Project History

In October 2003, Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada and EVAW in the United States were awarded grants from the W. H. Donner and the Donner Canadian Foundations to work with Sexual Assault Training & Investigations, Inc. (SATI) and Ed Renner, Evaluation Research, and the Founder of the National Action Plan Against Sexual Assault (NAPASA) to sponsor two national conferences, one within each country, to promote an integrated community response to sexual violence.

A competition was held to award scholarships to eight US and eight Canadian 8 person community teams representing the fields of policing, prosecution, victim advocacy, forensic medicine, and/or other sexual assault services. The community teams selected were:

Canadian Flag  Canadian Communities

  • Calgary, Alberta
  • Edmonton, Alberta
  • Halifax/Antigonish, Nova Scotia
  • Niagara Region (St. Catharines), Ontario
  • Summerside, Prince Edward Island
  • South Central Manitoba (Winkler)
  • Victoria, British Columbia
  • Whitehorse, Yukon

US Flag  United States Communities

  • Bozeman, Montana
  • San Diego, California
  • Kansas City, Missouri
  • Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • Jacksonville, Florida
  • Austin, Texas
  • Columbia, South Carolina
  • Washington, DC

 

The Canadian teams are proud of their continued collaboration with the US Making A Difference Project in our efforts to continue to make that difference in both of our countries. Visit www.evawintl.org for more detailed information on progress in the US communities. 

 

In the fall of 2004, multi-disciplinary community teams which included:

  1. advocacy and support workers
  2. police
  3. forensic medical sexual assault examiners, and
  4. prosecutors

met in Ottawa, Canada and San Diego, USA to share strategies, highlight their challenges and successes, and begin to coordinate activities. Grant funding was provided to support community reform efforts in their communities. This included providing technical assistance, including on-site training workshops, supporting coordinated team communication and data collection efforts, and documenting the success of reform efforts.