Also during FY 17, MECASA proudly presented our second annual statewide sexual assault conference with the theme Possibilities into Practice. With over 100 providers, educators, and partners in attendance, the conference was a remarkable success. Attendees came together to share new and innovative programming related to sexual violence, develop skills and knowledge to enhance programming related to their disciplines, and energize and inspire each other to continue their amazing work. Our guest speakers were Kamilah Willingham of The Hunting Ground, and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s Jennifer Grove. With an emphasis on self-care, social justice, and opportunities for providers to demonstrate the great work they are doing through Ignite Talks (five-minute presentations on innovative projects), attendees left excited to advance their work across the state. Communications In addition to communications work noted in other program areas, MECASA staff continued to change the public perception of sexual violence through many platforms and audiences, including traditional media, social media, and supporting Maine’s sexual assault service providers in their local public awareness efforts. One of our main efforts related to elevating member centers’ profiles in their community by rebranding (and in some cases, branding for the first time) their agencies. Through this work, we’ve supported centers in making their image and digital and printed materials as part of their services. This work included in varying degrees of support depending on the center’s needs: facilitating logo development, writing content for and designing new brochures, creating displays for tabling, and building and writing content for new websites. Each time we’ve built a new website, we trained center staff on how to use the website platform and provided a customized guide to their site help them with frequently asked questions. Over the last two years, we have supported over half of sexual assault support centers and Children’s Advocacy Centers in further developing their presence in their communities. 11
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