The Center is pleased to welcome Dr. John Moalli to the Board of Directors.  Dr. Moalli is an officer for Exponent Engineering and Scientific Consulting and is a leading expert in polymeric materials.  He is a published author and noted speaker in his field and still has time to teach engineering design at Stanford University.  He also sits on the board for the Mosquito Fire Protection District.

Dr. Moalli brings a wealth of knowledge to The Center's Board of Directors.  As an officer of a publicly traded company, his expertise in running a large organization will directly benefit The Center in the areas of corporate responsibility, contract and employee law, as well as personnel policies and procedures.

With fundraising being one of his primary goals, Dr. Moalli and his wife got a running start and will be hosting a benefit dinner for The Center in the near future.  He is excited to be able to help The Center with fundraising activities with larger corporations.  "I have a lot to add there and can help them understand what The Center is all about and have them write some checks!!"

Dr. Moalli is looking forward to his service on the Board.  "So far, I'm excited about a number of things.  The composition of the Board is very good and I'm excited to work with the other Board members.  Also... any minute, any hour of effort we put in really benefits people who could use that help." 

We are excited to have such a tremendous community leader join our ranks and we look forward to serving our clients together.  Welcome Dr. Moalli!

Community March to End Sexual Assault 

Thanks to all folks who came out for The Center's 9th Annual Community March to End Sexual Assault. It was a beautiful day to March down Main Street waving signs and banners high!

The morning began with a wonderful, full pancake breakfast prepared and donated by the Placerville Rotary Club.  With the dynamic duo of Chris and Brett Baxter at the helm, all the marchers were well fed in preparation for the long march down Main Street.

Matt Huckabay, The Center's Executive Director, opened the ceremonies with some sexual assault statistics from our community.  Matt reported that The Center served 121 victims of sexual assault last year.  The oldest victim is 75 and the youngest victim served is only 12 years old.  The actual number of counseling sessions provided by The Center for victims of sexual assault is up by 94% from this time last year.

During The Center's Education Department program they talked about a gang rape that happened near San Francisco.  In 2009, a 15-year-old girl was gang raped and beaten in Richmond California.  The rape and beating went on for more than two hours while as many as 20 people watched or took part.  Some took photos while others laughed.  As news of the event spread others showed up to see and some actually participated.

How could such a thing happen so close to our community and how can we prevent it from ever happening again?  The Center's education department gave the March participants some great examples of ways to intervene before the actual violence begins.  The Center's Education Department described The Bystander Intervention Approach.

The Bystander Intervention Approach has recognized that there are a variety of opportunities where people can choose to intervene.  People can intervene in less extreme situations, early on.

If we limit our interventions to the "culminating event" or the rape itself, we miss multiple opportunities to do or say something before someone is harmed.

On the continuum below, each situation or category is an opportunity to intervene by reinforcing positive behaviors BEFORE a behavior moves further towards sexual violence.

The first two categories there would be no need for intervention.  Action would be appropriate during the 3rd category when it's noticed that the flirting is non-mutual, or perhaps a grown-up is making inappropriate comments or gestures to a child. Intervention is also needed during categories 4 and 5.

If you see or hear something that is inappropriate here are some responses you might consider:

•  "Hey - That's not cool (okay) with me."
•   "I feel uncomfortable with ..." (name              behavior)
•  "What if that was said about your sister?" (or brother)?"  

Another way to help the victim is to use subtle distractions:

• "Hey, look - it's time we got going."
• Ask what time it is
• Make something up 

 Intervening can be catchy too... watch ABC's John Quiñones during an episode of "What Would You Do?"In this video, many heroes step up and speak out to help a girl who needs it. 

What Would You Do?

The day concluded with the March down Main Street when men donned their high heels and tried "Walking a Mile" in her shoes.

If you'd like more information about bystander intervention, please contact The Center at (530) 626-1450.  It takes a community to begin to change... we're here to help! 

Thanks to grants from Allstate and The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, The Center was able to create a financial empowerment project that would help our clients over the financial

hurdles they face when leaving a domestic violence relationship.

The Allstate Financial Empowerment class is off and running and our clients are excited.   One client stated, "Having finances talked about in a positive manor helps to keep them in the front of your mind but not in a stressful way. It is really encouraging."

In May, Susan Hamlin, Manager from Mechanics Bank and Mary Lou Carrillo, Branch Operations Manager from Sierra Central Credit Union will come talk to the classes about banking options, repairing closed accounts and they will answer questions from class participants. We will also be spending the rest of class on the important aspects of budgeting and how to create personal budget.  "The financial class is great. Thank you so much, it's a great help."

"I'm really excited about a groundbreaking project The Allstate Foundations Domestic Violence Program. They've hired me as their spokesperson.   For the first time, a large corporation is addressing an issue on a national level that no one's talking about-Financial Abuse."  Barbara Stanny stated in her blog dated September 21, 2007.

"We tend to think of domestic violence as physical, emotional, and verbal. Yet financial abuse is just as insidious and dangerous....perhaps even more so because we don't recognize it.  For years, I was the victim of financial abuse. And I had no idea. The signs were there. I just didn't see them."   Barbara continued.   "For example: My husband controlled the amount of money I had access to. He refused to discuss our finances with me, and withheld important information and documents. He got us into illegal deals, "forgot" to pay taxes that were in my name, racked up a huge debt, then left the country, so I was left holding the bag! I was so embarrassed and ashamed of my ignorance, I told no one what was going on."

According to a recent poll by The Allstate Foundation, the number one reason victims stay with their abusers is financial instability.  With the Allstate grant, The Center is pleased to be able to make this important financial information available to our clients.  

What is Denim Day?

In 1999 the Italian High Court overturned a rape conviction because the victim was wearing tight jeans at the time of the assault.

The Italian Supreme Court dismissed charges against a 45-year-old rape suspect because his 18-year-old victim was wearing jeans at the time of the attack. 

The Court stated in its decision that, "it is common knowledge...that jeans cannot even be partly removed without the effective help of the person wearing them...and it is impossible if the victim is struggling with all her might." 

People all around the world were outraged. Wearing jeans on this anniversary became an international symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual violence.

On May 4, 2011 Union Mine students participating in the My Strength program decided to put on a Denim Day Event at their school to bring attention to this important cause. Check out the video of their event!

My Strength Denim Day at Union Mine High School May 2011