Northern Virginia Community College Director of NOVACares Office Connie Kirkland describes how colleges and universities can use the 32 NCSI sexual violence self-assessment tool.With about one in five women experiencing rape or attempted rape at some point during their college careers, institutions of higher education should have appropriate sexual violence prevention and response programs in place. But how can you determine if your campus program will actually be effective?

A free, new and confidential tool from the VTV Family Outreach Foundation is designed to help campuses assess the effectiveness of their sexual violence programs. This tool is one of nine assessment tools that are part of VTV’s 32 National Campus Safety Initiative (32 NCSI). All nine tools are designed around industry standards and best practices to help institutions reflect on their own policies and practices to identify institutional strengths and weaknesses.

In my interview with Northern Virginia Community College Director of NOVACares Office Connie Kirkland, MA, NCC, she describes how colleges and universities can use the 32 NCSI sexual violence self-assessment tool to improve, or if necessary create, their sexual violence prevention and response programs. She also discusses some of the challenges of addressing sexual violence at community colleges.

To access the Alcohol and Other Drugs assessment tool, or any of the other assessment tools, visit 32NCSI.org.