Moving Towards Meaningful: A STOP Administrator’s experience influencing change in the state’s response to sexual violence

The Violence Against Women Act reauthorization of 2013 directed state administrators of STOP funds to set aside 20 percent of their funds for programs or projects that meaningfully address sexual assault. The Sexual Violence Justice Institute (SVJI) is sharing Michigan’s experience in addressing this challenge because it offers a number of lessons for STOP Administrators to consider as they attempt to meaningfully address sexual violence in their communities. Michigan’s experience is one of assessing the status quo and successfully shifting some well established patterns. Shifts of this scale are never the result of a single person’s actions.

Debi Cain, the Executive Director of the legislatively created Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board (the Board) is clear about this point. At the same time, leadership can and does matter. By remaining adaptive and finding other strategies to address the problems she saw, Debi demonstrated that challenging the status quo can lead to meaningful statewide change.