Proposal for Emerging Opportunity Program
Spring 2015
Submit application to [email protected]
Deadline: 12:00 pm (noon) on Friday March 20, 2015
LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
Please limit your proposal and responses to the form and space provided. Any materials submitted in addition to this application form will not be considered in the evaluation of the proposal. Do not attempt to unlock or alter this form.
If you need assistance with this proposal or are unclear about how to respond to any questions please contact CDD staff at 266-6520.
Agency or Group: Rape Crisis Center, Inc. Amount
Requested: $12,142 Title of Proposal: Esperanza, Ayuda, Recuperación
Contact Person: Erin Thornley Parisi
Address: 2801 Coho St., Ste. 301, Madison, WI
53713 Telephone: 608-251-5126 E-Mail: [email protected] Is this Group a 501 (C) (3)? Yes or No yes Applicant Organization founded (Year): 1973 Name of Fiscal Agent
(if Applicable): n/a Fiscal Agent Contact
Person: n/a
Project Description: ( Approx. 20 Words)
Culturally/linguistically competent Latina/o counseling and advocacy sexual abuse services.
1. Emerging Need or Opportunity: (5000 characters) Please describe the emerging need or unanticipated opportunity that warrants City resources and attention at this time:
The Latino community in Madison has an emerging need for a Bilingual and Bicultural Sexual Assault Counselor (BLBCC) and the Rape Crisis Center is ready to fulfill this need. With an Emerging Opportunity Program grant the RCC, with its forty-two years of sexual abuse counseling, support and prevention exertise, will be poised to respond appropriately to the many victims of sexual assault in our Latino/a communities who currently have very limited access to culturally and linguistically compentent sexual abuse counseling. The City Council and Mayor are committed to serving the needs of Latino people in
Madison and the Rape Crisis Center (RCC) is uncompromisingly committed to the same goal. In this proposal, “Bilingual” refers to Spanish language and “Bicultural” refer to Latino/a cultures.
At the end of 2014, the Rape Crisis Center stepped up efforts to meet the needs of the Latino community in the Madison area. The agency hired a Bilingual, Bicultural Advocate (BLBCA) in September, 2014. This position provides services to those who call the La Linea de Ayuda en Espanol during office hours and provides advocacy in the form of culturally and linguistically competent accompaniment and support for victims/survivors receiving a forensic medical exam or other related medical services and engaging with the legal system. The BLBCA does not, however, provide counseling services which are necessary to address trauma and to help victims/survivors incorporate the sexual assault committed against them into their lives in a healthful way. The RCC’s goal is to help a victim/survivor choose how to define himself or herself instead of being defined by the assault. Appropriate counseling can help a victim/survivor feel supported and safe enough to cooperate with law enforcement and the justice system which increases success in perpetrator arrest, investigation and prosecution. Counseling is critical.
After initial acclimation and training of the BLBCA, the RCC began, in earnest, to provide outreach, education and collaboration in the Latino community to increase awareness about sexual assault; services include RCC’s Bicultural/Bilingual-staffed crisis line; bilingual/bicultural medical and legal advocacy services; and the bilingual/bicultural counseling the RCC makes available through limited and costly contracted services. The outreach focus was successful and, as the saying goes, “build it and they will come.”
The result was an almost immediate increase in the number of Latino people contacting the Rape Crisis Center for sexual assault counseling services—in the first three months of 2015 the contractual counselor has provided services to five victims/survivors with additional clients scheduled for appointments later in March and in April. By stark contrast, the RCC had only one Latina victim/survivor access services in all of 2014. While admittedly the 2015 numbers are not high, yet, the increase is steady and rapid. The challenge the RCC faces with moving forward it that it is reaching fiscal capacity with the contractual consultant arrangement and is now concerned that continuation of aggressive outreach will result in additional need for sexual abuse counseling that the agency may not be able to provide. The RCC does not want to limit outreach so a part-time bicultural/bilingual staff counselor has emerged as a necessity—a bare-minimum response to the needs of the community.
2. Applicant Organization or Group: (5000 Characters) Please briefly describe the history and structure of your organization. Include information about staffing, your board and/or volunteers. Please describe any successes you have had in the areas of programming or the project described in this proposal.
The Rape Crisis Center was formed in 1973 in response to an increase in the number of sexual assaults that were reported the prior year, and through the actions and commitment of a member of the Madison Common Council. The agency began with a free hotline for rape victims, branched out to incorporate a speaker’s bureau formed during the same time and soon expanded into comprehensive services for victims/survivors. The agency has steadily evolved over the decades and today the mission of the Rape Crisis Center is to work within Dane County to promote hope, help and healing for those harmed by sexual violence, and strive, through education and outreach, to create the social change to end sexual violence. The RCC is governed by a Board of Directors with diversity in, but not limited to, race, culture, gender, age,
spirituality, skill, physical ability, personal experience and professional expertise. The current Board of Directors has made a significant commitment to increase diversity and at the February 2015 Annual Meeting the corporation of staff, board and volunteers elected a Latina, an African American women, and a man to join the seven other female board members one of whom is also Latina. Two of the new board members were asked to serve specifically because of their expertise in diversity outreach, recruitment and inclusion. The board hired an interim executive director and gave the directive to begin the development and implementation of strategies that will increase diversity in employment, clientelle, community
partnerships and the board of directors. Board recruitment was the IED’s first task. Directing staff to develop a plan for services to the Latino/a community was the second.
The Rape Crisis Center employs, at the time of this proposal, an interim executive director, a part-time business manager, a program director, an adult counselor/advocate, a youth counselor, a UW-Madison campus counselor, a crisis services coordinator, a full-time bilingual/bicultural advocate, a part-time bilingual/bicultural advocate and community educator, a full-time community education coordinator, six on-call advocates for the English line, one bilingual on-on-call advocate for LaLinea de Ayunda en Espanol, a part-time development assistant, two part-time self-defense instructors, an officer manager and two interns. The Crisis Lines are staffed by the agency’s more than 85 dedicated and rigorously-trained volunteers and the Chimera self-defense program has one apprentice. The agency contracts with a bilingual/bicultural counselor for limited services, but there remains a conspicuous gap in bilingual/bi-cultural counseling services for adults and children twelve years of age and older (The RCC works in collaboration with other agencies in the community to meet the needs of younger children.)
Program Success: The RCC is committed to inclusion of services for Latino/Latina people into all existing agency programs including both intervention and prevention, as opposed to a specifically designated Latino/a Program other than a designated crisis line. Each of the RCC’s services is intrinsically linked to meet the complex needs of victims/survivors of sexual assault. Education leads to prevention and awareness. Awareness can lead to a call to the agency’s crisis lines or disclosure to someone who refers the client to the RCC. This leads, in many cases, to medical, forensic or legal advocacy which is followed by counseling. The RCC’s BLBCA has agressively reached out to the Latino/a community to raise awareness about the sexual abuse and the RCC’s services which has, by design, increased the need for counseling services. The RCC has networked with the Latino Health Council, LaSup, Latino Children and Family Council, Formando Lazos Project, Communities United, the AIDS Network, Middleton-Cross Plains Schools, and the Neighborhood Intervention Program and formed informal partnerships with Centro Hispano, RISE Law Center, Dane County District Attorney Victim/Witness Unit, UNIDOS Against Domestic Violence, Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, Rainbow Project, the Catholic Multicultural Center, Catholic Charities and MMG Law.
3. Intended Service Population: (2500 characters) Please describe the intended service population (e.g., where they are located, ages, ethnicities, income ranges, English language proficiency etc.).
The RCC’s bilingual and bicultural counseling services will be meet the needs of the Latino/a community, adults and youth ages 12 and older, throughout Dane County, but primarily in the City of Madison. This Counselor will predominantly see clients at RCC’s main office in Madison, but will also have some ability to provide services at other locations in the community. The RCC’s BLBCA will target outreach in communities and neighborhoods where higher rates of Latino families live. Because sexual violence affects individuals across all socio-economic levels, the agency will provide free counseling to any individual seeking services for healing related to a sexual assault, regardless of the victim/survivor’s income level.
Based on the 2010 Census, 9% of the State of Wisconsin’s Latino population resides in Dane County, this totals approximately 28,925 individuals. The State as a whole has a 5.9% Latino population. This
demonstrates what local service providers already know, that Dane County, and the City of Madison, has a higher level of Latinos than most Counties. The median household income for Latino’s in the State of Wisconsin is slightly above $35,000 annual. With a high level of first-generation immigrants, 17% who completed the US census—and the many who did not complete the Census—identified that they speak little to no English.
4. Innovation: (5000 characters) How does this proposal reflect a new or innovative approach to the stated problem?
The Rape Crisis Center is transforming the way the agency responds to victims/ survivors of sexual abuse in our Latino community, from contracting for occassional services that come to the agency, to seeking out people who need the agency’s help and providing assistance with full, comprehensive services. What makes this innovative is that instead of starting a new service to meet existing needs—which can be costly and risky—the community’s oldest and most experienced sexual assault service provider is transforming the way it does business to meet an identified need. The RCC is committed and excited and feels enriched by the expansion of service into the great asset of Madison’s Latino community.
5. Project/Program Goals: (5000 characters) Please describe the specific goals, objectives and intended measurable impacts of this program/project. Include the number of people you expect will benefit from this project.
The unfortunate prevolence of sexual assault has gained considerable media attention in the past year. By discussing the issue and identifying the real frequency of it, the hope is that some of the stigma around
receiving services and self-identifying as a survivor will be reduced. While each victim deserves the right to choose her or his own path to healing, the RCC wishes to freely offer support in all formats to all survivors, regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, economic status or language. The agency’s biggest struggle since hiring a Bilingual/Bicultural Advocate is appropriately providing the services that are needed and being identified, without greatly exceeding the dollars allocated to paying a contracted Bilingual/Bicultural Counselor. The number one goal of this grant is to be able to provide quality, culturally competent, linguistically appropriate, individual counseling services which are centered around the needs of the survivor, not just the budget.
Because the RCC knows that the path to healing from sexual violence is not cookie-cutter, in addition to individual counseling the RCC would also like to provide support groups and/or psycho-educational groups to Spanish speakers so that they can choose the healing path most beneficial to them.
Utilizing partnerships with other community organizations, the RCC would also like the counselor to be able to provide small amounts of prevention work or community education to organizations that have historically served minorities, specifically Latinos. The RCC wants equity in all services and service areas and this grant would help the agency commit to this goal.
To measure achievements with this funding, the RCC will offer all survivors the option of completing an exit survey, rating the effectiveness and level of compassionate support they received.
6. Program/Project design: (5000 characters) Please describe structure of proposed program or project, hours of service/schedule, staffing, curriculum or project/service structure, etc.
The Bilingual/Bicultural Counselor (BLBCC) will work under the supervision of the Program Director and in collaboration with the Direct Service Team which includes all counseling, advocacy and crisis line staff. Referrals for services will come from the La Linea de Ayuda en Espanol and the English-language crisis line, community educators, other agency counselors, school personnel and community partners and others in the community as the RCC increases outreach. Appointments will be made based upon the BLBCC’s agreed upon schedule. The position will be hired with the knowledge that the counselor will be required to work evenings and some weekend hours to accommodate the needs of Latino/a clients. If a trend develops for clients needing child care, the RCC will develop a volunteer pool to serve in this role. All volunteer child care providers will need to pass a background check and will only provide services when the parent or guardian of the child are on the premises. The BLBCC will need to complete the RCC’s medical and legal advocacy training unless she/he has been trained by a highly reputable agency with a similar structure, philosophy, training requirements and with the same training rigor as the RCC’s.
7. Community Engagement: (2500 characters) Please describe how community, residents and program and/ or project participants were engaged in the development of this proposal.
This project was developed by the RCC’s Bicultural/Bilingual staff one of whom is Mexican and the other Nicaraguan. They are both very active in the Latino community in Madison and based their proposal for this position on identified need through outreach with the Latino Health Council, LaSup, Latino Children and Family Council, Formando Lazos Project, Communities United, the AIDS Network, Centro Hispano, RISE Law Center, UNIDOS Against Domestic Violence, Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, the Catholic Multicultural Center, and MMG Law, as well as callers to the La Linea de Ayuda en Espanol and the agency. This is a simple proposal responding to a complex need.
8. Collaboration: (2500 characters) Please describe the level of involvement with other service providers, schools, funders, government bodies, or other public or private stakeholders in the development of this proposal and its expected implementation.
The Rape Crisis Center is forming a Latino Community Advisory Committee which will include members of the board of directors, staff, clients, as appropriate, and Latino/a community members. The agency has begun collaboration discussions with UNIDOS Against Domestic Violence to meet the needs of Latina/o people. Because of the RCC’s re-energized commitment to this community and the addition of highly competent outreach and advocacy staff is relatively new, collaboration has just begun. The RCC is committed to increase, sustain and grow collaboration efforts. The agency currently has one half-time bicultural/bilingual community educator and this is a postion that grew out of the desire by a part-time advocate to reach out to the community. The RCC is seeking funding through other sources to increase the capacity of this position. The RCC will not work in a vacuum in the implementation of these services and the rest of the Latino/a Services Plan. The agency is commited to collaboration to prevent a
duplication of services and meet as many needs of the community as possible leveraging the agency’s extensive experience in serving the sexual abuse needs of the communities it serves.
9. Proposed Timeline for Implementation:
Activity Estimated Start and Completion
Dates Hire a part-time bicultural/bilingual counselor qualified to work with
male and female, youth and adult sexual abuse victims/survivors.
Hiring will begin as soon as funding is secured and other funding will be sought and utilized when this grant terminates.
If a qualified counselor is identified who meets the linguistic, language and counseling experience needs but lacks advocacy training, the counselor’s legal and medical advocacy will begin immediatley upon hire.
Within first 2 months.
10. Funding: (500 characters each)
a) What other funding have you sought and/or received to support this project? At this time, no other funding has been sought or received to support this project.
b) Do you anticipate future funding needs from City sources associated with this proposal? Please describe.
If the city were in a position to provide on-going funding for this project it would be greatly appreciated. The RCC will, however, begin immediate investigation into other sources of funding.
c) Has your organization received funding from the City of Madison Community Development Division, City of Madison CDBG office, Community Services, the Emerging Opportunities Program or the former Emerging Neighborhoods Program in the last 5 years?
Yes No 11. Budget:
Summarize your project budget by estimated costs, revenue, and fund source.
BUDGET EXPENDITURES TOTAL PROJECT COSTS AMOUNT OF CITY $ REQUESTED AMOUNT OF NON-CITY REVENUES SOURCE OF NON-City FUNDED PORTION A. Personnel Costs (Complete Personnel
chart below)
1. Salaries/Wages (show detail below) 10774 10774 0 0 2. Fringe Benefits and Payroll Taxes 1224 1224 0 0
B. Program Costs
1. Program supplies and equipment 0 0 0 0
2. Office Supplies 0 0 0 0 3. Transportation 144 144 0 0 4. Other (explain) 0 0 0 0 C. Space Costs 5. Rent/Utilities/Telephone 0 0 0 0 6. Other (explain): 0 0 0 0 D. TOTAL (A + B + C) 12142 12142 0
Explanation of “Other” expenses: (500 characters)
12. Personnel Chart: Please list all paid staff that will be working on the proposed program/project.
Title of Staff Position F.T.E.* Proposed Hourly Wage*
Bilingual/Bicultural Sexual Abuse Counselor .3 $15.14
Bilingual On-Call Advocate on call
nights and weekends
$13.30 active and 3.00 non-active
$
$
Title of Staff Position F.T.E.* Proposed Hourly Wage* TOTAL .3
*FTE = Full Time Equivalent (1.00, .75, .50, etc.) 2080 hours = 1.00 FTE Please identify FTE that will be spent in this project.
*Note: All employees involved in programs receiving City of Madison funds must be paid the established Living Wage as required under City of Madison Ordinance 4.20. Effective January 1, 2015 – December 31, 2015, the Living Wage will be $12.62 per hour.
13. Fiscal Agent Relationship (if applicable): If applicant organization is not a 501c (3) this section must be completed. If applicant is a 501c (3) please skip to the Signature Page.
Fundamental expectations of the Fiscal Agent and Applicant relationship:
The Fiscal Agent should read the EOP application and have some confidence that the applicant agency will be able to successfully implement the proposed project or program.
The Fiscal Agent will accept allocated funds from the City of Madison for the identified program or project and reimburse the applicant for expenses incurred performing the work of the contracted program. The Fiscal Agent and the applicant agency will decide who will provide and purchase the necessary insurance coverage for the identified program.
The Fiscal Agent will ensure that the funded project or program is in compliance with City of Madison Purchase of Service Contact requirements, including but not limited to Living Wage requirements, Non Discrimination and Affirmative Action, and equal benefits protections.
Applicant is expected to provide the Fiscal Agent with the Fiscal Agent Commitment Form. Please indicate date and staff person that received this form.
Date: 03-20-15
Staff person: Erin Thornley Parisi Position: Interim Executive Director Telephone Number: 608-251-5126
-SIGNATURE PAGE-
1. Affirmative Action:
If funded, applicant hereby agrees to comply with City of Madison Ordinance 39.02 and file either an exemption or an Affirmative Action Plan with the Department of Civil Rights. A model Affirmative Action Plan and instructions are available at http://www.cityofmadison.com/dcr/aaplans.cfm.
2. Living Wage Ordinance:
All employees involved in programs supported by City of Madison funds must be paid the established Living Wage as required under City of Madison Ordinance 4.20. Effective January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015 the Living Wage will be $12.62 per hour. For more information on Living Wage requirements, go to
http://www.cityofmadison.com/finance/wage/.
3. City of Madison Contracts:
If funded, applicant agrees to comply with all applicable local, State and Federal provisions. A sample contract that includes standard provisions may be obtained by contacting the Community Development Division at (608) 266-6520.
If funded, the City of Madison reserves the right to negotiate the final terms of a contract with the selected agency.
4. Signature:
(Any applications submitted without a signature will be considered incomplete and will not be considered for funding.)
Applicant Signature: Enter
Name: Erin M. Thornley Parisi
By entering your initials
in the box, EMTP
You are electronically signing your name and agreeing to the terms above.
