Experiential Education: Learning about Domestic and Sexual Assault through Service

This proposal to Verizon Wireless would fund a $10,000 pilot project that would allow students to receive course credit for providing supervised, meaningful services in a local non-profit program that serves domestic violence victims or rape survivors. The executive director of the Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women (OPSVAW) will supervise each student in this experiential education program and will provide training to them as the semester begins. Placement of the students will be coordinated between the OPSVAW and Greenhouse17 and the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center. Creating a unique experiential education that exposes students to survivors of domestic violence and rape through this project is beneficial as it: 1. Offers an ideal learning opportunity for students that will last well beyond the semester in which it happens; and 2. Provides staff (student) support to assist the programs in providing services to survivors and their children.