Bellevue College (BC) recently received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) to assist in addressing sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.

BC was one of 57 academic institutions across the U.S. to receive a grant under the OVW’s campus program. Edmonds Community College was the only other Washington college to receive the grant.

OVW’s Grants to Reduce Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking on Campus Program supports institutions in implementing comprehensive, coordinated responses to violent crimes on campus through partnerships with victim services providers and justice agencies. Grantees work collaboratively with local law enforcement and prosecutors, campus athletic programs, Greek life organizations and off-campus victim services.

The OVW received 92 applications requesting totals of more than $27 million in 2018. OVW awarded more than $18 million to the 57 schools.

For BC, the grant will create a framework for coordinating campus responses with community partners like LifeWire, King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC) and the Bellevue Police Department. The grant also will provide more comprehensive training to BC faculty, staff and students on the best practices for prevention and bystander intervention — as well as increase awareness of what a healthy relationship is and the community resources available to assist when problems arise.

Title IX Coordinator for BC’s Equity and Pluralism office, Rachel Wellman, said the support “can make the difference between students earning their degree or dropping out.”

“We’ve found that 90 percent of students who report incidents, stay at the college. And because of the conversations occurring around the nation, awareness and the need for support is increasing,” Wellman said. “Partnering with other agencies through this grant will allow us to expand the support network, and ultimately keep more of our students on the path to success.”

“It is vital to keep our students safe on campuses by supporting programs that take a coordinated community approach to education and prevention of sexual assault on our college and university campuses,” OVW acting director Katharine Sullivan said in a release. “OVW is proud of our innovative approach to the development of the campus grant programs. We welcome our new grantees, and congratulations to our continuing grantees.”

Dr. Sayumi Irey, interim vice president for diversity at BC, said she is thrilled BC received the grant and is grateful to have committed community partners working with BC and students.

“This is the culmination of an effort that began three years ago as the vision of residence halls was just getting underway, and we realized we needed to increase education and training around sexual violence and harassment as our campus continues to grow,” she said.