Passaic County Community College received a $299,664 federal grant to prevent sexual assaults on campus, announced Congressman Bill Pascrell on Wednesday afternoon.
Awarded through the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Grants to Reduce Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking on Campus Program (Campus Program) the funds will allow the college to provide better victim services and develop programs to prevent, investigate, and respond to sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, and stalking on campus.
“As we send our children away to college this week, their health and safety must remain paramount,” Pascrell said. “This federal grant makes a significant investment in addressing the epidemic of sexual violence on our college campuses by developing protocols to identify potential offenders along with treatment needs.”
Pascrell said many college campuses lack resources to adequately address sexual assaults. “I commend Passaic County Community College for taking seriously the threat of sexual assault and stalking, which is an issue facing campuses across the nation,” Pascrell said.
“Protecting women against violence is a serious issue on college campuses around the country,” Passaic County Community College President Steven Rose said. “At Passaic County Community College our goal is to prevent incidents through education and awareness, but to be prepared should an incident occur.”
The college’s program will create a coordinated campus and community response to violence against women on campus, establish a mandatory sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking prevention and education program (including a bystander intervention program for all new students), train law enforcement to effectively respond to sexual violence, and train all members of the campus disciplinary boards to effectively respond to charges of sexual violence.
Campus Program statutory requirements require the college address those four areas.
Paterson Police Department, the Passaic County Women’s Center, Strengthen our Sisters, and the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault will serve as external partners in the program.
“This grant will allow the College to coordinate our efforts with the Paterson Police Department and community agencies. Passaiic Community College thanks Congressman Pascrell for his continued support that made obtaining this grant possible,” Rose said.