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Emergent Space Series

Emergent Space Training Series

Learn more about Emergent Space here.

All trainings are in a meeting format.

Emergent Space: Exploring the Alternative

March 11 from 3:30-5:00pm

In this 90-minute training, participants will be introduced to the concept of emergent space. While it is not necessary that attendees be familiar with or have read Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown, attendees who have may enjoy a richer experience.

Emergent Space: Fractal Spaces

March 23 from 3:30-5:00pm

In this 90-minute training, participants will explore the multi-level applications of emergent space -- how processes on the individual level parallel those on the group and community level (and beyond). While it is not necessary that attendees be familiar with or have read Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown, attendees who have may enjoy a richer experience. It is recommended that attendees view the training “Creating Emergent Spaces” as readiness work for this training.

Emergent Space: Adaptive Spaces

April 8 from 3:30-5:00pm

In this 90-minute training, participants will explore emergent space practices for adaptivity based on individual, group, and community needs. While it is not necessary that attendees be familiar with or have read Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown, attendees who have may enjoy a richer experience. It is recommended that attendees view the training “Creating Emergent Spaces” as readiness work for this training.

Emergent Space: Decentralized Spaces

April 21 from 3:30-5:00pm - Register Here!

In this 90-minute training, participants will explore and practice the emergent space practice of decentralized and interdependent leadership. While it is not necessary that attendees be familiar with or have read Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown, attendees who have may enjoy a richer experience. It is recommended that attendees view the training “Creating Emergent Spaces” as readiness work for this training.

Emergent Space: Nonlinear and Iterative

May 4 from 3:00-4:30pm - Register Here!

In this 90-minute training, participants will explore the iterative and nonlinear of emergent space, and the ways in which lesson learned earlier on will be revisited with greater depth and clarity over the course of the group process. While it is not necessary that attendees be familiar with or have read Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown, attendees who have may enjoy a richer experience. It is recommended that attendees view the training “Creating Emergent Spaces” as readiness work for this training.

Emergent Space: Resilient Spaces

May 20 from 3:30-5:00pm - Register Here!

In this 90-minute training, participants will explore the basic emergent space principles of community accountability and productive conflict resolution. While it is not necessary that attendees be familiar with or have read Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown, attendees who have may enjoy a richer experience. It is recommended that attendees view the training “Creating Emergent Spaces” as readiness work for this training.

Emergent Space: Creating More Possibilities

June 10 from 3:30-5:00pm - Register Here!

In this 90-minute training, participants will share and collaboratively develop both practical and visionary applications of emergent space in our anti-violence work. While it is not necessary that attendees be familiar with or have read Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown, attendees who have may enjoy a richer experience. It is recommended that attendees view the training “Creating Emergent Spaces” as readiness work for this training.

 

We bring into this new year reflections and lessons learned from a season that has challenged us, and emphasized the importance of flexibility and adaptability to better serve survivors of human trafficking .

As NCCASA continues to provide leadership, training, and technical assistance in the anti-human trafficking movement in North Carolina, we ask that you consider these 3 A’s we plan to move forward in our anti-human trafficking work: 

1) in better AWARENESS work that effectively addresses misinformation and represents impacted populations, 

2) in ADVOCACY that is survivor-centered and trauma-formed, and 

3) in ACCOUNTABILITY with one another in the movement.

AWARENESS work that Effectively Addresses Misinformation and Represents Impacted Populations

Local programs and organizations doing AHT work continue to express concern about which messages and narratives are centered and which messages continue to fall short in holding our attention and concern. This has played out in the viral outcrys against child sex trafficking that consistently omit essential parts of the entire picture, as addressed in this December blog post. When we understand how oppression and marginalization rather than a child’s behavior are risk factors for experiencing sex trafficking, we’ll see why the message of just keep your kids safe from traffickers is an incomplete narrative of how trafficking works. Inaccurate and incomplete messages about human trafficking misdirects our vision and response. If we lack accurate understanding of the problem, those who are trafficked, will remain unseen, and ultimately unserved. 

Anti HT work requires us to “pull back the lens” to see the problem more clearly to not only better identify and serve survivors, but also to see the larger systems and influences in our community that contribute to the presence of human trafficking, which helps us in self-assessment to check our own biases.  NCCASA’s Prevention Team recently created a Human Trafficking Prevention Toolkit to advance the work in primary prevention, and help us better connect the dots to human trafficking. We are looking forward to the 2021 NC Sexual Violence Prevention Summit and its theme,“Pulling Back the Lens: Expanding Our Understanding of Violence Prevention,” will further equip us with language and vision to better address human trafficking from a public health model, emphasizing systems change, and the priority of building resilient communities, especially among the special populations most impacted by and vulnerable to human trafficking.

Local programs continue to be impacted by false reports of child trafficking recruiting schemes fueled by assumptions of abductions by strangers in white vans, and have resulted in frightened parents calling, overwhelming local and national crisis lines and reports to law enforcement. It can be challenging for programs to do their work when overshadowed by newly formed organizations, or social media groups, that market themselves as experts and train on many of these false narratives.

NCCASA continues to provide leadership in training to equip local programs to be the anti-human trafficking experts in their communities. In December, NCCASA concluded a four-part training, “Expanding Our Reach to Serve Survivors of Human Trafficking,” in a cohort learning environment. Participants worked in teams to craft awareness messages and strategies to push out in their own communities. While programs are encouraged to foster relationships and collaborate with other organizations doing AHT work, it is imperative that experts in the field--those with lived experience and those working directly with a variety of survivors who can accurately represent survivor voices and stories-- lead local and statewide awareness efforts. Such experts understand the complexities and challenges survivors face in achieving justice, healing, or equal access to services. NCCASA will offer the “Expanding Our Reach to Serve Survivors of Human Trafficking” training again in 2021.

Survivor-Centered and Trauma-Informed ADVOCACY 

Human trafficking can involve economic fraud and abuse, visa violations, sexual violence, debt bondage, criminal records that impact employment, education, and housing opportunities, challenges to fair representation in the criminal justice system, as well as the burden of past and ongoing trauma. Survivors whose cases involve law enforcement must navigate multi-agency responses that are exhausting, and perceived coercive treatment to provide information  for successful prosecutions. Survivors also face stigma and unequal treatment with other service providers and advocates because of involvement in commercial sex work. Because of the complex needs of survivors of human trafficking, and the increasing ways rape crisis center and dual agencies are called on to serve them, service providers must be equipped with information to build survivor-centered and trauma-informed advocacy skills through continuing training and professional development opportunities. 

Our work with local programs provides insight into the training programs NCCASA develops to meet these needs. NCCASA continues to support member programs who serve HT survivors by technical assistance in problem solving, challenges in outreach, specific issues that face survivors, or connection to resources. To futher support this work in providing resources rooted in frameworks that prioritze empowering survivors, we are pleased to offer an updated version of our Equipping North Carolina’s Rape Crisis Centers to Serve Survivors of Human Trafficking. 

We are also excited to share the Administration for Children and Families Region 4 Southeast Regional Human Trafficking Advisory Group’s Guiding Principles document that provides a best practice framework to guide service provision. We highly recommend this document to any agencies doing AHT work, and a timely resource in light of the growing body of misguided and harmful “rescue” service frameworks.

Another timely resource that supports trauma-infromed and survivor center advocacy includes the National Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States Report . This report is a comprehensive response to child and youth sex trafficking in the form of twelve topics, along with recommendations for implementation in service, policy and community reponse. This significant work moves the AHT movement forward in its procedure for states to evaluate their implementation efforts of these recommendations.

ACCOUNTABILITY with One Another in the Movement

Lastly, I’d like to lift up how accountability with one another moves our AHT work forward. NCCASA had the unique experience of bringing together leaders in the North Carolina AHT landscape last fall to view and discuss together the Shared Hope International film “Chosen” in a forum titled: “Chosen: A Celebratory Critique.” We reflected together about the ways the AHT movement has grown and met many of the challenges already mentioned in this article.  At its close, I facilitated a discussion of these questions:

  • What gaps and changes do you feel we have yet to fully address?
  • Many of us have a piece of the puzzle but not the whole picture. How do we put these pieces together to establish the work while staying in our lane? How do we know what our lane is based on our unique strengths and frameworks?
  • What are some actionable steps we can take to move the AHT movement forward?

It was a time of reflecting together, listening to honest feedback, and identifying the gaps where we need to grow. As a result of these valuable discussions, NCCASA will offer a series of Critical Conversations, in which we will hear from experts in their fields, to address critical issues within the AHT movement. In each “conversation” we will take a deeper dive with current research or practice, provide policy or program recommendations, and encourage accountability with honest dialogue. You can register for our first one in the series for January 12:  Getting Our Message Out: Workshop for Effective Human Trafficking Awareness.

In conclusion, we want survivors of human trafficking to be heard, supported, and valued. We have a lot of work to do, and we are ready to assist you in your AHT work. Let’s move forward together on this with renewed vision and commitment!

Blog Post by Courtney Dunkerton, NCCASA Anti-Human Trafficking Specialist

No doubt, most reading this blog post are aware of the #savethechildren or #saveourchildren movement that has ignited local communities to organize around a narrative that still demands clarity and pushback. The movement, a response to alleged child sex trafficking in high places by the rich and politically powerful, who have keep secret (until now) a vast criminal network of child snatching, selling, and abuse. Although child sex trafficking does involve those things, the movement has created confusion around the real problem.

Learning about the prevalence of child trafficking can turn the world of empathetic people upside down, who naturally want to “do something” in response. In this case, the emotionally fervent outcry has drawn many to publish misleading and incomplete information about the sex trafficking of minors.  It has also attracted the QAnon followers, who have piggybacked the anti-human trafficking movement to push the issue as a Deep State phenomenon supported by their political enemies, and it has led many to co-opt language that should exclusively belong to those abolitionists who risked their lives to facilitate the freedom of black enslaved people.

While the urge to fight the injustice of child sex trafficking, and the desire to help victims is the right response, let’s think first about the misguided and harmful impact of misinformation and “fake news.”

First of all, some of the arguments used to promote “saving the children” are problematic: spreading the urgent message of child sex trafficking is the “real” protest we should be having, and child sex trafficking is the “real” virus we should be responding to is irresponsible at best, dismissive at worst, to very real racial injustice and very real health threats of COVID, especially for those populations dismissed by the anti-protest language. We do not need false dichotomies to fight child sex trafficking.

Second, the message to end child sex trafficking by threatening to hunt down and destroy perpetrators with a para-military style takeover of communities, coupled with imagery of guns, religious nationalism, and flags (US and Confederate) is problematic, especially given the historically and current complex relationship communities are having with law enforcement. Displays of the brute force of ex-military heroes leading rescue missions or “extractions” does not contribute to a trauma-informed response. Storming the shores of Normandy against entrenched Nazis is one thing, engaging communities and potential victims of trafficking this way is another.

Third, the movement is led by those who treat child sex trafficking as a one-dimensional problem: the trafficker and the buyer, which points to a one-dimensional solution: locate, snatch, and deliver the children safely to their parents then publish victory headlines. As advocates we know that is not how it goes. Identifying a ten year old traded for drugs or rent by their family is not the end of their troubles, but an extraordinary complex and messy journey towards justice and healing--but those leading this #savethechildren movement are unaware of that. They ARE, however, well meaning and well funded. But this is not enough. Those who want to address sex trafficking of minors must learn from local, statewide, and national experts who have been doing the work for years, and are connected with networks of services and resources. Raise money and awareness in collaboration with trusted local, statewide, and national organizations such as: North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault, North Carolina Coalition Against Human Trafficking, North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence, North Carolina Human Trafficking Commission,  Freedom Network USA, Polaris Project, Shared Hope International, National Center on Sexual Exploitation, and Save the Children, for example.

And finally, but most importantly, messages about human trafficking that do not reflect an understanding of structural oppression and inequities impacting marginalized populations is an incomplete message. What does this mean? Consider:

Black girls are trafficked everyday in North Carolina communities, out of group homes, by men who pulled them out of school to take them to motels and homes, who force their abortions, and make them sells their drugs. These girls are seen as fast, delinquent, ratchet, and NO CONCERN OF OURS.

Latina girls are sold, are made to work in brothels, or sold in neighborhoods, but are told by their communities they shouldn't even be there, they and their families are resented. They do not come forward to get help because they are afraid of DSS, afraid of law enforcement, afraid of being treated exactly the way the trafficker tells them they would be treated. AND THEY ARE NO CONCERN OF OURS.

Young girls and boys sexually abused by parents get in trouble at school, eventually stop attending, eventually flee their homes, and at 14, they stay in hotels with friends and sell their bodies to pay for the drugs they use to cope. They are the problem the community wants to get rid of. They are the bad girls you see at the park we keep our children from. They are meth heads. AND THEY ARE NO CONCERN OF OURS.

LGBTQ youth run away from a unsafe homes and trade sex with adults for places to crash at night. Their transactions are filmed and used against them, threatened to be exposed. They are mistreated at the hospital, they are mistreated and harassed on the streets. Unwelcome, ignored. AND THEY ARE NO CONCERN OF OURS.

Until we learn to see how human trafficking impacts the most vulnerable, we cannot truly address it in our communities. The question we should ask ourselves: which children are we really concerned about? #saveALLthechildren.

 

For further reading:

Blog Post by Courtney Dunkerton, NCCASA's Anti-Human Trafficking Specialist

Rethinking “Modern Day Slavery” - Don’t Disregard the Role of Race & Racism in the Anti-Human Trafficking Movement

 

In 2019, an anti-human trafficking advocate spoke at a livestreamed hearing. After describing some of her outreach work, she produced a pair of sparkly platform shoes with a stiletto heel. She told a story about a woman she had reached out to online, and how that woman gave her those shoes after exiting the sex trades, telling her “these are the former shackles of former slavery.” Holding the shoes up, the woman repeated, “these are shackles,” before giving one final, teary plea as her voice shook.

Immediately, social media erupted with commentary. Some anti-trafficking advocates found her words to be powerful and the story to be moving. Other advocates found the image of a white woman whose ancestors did not experience chattel slavery in the United States invoking the memory of chattel slavery as a rhetorical device to be exploitative. Conversations on one side emphasized the listener’s feelings of empathy at hearing such a touching story; conversations on the other side emphasized the woman’s lack of racial sensitivity. In both cases, conversations focused on the spectacle and sensationalism, and decentered the actual needs and lived experiences of survivors of human trafficking and other people in the sex trades.

Human trafficking includes a broad range of activities. It can include one person manipulated into commercial sex for a few hours through threats of outing as LGBTQ, or another person enduring years of constant physical violence to keep them in a frightening situation. While all forms of slavery fit the definition of human trafficking, not all forms of human trafficking fit the definition of slavery, and certainly not in the historical context of chattel slavery in the United States. Chattel slavery was generational and race-based, with sexual violence strategically used to denigrate enslaved people while growing the unpaid labor force. Chattel slavery was state-sanctioned and legal, with enslaved humans offered to banks as collateral on loans and repossessed if slave holders went into default.

For people whose ancestors experienced chattel slavery, whose families still bear disproportionate access to safety and empathy, who worry about their children being attacked for being children, conflation of human trafficking with slavery may feel dismissive. When this conflation is done by people whose ancestors did not experience that harm, or in the absence of a strong commitment to racial justice, it may feel like an attempt to rewrite or ignore history.

Human trafficking is horrific. This is not in question. Recruiting or holding someone in labor through force, fraud, or coercion is an unthinkable violation of human rights and source of trauma. And… we can convey that message through clear language that doesn’t dismiss the concerns some African American anti-trafficking advocates have with calling it “slavery.”

At NCCASA, we have avoided using the language of slavery to describe human trafficking. Our staff have written on the differences between human trafficking the chattel slavery in articles for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and in our Human Trafficking Prevention Toolkit. Last year, less than a month after the shoes-as-shackles debate wound its way through Twitter, our Associate Director and Prevention Education Program Manager presented a session on “Human Trafficking in the Historical Context of US Slavery” at the SAFE Coalition for Human Rights Global Conference on Human Trafficking near Chicago. Many of the people doing anti-trafficking work in the US were grateful for the dialogue. One woman had clearly never considered this distinction, and seemed bothered. “How was slavery just about Black people?” she asked. “What about what happened to the Irish? My ancestors were slaves, too. It’s the same thing. The Irish were slaves too!”

It’s not the same.

But the kind of debt bondage experienced by Irish and other immigrant populations is similar to the experiences of many modern-day victims of human trafficking.

And if the “Irish slaves” debt bondage narrative has been used historically to minimize the horrors of slavery for racist purposes (in ways that current Irish-American descendants might not even realize), then an inclusive human trafficking movement will strive not to replicate that error of conflation.

We can fight human trafficking without co-opting the language of slavery. “Modern day slavery,” “abolition,” and “sex slave” have no place in our common language to refer uncritically to trafficking experiences. Using “shackles” as a metaphor obscures a harsh history that included actual shackles, physical torture, and state-sanctioned abuse, and ignores the complicated racial history of the anti-human trafficking movement itself.

Recommendations for agencies engaging in anti-human trafficking outreach, awareness, and prevention include:

  • Be thoughtful about your language. A little extra time to proofread your content for words that suggest chattel slavery can help your message be more inclusive.
  • Words you might want to avoid include: abolition, abolitionist, slavery, modern-day slavery, underground railroad, shackles, captivity, and sex slave. Words that might be used exploitatively depending on the context include: liberation, freedom, and rescue.
  • Avoiding sensationalized or hypersexualized imagery is always a good idea in anti-trafficking work. Avoiding imagery that invokes comparisons to chattel slavery (chains, shackles, etc.) may also lead to a more inclusive message.
  • Check out The Irina Project for information about representations of human trafficking in our language and imagery.

See the companion blog post to this one here: Human Trafficking, Chattel Slavery, and Structural Racism: What Journalists Need to Know

For more information about NCCASA’s extensive work on human trafficking or to request technical assistance in developing your Human Trafficking Awareness Month campaigns, contact NCCASA’s Anti-Human Trafficking Specialist, Courtney Dunkerton.

 

NCCASA will be updating the documents below as more information comes in about COVID-19 and how it affects NC's community and agencies.

COVID-19 Services & Resources

This drive features resources for survivors, guidance for programs, resources for coping, service delivery information, technology resources, and social media and outreach tips.

COVID-19 Federal Updates

This drive features messages from the OVW Acting Director, Department of Labor instructions, Grantee Staff Pay FAQ, OMB Administrative Leave Memo, US DOL Employer Updates and a letter from the Office of the Secretary and other resources.

Other Resources:

Health and Human Services Discretion of Communication

Title IX Resources

COVID-19 State Updates

This drive features an FAQ from the NCCFW.

NC Updates:

Latest Information from the Governor

NC Department of Health and Human Services

Language Line Guide

This resource features steps on conference calling the Language Line in the event you have a person on the phone with limited English proficiency.

Covid-19 Information in 32 Languages

Equipping North Carolina’s rape crisis centers to serve survivors of human trafficking is one of the primary goals for NCCASA’s anti-human trafficking efforts, especially in a time as this, when accurate information about human trafficking and what survivors need is vital. Misinformation about human trafficking continues to feed narratives that harm survivors and misdirect resources. We want to equip you to be leaders in your community: to provide accurate and helpful information so that ALL survivors are served in an equitable and trauma-informed manner.

We are very excited to offer our “Expanding Our Reach” virtual training modules in a cohort learning model, which will encourage peer learning and support while engaging specific challenges about the work together. One feature of this learning opportunity is creating an awareness action plan for your community for January, Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

We will talk about sexual violence in human trafficking, we will talk about improving community outreach by looking at human trafficking from an anti-oppression lens, and we will discuss strategies for effective systems advocacy. But mostly we will focus on building community with one another in a time where we need each other more than ever before.

Interested? Apply here before October 19 since “spaces” are limited. For those who are not accepted, there will be later opportunities to receive this training again.

From September 15 through October 15, the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture and achievements of the United States are recognized and celebrated. It is a time to learn more about Hispanic and Latino heritage, and the many ways it influences our society.

For many people, Hispanic and Latino/a or Latinx are used interchangeably- which isn’t necessarily the case. Hispanic refers to a person who is from, or is a descendant of someone who is from, a Spanish-speaking country. On the other hand, Latino/a or Latinx refers to a person who is from, or is a descendant of someone who is from, a country in Latin America. This does lead to overlap; however, to most it’s a matter of personal preference for the term they feel best encompasses their heritage and cultural identity.

While it is important to celebrate the many achievements of Hispanic Americans, it’s even more imperative to address the barriers that they face in society today. Many Hispanic Americans do not seek out receiving health care services of high quality, in large part due to the many cultural differences that are present within our healthcare system. Language barriers alone can lead to misunderstandings, poorer patient-provider relationships, and increased anxiety around using the healthcare system.

According to the Office for Victims of Crime, victim service agencies across the country have not kept up with the rapid growth of Hispanic American victim populations. This includes a lack of bilingual and bicultural direct service staff and volunteers, lack of bilingual and bicultural materials, and a lack of bilingual and bicultural trainers. Within many Hispanic communities, there is a heavy importance on the ability to trust another, in order to confide in them and to receive the help and care they need. Without bilingual and culturally informed services, the Hispanic community will continue to fail to receive care and services they deserve.

We cannot continue to fail our Hispanic Americans. We must change how the system is in order to provide equal treatment options for everyone.

I encourage you to go and explore all of the incredible things that Hispanic Americans have created. From virtually visiting the Latino Center at the Smithsonian Institute to watching a film from the AFI Silver Theatre’s Latin American Film Festival to donating to an agency working toward equality and justice for Hispanic and Latin Americans, there are many ways to uplift the work and lives of Hispanic Americans.

Blog Post by Alexandra Smith, NCCASA's Member Services Assistant

When it comes to talking about voting in November, I know these can be divisive conversations. Historically, it was considered “taboo” to talk about who you’re going to vote for and which policies/officials you do or do not support. Over the years though, politics and voting has become a much more mainstream conversation and I believe there’s good reason for that: the people we vote into office have a profound impact on all of the intersecting parts of our lives, including our survivorship and/or the survivorship of those we support.

NCCASA’s Executive Director, Monika Johnson Hostler (along with other inspirational change makers), recently spoke during the discussion “Multiple Truths: Survivorship in the 2020 Elections” hosted by Jane Doe Inc. While listening to the conversation I gained a deeper perspective on how all aspects of government impact survivors. As Monika and the other speakers pointed out during this conversation, there is no facet of government that is not connected in some way to the impacts of sexual violence. Our school boards, our Governor’s office, our judges, our housing officials, the Secretary of Education, the list goes on. The survivors that we work with as advocates are connected in some way to most, if not all of these institutions, and it is imperative that when we are voting for the officials that will hold these offices or appoint others to these positions, that we are thinking about the impact these officials may have on our ability to provide the kind of advocacy we know survivors need and deserve.

When you go to the polls or fill in your mail-in ballot, consider that you are not only voting for the President, Senators, and Governor, etc you’re voting for all the people that these candidates will appoint. You’re voting for the bills and legislation that may be more likely to pass in their administration. You’re voting for funding streams. You’re voting for committee members that have a say in economic and housing opportunities for survivors. You’re voting for local officials, like the school board, that affect healthy relationship education.

What can advocates do? Our advocacy doesn’t just include the direct support we offer the survivor sitting in front of us. It expands to the way we can effect change for survivors at the local, state, and national level. We have power in our communities and are often thought of as community leaders, let’s capitalize on that power by educating our community members that are invested in the work of our programs.

One way you can do this is by educating your community about how the various levels of government impact your program and survivors. For example, how funding for sexual violence can be determined at the legislative level as we’ve seen with the CARES Act Funding, so voting for legislators that support the survivor’s agenda will have a lasting impact on the services that you’re able to provide. For those who are interested in the judicial aspects of sexual violence, talk about the significance of voting for judges who represent survivor choice, autonomy, and helping survivors heal and determine their own meaning of justice. If you come across someone who is really torn about who to vote for at the executive level, have a discussion with them about what their priorities are when it comes to ending sexual and community violence. Create space for you and the potential voter to be vulnerable and open about the struggles you’re having. Remind this voter that it’s not all about who you vote into office, but the people they will appoint and the people they take advice from.

Finally, make registering to vote part of your community outreach. All of the things that were mentioned above are ways that you can connect voter registration to your survivor advocacy work. When the community asks questions, be ready with answers and information that is accurate about voter fraud, voter suppression, and how, where, and when to vote safely. This, and every election cycle, we have the opportunity to elect officials that will support our advocacy efforts and who will listen to us, and other survivors, when it comes to making decisions that affect our community. When you’re having a discussion with someone who says “why should I vote?” You can tell them this is why it matters.

 

For information on registering to vote in NC go to: https://www.ncdot.gov/dmv/offices-services/online/Pages/voter-registration-application.aspx

For mail-in ballot information and to request your mail- in ballot go to: https://www.ncvoter.org/absentee-ballots/

Early Voting will take place in NC from October 15-31. For more information go to: https://www.ncsbe.gov/voting/vote-early-person

If you and your community members would like to watch the “Multiple Truths” discussion, you can view a recording here.

Blog Post by Leah Poole, NCCASA Rural Sexual Assault Services Specialist

Read Emergent Space Here: Emergent Space: Finding An Alternative

Over the summer of 2020, NCCASA was extraordinarily lucky to host two brilliant interns through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Moxie Scholars program. From their first meetings with me, Montia and Shareen showed so much intention and passion about their work, and about the transformative principles that can emerge from seeing connections in all the pieces of your life -- work, study, praxis, activism, organizing, relationship, and love. Our summer project was to envision new ways that teachers could better support LGBTQ+ students in K-12 schools, and as we discussed the kinds of spaces that would allow people room to learn, to make mistakes, and to still feel held, we had conversations comparing the strengths and challenges of safe and brave space frameworks.

This booklet emerged out of those spirited conversations as a separate project, and quickly took on a life of its own.

NCCASA's staff has been honored to serve as mentors to Shareen and Montia, to learn with and from them, and to have our own personal, professional, and visionary practices enriched and revitalized by our time together. I look forward to continued collaborations with them on this concept, and share in their deep gratitude for adrienne maree brown and the many visionary Black feminists before her who inspired this collaboration.

Feel free to post, promote, or otherwise highlight this document unaltered, to implement its ideals in your program, and to reference it in your training or materials (properly credited). Please reach out if you would like to discuss emergent spaces further or to collaborate on a derivative work!

Warmly,

Chris Croft, Prevention Education Program Manager
NCCASA Resource

Emergent Space: Finding An Alternative

Read Resource
Calling North Carolina sexual assault advocates and health care providers i.e. OB/GYNs, dentists, doulas, health department staff, SANEs, etc.

We know that the majority of those that experience sexual violence that we work with, whether it was a recent assault or a past assault, do not choose to have evidence collected. This does not mean that they do not need support with their healthcare needs. Folx who have experienced sexual violence often have complex relationships with their health and bodies and medical providers.

This work group will be in collaboration with NCCASA’s Rural Sexual Assault Services Specialist and will focus on widening the scope of medical advocacy services to those who have experienced sexual violence. This group will meet once a month via virtual meeting or webinar to come up with resources and solutions for how we can improve healthcare needs across the state.

If you, or someone you know may be interested in being a part of this work group, please contact Leah Poole at leah@nccasa.org.

*Please note, it is not a requirement that you are a rural service provider to be part of this group.

In Solidarity,

Leah Poole