North Carolina Community Shares

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 11, 2011
CONTACT: Monika Johnson Hostler, (919) 871-1015
Executive Director, NCCASA

Statewide Organization Launches END Zone Challenge To End Child Sexual Abuse

Raleigh, NC- November 11, 2011- In the wake of the child molestation charges at Penn State, it is imperative that communities unite to combat against the epidemic of sexual violence in North Carolina and abroad. It’s with this sentiment, the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCCASA) a nonprofit that serves as a statewide alliance working to end sexual violence through education, advocacy and legislation, issues the “END Zone Challenge” to individuals, organizations, and community leaders. The “END Zone” represents a collective, community, coordinated, holistic, NO TOLERANCE or” SIDELINE” response to child sexual abuse. The challenge is an effort to raise awareness and support for sexual assault survivors and NCCASA’s youth outreach work. NCCASA extends the END ZONE to you by challenging you to take a stand. The END ZONE’s principles are:

• Silence condones sexual violence.
• Everyone is responsible for changing the culture, to remove barriers for reporting rape.
• Call it what is, it’s rape, it’s not sex!

Community support of child sexual abuse survivors is an integral component to recovery and healing. “Although sexual violence has a life-long impact on survivors and the “END ZONE will only scratch the surface, it is the least we can do to show our support for survivors and educate youth. We challenge others to support survivors, contribute and join NCCASA in the END ZONE against sexual assault,” says Monika Johnson Hostler, Executive Director of NCCASA.

Ways to join the END Zone

• Donate to NCCASA’s 2012 Young Advocates Institute, a program that will bring together 200 teens from across the state for a weekend of leadership and prevention education workshops intended to equip them with the skill-sets to be peer leaders.
• Host a dialogue with youth about healthy behaviors, relationships and technology safety.
• Commit to calling your legislators and encouraging them to support legislation that impacts funding, laws and services critical to survivors and advocates.
• Offer to provide services for survivors such as pro-bono civil legal representation, donation of a vehicle, or counseling or therapy services.

The North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault would like to invite all North Carolinians to support survivors of sexual violence, contribute and enter the “END ZONE.” Together, we will END rape and sexual assault!

For more information contact the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault at (919) 871-1015 or visit www.nccasa.org.