Meeting the MECASA mission. At MECASA, we value: • Serving, connecting, and leading a broad community of providers, partners, and stakeholders; • Both prevention and intervention as central to our work; • Priority setting based on community-led assessments of strengths and needs; • The expertise provided by national research and leaders, as well as local wisdom gained through experience and application; • Victim-centered, evidence-informed, and traumasensitive solutions to issues of sexual violence and their underlying causes; and • A guiding framework of social justice, antioppression, and intersectionality. Friends: Throughout the last year, the MECASA staff has been hard at work supporting and improving Maine’s sexual violence prevention and response efforts. As always, we are grateful to Maine’s sexual assault service providers for their hard work, dedication to victims and survivors, and perseverance in their efforts to end sexual violence. We are also thankful for our many partnerships with our funders, donors, and statewide and national partners who make our work not only possible, but our best possible work. Our accomplishments over fiscal year 2017 include: • Significant organizational changes. MECASA’s board transitioned from a provider-based board to a community-based board. We are thrilled to work with members of the Maine community who care about and are dedicated to our mission. Our former board, the executive directors of Maine’s sexual assault support centers, serve as our Member Advisory Council where they continue to inform our work and help ensure our critical connection to providers. • EqualityMaine’s Partner for Equality Award. In April, we were honored to receive EqualityMaine’s Partner for Equality award for our work creating accessible and appropriate services and supports for LGBTQ+ survivors of sexual violence in Maine. • Changes to provision of services. MECASA and Maine’s sexual assault providers consolidated the crisis and support line into one service for all calls across the state. Two daytime advocates began providing live answer to support line callers during business hours instead of relying on center staff who may be anywhere from in schools providing prevention education or in court with a survivor. Plans are now underway to add text and chat capabilities to the support daytime advocates provide. Thank you for your support of our mission and our work. It is our privilege to do this work alongside you. Please let us know if you have any questions or thoughts about our programming. Elizabeth Ward Saxl Executive Director 3
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