Penn Nursing Awarded Pennsylvania State Grant
Penn Nursing’s Center for Global Women’s Health (CGWH) has been awarded a $30,000 grant through It’s On Us PA, a statewide campaign that aims to end sexual assault by bringing together college and university presidents, superintendents, administrators, teachers, students, families, and community members to reframe the conversation around sexual violence and pledge to be part of the solution.
The grants provide funding from January 2022 through May 2023 to implement strategies on campuses, such as improving awareness, prevention, reporting, and response systems regarding sexual violence in schools; removing/reducing barriers that prevent survivors of sexual violence from reporting and/or accessing vital resources; and demonstrating significant, proactive, and sustainable leadership to change campus culture and improve the climate around sexual assault.
“The CGWH will use the award to create The Successful Bystander Program,” said Monique Howard, EdD, MPH, Senior Director, Women’s Health Initiatives. “Our program will train Penn Nursing Community Champions and high school students in how to be active bystanders to reduce the incidence of sexual violence among high school students who reside in Philadelphia and attend or are affiliated with William L. Sayre High School.”
Additionally, the students will learn how to identify risk factors for sexual violence and safely intervene as active bystanders to prevent assault. The program will use the evidenced based Bringing in the Bystander (BIB) training program, which is a bystander intervention that is specific for high school students
The goal of The Successful Bystander Program is to reduce societal and cultural norms that prevent youth from acting in the role of bystander. The Successful Bystander Program will use a co-facilitation, train the trainer model, and utilize the Bringing in the Bystander (BIB) intervention to teach individuals how to identify a situation, and safely diffuse, distract, or intervene in instances where sexual violence may occur.