Eve’s Place: Mobile Advocacy for Sexual Violence Survivors
During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, it’s important to know about vital services for individuals experiencing sexual assault. The Department of Economic Security (DES) provides support to eight community organizations that can assist sexual assault survivors, one of the organizations being Eve’s Place.
Eve’s Place is a nonprofit organization headquartered in the West Valley, but able to provide services to most of the state for men, women, and children. Specializing in mobile advocacy, they will travel to the people who need help, meeting them where they are most comfortable rather than having them travel to an office.
Laura Horsley, the Chief Executive Officer of Eve’s Place, said their mobile structure allows them to serve more people who need services, as they aren’t restricted by barriers. She noted that not only are their advocates mobile, but “they’re also intentional about being mobile.”
“We meet the clients, we do not require them to come to us; we go to them. The byproduct of that is that the clients get to be mobile. They get to access services that may or may not be available to them simply because they don’t have transportation or access to that particular area, so it makes it easier for clients to access the different resources,” Laura said.
Examples of some of the work advocates do include ensuring clients get to any shelters, DES offices, churches, community centers, food banks, or family members who can help. A big initiative Eve’s Place has is relocation, and advocates have driven clients as far as California.
Chief Operating Officer Marci Chenoweth reiterated the point of mobile advocacy, saying it gives the survivors a choice, something many people oftentimes don’t have.
“We like to say that we’re the drivers, but they’re the navigators. They let us know what direction they would like to go in,” said Marci.
Visit the Eve’s Place website for resources on mobile advocacy and discover other resources on the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence’s website.