Sexual Assault Awareness Month brings people together to create and generate discussion and skill-building on how to prevent sexual violence in our schools, workplaces, and communities. While providing support and care to survivors of sexual violence is an everyday action, this awareness month also carves out intentional moments to honor and believe survivors’ stories and experiences.

We are saddened that for another year in a row that the pandemic has impacted our ability to physically come together this April to do this critical work. The Women’s Center and all of our campus partners including the Office of Equity and Inclusion, University Health Services, the Counseling Center, Green Dot, We Believe You, and Retriever Courage, and more will nonetheless continue to promote awareness and prevention this month. We are inviting our UMBC community to join our efforts.

Take Back the Night 2021 has moved online!

TBTN is one of the largest events the Women's Center hosts every year. To honor this special event that centers survivors stories and healing and invites our community to dismantle rape culture, we created a virtual TBTN experience. We invite our community to visit this platform and engage in the visual and audio content. Spend time alone or with others sitting with the reflection questions and action items. Share your thoughts on social media using #UMBCtbtn.

Join us for our virtual TBTN Gathering on April 20th at 4pm!

Survivors of power-based violence are also invited to connect with the We Believe You discussion group. Email womenscenter@umbc.edu for more details on how you can join this virtual discussion that takes place every other Wednesday at 4pm.

Other Ways to Get Involved, Learn, and Support:

• Attend UHS's Un-blurring the Line Around Consent on Wednesday, April 14th at noon.

• Join our Instagram Live: Cultivating Radically Loving Communities (a SAAM conversation with Yoo-Jin Kang, Class of 2015) on Monday, April 19th at 5pm
• Be in community at our Virtual Take Back the Night 2021 Gathering on Tuesday, April 20th at 4pm.

• Participate in the Women's Center's Brave Space Forum: Consent in Quarantineon Thursday, April 22nd at 4pm.

• Check our TurnAround's Take Back the Web on April 22nd at 6pm. For more details, follow TurnAround on Facebook.

• Read Survivors to the Front: A Call to Witness, a zine compiled in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month

• Head over to the Women's Center blog and check out the archive of stories exploring sexual violence and survivorship. You may want to check out this blog about consent/boundaries and this one about survivorship in the Asian American community.

The events, activism, discussions, support, and stories that stem from Sexual Assault Awareness Month are some of the Women’s Center’s most significant and special. It's challenging to lose these events and the community they create for a second year in a row. It's okay to grieve Take Back the Night and our other annual traditions. We are alongside you in that grieving process, and we hope that in these extraordinary times, we can continue to act with extraordinary compassion and conscientiousness to prevent sexual violence at UMBC and beyond.

And, remember, no matter where you are, dear survivors, we see you. We believe you. You matter. Always.

Additionally, throughout this time of continued distance learning, campus staff are still here and available for support. Do not hesitate to reach out for questions, concerns, or care.

Off-Campus Resources:

• TurnAround, Inc. Helpline (Available 24/7): 443-279-0379; Office: 410-377-8111

• MCASA is still open and supporting survivors.

• The National Sexual Assault Hotline is 24/7, confidential and free: 800-656-HOPE (4673) and through chat.

• The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 24/7, confidential and free: 1-800-799-7233 and through chat. 

• Visit Retriever Courage for a more extensive list of off-campus resources and support