We seek to develop a blueprint for challenging the way that our culture responds to sexual violence -- and a system of accountability for those who will be charged with executing such a plan.
Our goal is to foster new alliances and information sharing between anti-violence leaders from the worlds of advocacy, law, media, public health and the academy. We will encourage the development of fresh ideas and honest dialogue, and consider best practices from other social, legal and public health movements. Facilitating discussion is important, and we expect that there will be a lot of it as we share information and challenge existing modes of thinking. But discussion is only the beginning, a means to our end goal of creating lasting social and legal change for survivors.
With this in mind, we will be convening a Fall 2008 leadership summit, one in which we will review the state of the law and the culture as regards sexual violence, explore how and why other social movements have taken hold in the popular consciousness, and develop an actionable, results-oriented strategic plan for moving the issue of sexual violence out of the shadows and onto the public stage. Exploring additional initiatives, including a multi-media public awareness campaign and a national speakers bureau, are also on our agenda for 2009.