10/1971

Hi, my name is Kristina Molina and I am currently the Latino Program Coordinator for BAY AREA WOMEN AGAINST RAPE (BAWAR), the nation's first rape crisis center. In the last 8 years, I have seen a significant change in the number of surviving Latinos asking for our services.  In fact, our agency went from providing 1-3 sessions of individual counseling per week to 60-80 sessions per week, from receiving no crisis hotline calls to providing crisis intervention to 30 Spanish-speaking surviving callers per month, and from managing zero Spanish-speaking volunteers to delegating 30 Latino volunteers. Unfortunately, government and federal grants are slow to responds to this capacity issue and BAWAR´s Latino Program is in need of financial support to continue to provide the following key services to surviving Latinos in Alameda County:

1. Individual counseling. Each survivor recieves 10 free sessions.

2. Accompaniments to the police, court, and hospital to survivors who need to file a police report, testify in court against the perpetrator, or need medical assistance due to a recent sexual assault experience.

3. Support groups for sexually abused youth and their caregivers to help support family unit hrough this difficult phase.

4. Summer/Winter nature healing camping trip for surviving youth ages 12-18.

5. Annual 60-hour community volunteer training in Spanish.

6. 24-Hour crisis hotline in Spanish.

7. Community outreach.