ValorUS® (VALOR) is a California-based, national organization and California’s sexual assault coalition committed to advancing equity and ending sexual violence. Since our founding in 1980, we have continued to build dynamic relationships across a diverse range of communities, institutions, and systems, and mobilize our network of survivors and advocates to influence change. Through leadership, prevention, and advocacy, we are fearlessly pursuing a world free from violence where the dignity of every person is valued and respected.
LEadership
VALOR advocates across California and nationwide on behalf of a strong network of survivors, advocates, volunteers, and community partners to end sexual violence by advancing equity and eradicating oppression. VALOR achieves this goal through promoting policies that prevent sexual violence, center survivors’ needs, and transform institutions and systems to create equitable environments.
VALOR leads the California VOCA Advocacy Alliance and is a member of the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence.
Leadership Education and Advancement for Professionals (LEAP) is a national initiative by ValorUS designed to elevate the professional skills of people of color aiming for executive leadership roles in the anti-gender-based violence field. LEAP provides a space for leaders of color to learn, strategize, and build community, bringing together leaders from across the United States and territories. This program fosters a multi-racial network of leaders dedicated to redefining executive leadership in the gender-based violence sector and advancing opportunities for growth through professional development and strategic networking.
ValorUS is a founder and managing partner of RALIANCE, a national partnership that provides unparalleled expertise and innovative solutions to create equitable, respectful, and safe environments. RALIANCE provides customized, data-driven solutions to help prevent and respond to sexual misconduct in the workplace and across all business operations. RALIANCE partners with a wide range of organizations to improve their cultures and create environments free from sexual harassment, misconduct and abuse. Every day, RALIANCE helps leaders establish safe workplaces and strong communities by advancing research, influencing policy, and supporting innovative programs. RALIANCE Sport + Prevention Center provides resources and research for sport to be part of the solution to prevent sexual violence
The National Sexual Assault Conference® (NSAC) is a movement of survivors, advocates, and activists invested in the future of ending sexual violence. This year’s theme, Next Era Activism, challenges us to embrace bold shifts, new perspectives, and approaches that disrupt the status quo. In a time when traditional methods may no longer serve, we invite presenters to explore how we can all work together for a more just future. How are we prioritizing a future where everyone has what they need to be healthy and reach their full potential? How do we know when it’s time to leave certain practices behind and reinvent our approaches?
At NSAC, we are setting the national agenda for the future of this movement. Join us in envisioning and building this next era – one that centers those most impacted by sexual violence and finds new ways to advance this work within today’s complex realities.
Our PRoJects
Prevention
PreventConnect, a national project of ValorUS, advances the primary prevention of sexual and intimate partner violence by building an online community of practice among people who are engaged in such efforts. PreventConnect also builds the capacity of local, state, territorial, national, and tribal agencies and organizations to develop, implement, and evaluate effective prevention initiatives. PreventConnect explores issues and highlights efforts to stop sexual and intimate partner violence before it starts; engages communities in preventing sexual and intimate partner violence; and builds upon the strengths of the rape crisis and domestic violence movements, public health and other related prevention efforts to create social change.
ValorUS provides training and technical assistance to California-based prevention programs to build the capacity of California organizations to develop, implement and evaluate comprehensive prevention efforts. ValorUS supports California’s Rape Prevention and Education (RPE), Statewide Communities of Practice and CalOES’s SD prevention programs. In 2020, ValorUS’ Prevention in a Pandemic Program (PPAP) supported organizations to build prevention programs during the pandemic.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE & TRAINING REQUEST FORM
ADVOCACY
ValorUS provides advocacy-based technical assistance and training, capacity building, and resources to the rape crisis centers and sexual assault programs in California to address their localized needs and support their communities. We collaborate with community partners such as faith communities, labor and union organizations, TransLatin@ Coalition, and other sectors that support to the anti-sexual violence movement. Our programs and trainings are developed with a trauma-informed and survivor-centered approach, and draw connections beween the sexual assault movement and other social issues.
ValorUS partners with Just Detention International (JDI) to support rape crisis centers to support survivors in prisons, jail and youth detention centers. We advocate to bring the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) into compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards.
ValorUS partners with The Arc of California on the shared vision that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) who are impacted by sexual violence across the state of California have access to advocacy services that are safe, barrier-free, and responsive to their needs.
ValorUS provides training and technical assistance to college and university campuses on effective strategies to respond to, investigate, and prevent sexual violence. ValorUS advocates for trauma-informed campus policies, including those regarding Title IX, and campus-community partnerships.
ValorUS’ California Immigration Legal Assistance Project (CILAP) supported collaborative work with partners to address gaps in access to legal services for immigrant, Limited English Proficient (LEP), and farmworker victims of rape/sexual assault in three remote rural communities in central California.
