One of the things students at The Ohio State University at Mansfield know from day one on campus is that faculty, staff and fellow students support their success in every way possible – both academically and personally. Recently, Ohio State Mansfield learned that it received a Strengthening Community Partnerships grant from the Ohio Department of Higher Education to enhance campus services around sexual assault and domestic violence.
The goals of the grant program are to strengthen partnerships between campus and community organizations in an effort to end sexual violence, and to develop strategic initiatives to improve prevention and/or response efforts in conjunction with community organizations.
“It’s important that our students know that we are here to support their success no matter what situations they are facing, including sexual assault or domestic violence issues,” said Chief Student Life and Retention Officer Donna Hight. “We want to make sure we have all the resources a student would need right here on campus to address these issues so students can succeed in life and in school.”
Ohio State Mansfield has partnered with North Central State College and the Domestic Violence Shelter in Mansfield to apply for three grants totaling about $110,000 over the last three years to increase campus support services.
The grant money allowed the Domestic Violence Shelter to hire a campus sexual assault advocate in 2016. It also was used to find bystander intervention training to educate those on campus about how to get involved when they believe someone is being abused.
“I think having the advocate on campus has been mutually beneficial to students and the Domestic Violence Shelter,” said Hight. “The advocate can meet with students on campus and do preventative education at the same time.”
Sources: The Ohio State University at Mansfield, Ohio Department of Education
