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Prevention is a primary means of reaching the community before violence occurs to educate society about sexual violence and how to prevent it. By successfully preventing sexual violence, we alleviate the pain of sexual assault victims, and reduce the burden on victim services and the criminal justice system. The Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA) sees the prevention program as a key element in the movement to end sexual violence. MNCASA works closely with The Minnesota Department of Health Prevention Specialists Team, as well as other prevention organizations across the country to develop new and creative ways to send prevention messages.
MNCASA uses the Prevention Spectrum, a tool designed by The Prevention Institute, to help guide our prevention work. Using the Spectrum, we seek to address six specific levels of activity: Influencing Policy Legislation, Changing Organizational Practices, Fostering Coalitions and Networks, Educating Providers, Promoting Community Education, and Strengthening Individual Knowledge and Skills. By using a broad range of strategies, MNCASA seeks to address the complexity and extent of sexual violence. By integrating the six levels of the Spectrum, a preventive health program is able to effectively promote change.
The MNCASA prevention program works with member programs to help them use these six strategies. Through our award winning media campaign, technical assistance, presentations, education coordinator meetings, and material development, we provide programs with the tools that they need to work with the media, churches, schools and the public at large to inform them about the pervasiveness of sexual violence and how to keep it from happening.
For further information on the MNCASA prevention program, please contact Dresden Jones, Sexual Assault Prevention Coordinator, at 651.209.9993 x213 or at Dresden@mncasa.org.
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