast. These PSAs featured local law enforcement and judges and helped to put PAVSA on the map nationally. * Continued growth in programs and service areas meant a reassessment of PAVSA’s structure. As a result, PAVSA was divided 1985 into two separate programs in 1984. The northern half of St. Louis County became

the Sexual Assault Program of Northern St. Louis County, while the Duluth program remained Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault. The program said goodbye to Inez Wagner and welcomed Susan Askelin as the new Executive Director. That year, the Ordean Foundation com- mitted to a three-year Bridge fund. 1986 The United Way of Greater Duluth and of Northeastern Carlton County approved PAVSA’s membership ap- plication, and the Ford Foundation awarded the program a grant for the * purchase of new videos, books, and educational materials.

The Sexual Abuse Treat- * ment Consortium, in collaboration with PAVSA, provided support for professionals to aid them in their assessment and treatment of * preschool children who had been sexually abused. PAVSA was also involved with a task force that had been established to develop a Family Sexual * Abuse Treatment Program. PAVSA’s Executive Director, Susan Askelin, worked with a task force of twenty women that traveled around the state to explore the variety of methods being utilized in the prevention of violence against women. * PAVSA produced an educational video on childhood sexual abuse for Native Ameri- can communities called The Bridge, which was the first film of its kind in the coun- * try. During this time, PAVSA also established its first support group for male survivors of sexual assault, which was fa- cilitated by two volunteer male advocates. * A public hearing was held in 1990 in the City Council Chambers to address the treatment of women and children within 1990 the judicial system. The negative impacts that physical, sexual and emotional abuse

have on children and the role these abuses play in the deterioration of families were discussed at this public hearing. PAVSA and the Wom- en’s Coalition received a grant enabling them to collaborate in providing training to high school 1991 health education clas- ses about their relation- ships, dating violence and conflict resolution.

* The Building for Women became a reality when Program for Aid to Vic- tims of Sexual Assault, the Women’s * Health Center and the YWCA of Duluth formed a partnership, and in doing so ac- complished a long-time goal of owning a multi-purpose facility dedicated to offering services for women. The Building for * Women had four anchor tenants and provided office space for start-up organizations, shared space for small community groups, and three multi-purpose meeting rooms to * be used by the building tenants and community organizations.

From late December of 1993 to April of * 1994, the Building for Women faced serious criticism from the Catholic Diocese. The Diocese launched a city-wide campaign against the Building, but the Duluth community rallied to show their support for the * Building, as well as the community organizations housed there.

In 1994, PAVSA Executive Director Rose- * mary Rocco received a national award from President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno for her work in the field of sexual assault. 1995 In 1995, the Safe & Strong Child Program saw its first full year in the public schools. The program gave 444 presentations which reached 8,515 children. That year, PAVSA also directly served over 10,000 members Rosemary Rocco resigned from PAVSA, and Tammy Feige became the new Executive Di- rector. With Tammy’s leadership, PAVSA continued to 1996 work toward securing a strong financial base for the program. PAVSA was able access grants from the United Way, Carlton County, as well as additional * funds from the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

On December 16, 1997, PAVSA submitted a notice of withdrawal from the Building for Women Partnership. This was a difficult decision for the * program to make, but upon careful examination of financial needs, it had been decided that PAVSA’s potential for new growth was being compromised because of their limited resources. The Board of Directors were in support of this action and on August 20, 1998, PAVSA became a limited partner, still acknowledging the importance of the role the * Building for Women plays in the community.

Executive Director Tam- my Feige made connec- * tions with Leadership Duluth through the Chamber of Commerce in 1999, which improved * connections with busi- nesses and area radio stations. Through increased outreach to the business community, * PAVSA did numerous PSA’s and live interviews that helped the program reach more members of the Twin Ports community. Additionally, PAVSA was recognized by the 1999 Minnesota Charities Review Council, an agency that reviews nonprofit organizations for their services, mission state- * ments, and financial stability.

Beginning in the late 1970’s, the St. Louis County Board of Commissioners had provided supplemental funding to PAVSA, along with 17 other nonprofit agencies. In 1999, the county’s preliminary budget did not include 2000 funds earmarked for nonprofit organizations. The directors of 18 area agencies joined forces and held weekly meetings with the county to work out a funding agreement. It was decided that funding would remain at the same level in 2000 as it had been for the previous year. 2000 — Today: How far we have come…… and how far we have yet to go! The 2000s have been years of incredible growth for PAVSA, as the agency has expanded its services and program areas to better meet the needs of Southern St. Louis County. Candice Harshner succeeded Tammy Feige as PAVSA Executive Director in 2000, a post that she still holds today. Under her direction, the agency worked to secure grants from numerous foundations to diversify funding streams.

In 2001, PAVSA reinstated an annual Twin Ports Take Back the Night rally and march, with over 700 members of the community in attendance. Other community awareness events that PAVSA has hosted over the past ten years include Walk A Mile In Her Shoes, as well as an “I Heart Consensual Sex” party. Starting in 2002, PAVSA convened a group of area law enforcement officers, advocates, hospital personnel, and prosecutors to develop SMART, or Sexual Assault Multi- Disciplinary Action Response Team. This group works to develop a victim-centered community response to sexual assault that is both multi-disciplinary and culturally compe- tent. SMART has been the impetus for several successful initiatives that have received ac- colades at the state and national level. In 2010, monthly SMART meetings often have as many as 25 attendees representing the original core disciplines as well as clergy, community organizations, colleges and universities and mental health professionals.

Another key development during this decade has been the PAVSA SANE Program (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program) and its implementation in both Duluth hospitals. It is a unique, community-based program where the nurses are contract employees of PAVSA. The SANE Program offers victims of sexual assault the highest level of care possible, by nurses specially trained in evidence collection and medical protocols for victims of sexual assault. Along with the addition of these new programs, PAVSA hired its first licensed professional counselor in the early 2000s. In 2010, PAVSA has three professional counselors on staff, one of whom manages the adolescent counseling program. PAVSA is proud to offer professional counseling services to all primary and secondary survivors at no cost. These counseling services are accessed by hundreds of members of our community each year.

PAVSA has resumed full partnership status in the Building for Women, which continues to house the Women’s Health Center, YWCA administrative offices, the Northland Gay Men’s Center, and other organizations that serve marginalized groups in our community.

2007 marked the beginning of a collaboration between PAVSA, Mending the Sacred Hoop, the Duluth Police Department (DPD), and the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office (SLCAO) to conduct an audit of the response to Native American women who reported sexual assault to law enforcement. The results of that audit showed that very few cases of sexual assault against Native women were even investigated, let alone prosecuted. The audit team made recommendations for PAVSA and DPD on how to better serve Native women who have been sexually assaulted. By 2010, DPD has revised police protocols, increased investigative follow-up and now has a PAVSA advocate, who is PAVSA’s first Native staff member and a former audit team member, working in the police department. PAVSA is steadily increasing the number of Native advocates and is working to actively listen to Native women who use our services.

In 2008, PAVSA collaborated with DPD and SLCAO to develop an anonymous reporting option. This option allows victims of sexual assault to file a report with law enforcement, have evidence collected and stored, and receive a SANE exam without having their name attached to the report. Anonymous reporting gives victims more time to decide whether to file a standard report, and Duluth is the first community in the country to develop such an option. In 2009, End Violence Against Women International recruited PAVSA to educate 8 other communities across the country on the anonymous reporting process. In 2010, there is a total of 7 jurisdictions in Minnesota and Wisconsin that have adopted anonymous reporting and it is considered a national best practice.

Today, in 2010, PAVSA continues to work in partnership with victims of sexual assault. The 24-hour crisis line that was started by a few dedicated women 35 years ago is still answered by a trained advocate anytime, night or day. In 2009, our advocates donated more than 13,000 hours of their time in service to survivors of sexual assault, while the SANE Program served more than 100 victims of sexual assault. Community volunteers and allies continue to empower our organization by serving on the PAVSA board of directors, becoming trained advocates for victims of sexual assault, and offering their time Thanks to all the Herstory Makers!

24-Hour Crisis Line (218) 726-1931