The Rape Victim Advocacy Program (RVAP) was established 45 years ago as part of the civil rights movement to combat the use of gender and sex as weapons of oppression. Throughout our proud history, RVAP’s mission has been to “provide confidential, accessible support and advocacy to victims/survivors of sexual abuse and their partners, friends, and family members; and work to create a community free from sexual violence by providing education and prevention strategies, and by promoting social change.” Now in our 45th year, we believe that the conditions that allow sexual violence to occur must be addressed in order to have true justice and meaningful social change. To that end, we remain committed to exploring ways to ensure safety and accountability without perpetrating systems of inequity, oppression, and abuse of power.
RVAP’s comprehensive sexual assault services and programming are available in eight counties in southeast Iowa. This includes free prevention programming as well as confidential, victim-centered, trauma-informed services for the following counties: Cedar, Des Moines, Henry, Iowa, Johnson, Lee, Van Buren, and Washington. These services include emergency victim services through our 24-hour crisis support line; in-person medical, legal, personal, academic, and systems advocacy; individual and group counseling.
These services save lives, and our goal is to expand the reach of these services so that victims/survivors who have traditionally been unserved, underserved, and inadequately served can effectively access and benefit from them.
Your contribution to RVAP – at any level – supports hope, healing, and a dedication to fostering healthy and just communities for everyone. Together, we will create a world free of sexual violence. We invite you to please join us.