Dean College was recently awarded a $299,889 continuation grant from the United States Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) to support prevention and education for domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking at institutions of higher education. This funding is a continuation of the OVW grant awarded to the College in 2017.

“Over the past four years, the Department of Justice’s OVW Grant provided us with the opportunity to enhance our programs, policies and procedures and continue to build awareness around the topic of campus sexual violence,” said MaryAnn Silvestri, M. Ed, LMHC, CAGS, Project Director and Director of Counseling Services. “During this time, we have built a solid Campus Community Response Team (CCRT) which includes campus staff, faculty and community partners. We have increased victim services on campus by hiring a survivor advocate and developed lasting prevention education programs, such as the BRAVE (Bulldogs Rise, Advocates for Violence Education) bystander education program, which includes educational videos performed by students in our School of the Arts programs.”

The grant will be used to continue developing, expanding and implementing policies, programs and services with the ultimate goal of reducing sexual violence on campus. These initiatives will ensure that all students know what resources and options are available to them, as well as providing mandatory prevention and bystander education for students, training for faculty and staff and comprehensive support services for victims and survivors.

“Receiving the grant for a second time is validation we are making substantial progress in our efforts to eradicate campus sexual violence,” added Silvestri. “We look forward to continuing this great work.”

For more information about the grant, visit www.justice.gov/ovw. For more information about Dean College, visit www.dean.edu.