Start by Believing Utah is part of a national public awareness campaign dedicated to ending the cycle of silence for survivors of sexual violence. Start by Believing Utah is a program of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault and is coordinated by a dedicated committee of volunteers dedicated to ensuring that every victim and survivor of sexual violence receive the supportive response that they deserve. In addition to the statewide coordinating council, there are several Start by Believing Campaigns in various communities across the state.
- Ensuring adequate representation of Start by Believing Utah at festivals, events, and other outreach opportunities statewide.
- Ensuring that training related to the importance of believing survivors is provided statewide.
- Assisting with the development of Start by Believing activities, events, and presentations.
- Producing materials related to affirming responses to survivors are available for distribution statewide with a focus on rural, underserved, and culturally-specific programs and communities.
- Assist organizations serving survivors to understand the unique cultural, historical, and institutional barriers faced by survivors to accessing services if they experience an unsupportive response.
- As the Start by Believing Utah program expands we expect that members of the Council and the community will identify additional goals and objectives that cannot currently be anticipated by our organization.
The Council addresses many important issues of interest to survivors of sexual violence. The Council utilizes the existing infrastructure of UCASA to define issues of concern to survivors and to find innovative ways of utilizing UCASA’s resources to ensure that every survivor receives a supportive response. Council members meet monthly and provide quarterly status updates to the Board of Directors.
Program Overview
The Council consists of a one-year time commitment and is designed to provide participants with fundamental leadership skills and an opportunity to engage in organizational-level strategy and implementation. The interactive nature of the Council is designed to reflect on such leadership indicators as collaboration, diversity and the role of the change-maker. These indicators are crucial for today’s leadership roles in the sexual violence movement. Membership is akin to a one-year term on the Board of Directors of the agency. Members of the Council are considered voting members of an official advisory council of the Board of Directors of UCASA with the responsibility to assist with the strategic execution of the mission, vision, values, and goals of UCASA and Start by Believing Utah.
