SEMO-NASV receives federal, community grant funding

A local sexual assault and victim advocacy organization has received grants to continue and expand its work.

Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence (SEMO-NASV) has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks for a COVID-19 relief project. SEMO-NASV executive director Kendra Eads said just a week ago, SEMO-NASV also received a $750,000 grant from the federal Office on Violence Against Women for a 36-month project to expand and sustain services in rural Southeast Missouri.

SEMO-NASV provides direct services and support for child and adult victims of sexual assault, and delivers evidence-based child abuse prevention education in eight rural Missouri counties, according to its website.

Eads said although it feels like they have an “embarrassment of riches” right now, there are already plans on how the grants will be used.

The $20,000 grant from the community foundation is for a specific COVID-19 relief project, Eads said. A portion of the money will be used on special personal protective equipment for forensic interviews.

“We use clear face masks during forensic interviews,” Eads said. “This allows the interviewer and the victims to be able to see each other’s mouths and facial expressions while they’re doing the interview, but they’re also protected.”

Eads said the rest of the money will be used to make their prevention program virtual. SEMO-NASV will work with Creative Edge in Cape Girardeau to record the sessions, then they will disseminate them into schools.

The $750,000 grant is a rural grant through the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women, and is a continuation of previous funding awarded in 2017, Eads said.

This grant is mainly for staffing, Eads said, so SEMO-NASV can continue to expand programming in Southeast Missouri.

Eads said through that grant, SEMO-NASV will be able to have a physician assistant who provides medical exams for victims, a therapist who provides trauma-based counseling for sexual violence survivors, and add positions for prevention programs such as Green Bear — a program for pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students that teaches primary child abuse prevention — and its victim advocacy program.

Eads said money from the grant also allows SEMO-NASV to work closely with Southeast Hospital and the Campus Violence Prevention Program at Southeast Missouri State University.

“We’re just really excited about continuing that work and expanding it a little bit over the next three years,” Eads said. “It’s such a large amount of money that we can do so much with, and there’s stability.”

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a wrench in plans, Eads said, so the organization is going to “revisit and revise” plans now that they’ve received the money.

Eads said because it was a continuation, they were able to ask for more money to increase programming.

The first year, SEMO-NASV received just under $500,000. Eads said because they were “good stewards” of the grant the first time, SEMO-NASV was able to get more this year to increase programming.

“[The federal government] was very impressed with everything we’ve been able to do in such a rural area, so we’re very proud of it and we’re proud that we got the continuation and we’re excited about what we can do going forward,” Eads said.

For more information about SEMO-NASV, visit www.semonasv.org.