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Agency Information 1/23/2018 3:25:53 PM Page 5 of 22 to develop and expand a support group program; in collaboration with the NC Coalition Against Sexual Violence (NCCASA), our staff visited agencies across the state to offer this training. We also created protocols and procedures to serve incarcerated survivors according to federal standards set by the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA); our protocols and corresponding training helped to inform those created by NCCASA, which in turn were shared with victim service providers across the state. Launched in 1982, our Community Education program is one of the oldest in the country, and we have enjoyed a close relationship with local school districts, delivering safety education to tens of thousands of students. Our annual curriculum is truly comprehensive, with each lesson building on skills learned in past years. Safe Touch prevents sexual abuse by helping students understand safe and healthy relationships. By learning that ‘your body belongs to you’ at a young age, children easily grasp the concept of consent when it is introduced as ‘flirting vs. bullying’ in middle school. Start Strong has a peer-to-peer focus, teaching tweens that sexual behaviors such as holding hands and hugging are only okay if the other person wants to do it. Having already learned to respect boundaries at a young age, teens have a deeper understanding of healthy relationships when they learn about communication, consent, and sexual assault in high school. Building key concepts and skills over several years allows students to learn boundaries, communication, and consent in a more effective, lasting way. Furthermore, our programs are based on the best available research, follow national best practice standards, and are provided by highly trained educators. Staff and volunteers are also trained to look for ‘red flags’ during programs that may suggest a child is at risk of sexual abuse. Our staff follows up with every red flag and disclosure, coordinating with schools and with Child Protective Services, to ensure appropriate intervention and services are received. e) Other Pertinent Agency Information Client Services: We continue to see a steady increase in both the number of clients served and the number of contacts we have with each client. In 2016-2017, we served a record 676 individuals with a record 3,613 contacts. This represents a 133% increase in clients and a 625% increase in contacts since the 2007-2008 fiscal year. With increased client numbers and contacts in addition to significant challenges in accessing services across the system of care (e.g., limited mental health services, lack of shelter services, etc.), our client services staff have unsustainably heavy workloads. In the past year, we secured funding to expand our staff with a Bilingual Clinical Therapist (1 FTE), Clinical Therapist (1 FTE), and Support Group Coordinator (0.75 FTE). With this new staff, our Bilingual Therapy program launched in October 2017 and is already near capacity. Community Education: The number of youth and adults we reach through safety education and violence prevention programs is also increasing dramatically. In 2016-2017, we reached 16,911 individuals through 1,060 programs. This represents a 140% increase in programs and 92% increase in individuals reached since the 2009-2010 fiscal year. More than 85 percent of our programs are provided in public schools within Orange County, but they are not paid for by either of the two district school systems. We rely on town and county funding to ensure this crucial safety education can be delivered to local students. Also, we have received multiple requests for programs that we have unfortunately had to decline due to limits on staff capacity. W ith last year’s focus on expanding client services staff, we now hope to secure funding to expand our education team. f) Schedule of Positions (For Entire Agency) # of FTE - Full-Time Paid Positions: 13 # of FTE - Paid Part-Time Positions: 1 # of Volunteers: ~80 # of FTE - Volunteers: ~10 FTE g) Living Wage Does this agency pay permanent employees a minimum living wage? (Yes / No) Yes If yes, is this agency an Orange County Living Wage Certified Employer? Yes