Representatives from Niagara County Community College, the YWCA of the Niagara Frontier Rape Crisis Program and the Niagara County Sheriff's Victim Assistance Unit signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday, to formalize their ongoing efforts to provide services for sexual assault victims at the college.
NCCC Officer in Charge Dr. Luba Chliwniak, YWCA of the Niagara Frontier CEO Kathleen Granchelli and Niagara County Sheriff James Voutour signed an agreement to reinforce their partnership to provide services to students, employees and guests who report a sexual assault, and to strengthen their commitment to the training efforts at NCCC.
The signing was held during a presentation at the NCCC board of trustees meeting on the NCCC Sanborn campus.
Thomas Gibbons, senior investigator for the New York State Police Campus Sexual Assault Victims Unit and Mary Brennan-Taylor, vice present of programs for the YWCA of the Niagara Frontier, presented an overview of the existing resources and training for victims of sexual assault that have been in place at NCCC for several years. Various groups, including NCCC students, faculty, staff, campus security, local law enforcement and victim advocates, have already been trained through a prevention education campaign. Training programs on topics such as "Dating Violence" and "Enough is Enough," will continue to be offered, as well as new program development and expanding the training to even more groups on campus.
"In 2017-18, we are taking our on-campus training up a notch by expanding our communication efforts starting tonight with a presentation to the NCCC coaches, and then in a few weeks we will present to the NCCC athletes, faculty, and security personnel just to name a few " Brennen-Taylor said.
Additional plans for next year include a social media campaign and the creation of a NCCC sexual assault response team, which would include both campus and community members working collaboratively to provide sexual assault intervention services.