THE Big Lottery Fund through their Women and Girls Initiative has funded the Essex Rape Crisis Partnership, a partnership of three Essex rape crisis centres – South Essex Rape and Incest Crisis Centre (SERICC), CARA (Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse) and Southend-on-Sea Rape Crisis (SOS Rape Crisis).
The £741,265 over three years will be used to pilot a new project “Essex First Contact Navigators”. Specialist sexual violence “navigators” will support women and girls who have experienced any form of sexual violence, by acting as a first point of contact. Navigators will enable women and girls to make contact with specialist sexual violence services and access information about other services available to them in Essex.
Sheila Coates MBE, Director of SERICC said:
“We are delighted that the Big Lottery Fund will enable the Essex Rape Crisis Partnership to develop a new model of working for responding to sexual violence victims and survivors. We will also be able to ensure that victims and survivors themselves will be given the opportunity to meet as an Essex wide consultative group, empowering victims and survivors to have a ‘voice’ ”
Helen Parr, Director of CARA said:
“As well has enabling us to pilot the “Essex First Contact Navigators” project, the funding will support the development of the Essex Rape Crisis Partnership between SERICC, SOS Rape Crisis and CARA. Developing this partnership is a positive step for all three organisations.  By working together we can start to ensure that women and girls from across Essex who have experienced sexual violence can access high quality specialist services.”
Laura Burroughs, Manager of SOS Rape Crisis said:
“As awareness of sexual violence and in particular child sexual abuse grows, more and more women and girls are coming forward to seek support. Thanks to this funding we will be able to respond to this growing demand and to reach more women and girls from across Essex.”
• In Essex, an estimated 22,650 women experience some form of sexual violence each year (Ministry of Justice).
• Rape, sexual assault and child sexual abuse are major problems in the UK, with women and girls disproportionately affected.  1 in 5 women has experienced some form of sexual violence since the age of 16  (Ministry of Justice, 2013) and 31% of young women aged 18-24 report having experienced sexual abuse in childhood (NSPCC, 2011).Â
Information and Support Lines.
SERICC (South Essex Rape and Incest Crisis Centre) 01375 380609
www.sericc.org.uk
CARA (Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse) 01206 769795
www.caraessex.org.uk
Southend-on-Sea Rape Crisis (SOS Rape Crisis) 01702 303232
www.sosrc.org
