First Response Action Coalition Profiles

First Response Action is operated by a coalition of six RPCVs, who all served within the last 10 years in five different countries. Those RPCVs are: Casey Frazee (First Response Action founder), Karen Moldovan, Kate Finn, Meg Long, Jess Smochek and Katie Campbell. Below are profiles of each of the Coalition members.

All of these women have rich histories in community organizing, direct service and non-profit development. Each one brings her skills to the table to work towards First Response Action's mission of advocating for a stronger Peace Corps response for Volunteers who are Survivors or victims of physical and sexual assault.

For more information or to offer your skills to the benefit of the mission, please email firstresponseaction@gmail.com.

• Casey Frazee is an RPCV who served in South Africa in the Community HIV/AIDS Outreach Program. Prior to Peace Corps, Casey worked in agency public relations and then non-profit development. Currently, she is the Girls Programs Coordinator for the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati where she works with youth on programs such as pregnancy and STD prevention, financial literacy, media literacy, managing stress and substance abuse prevention. Contact: http://www.blogger.com/firstresponseaction@gmail.com

• Karen Moldovan is an RPCV who served in Tonga. She came to the Peace Corps with strong experience in advocacy, education, international development, public policy, and community organizing. Her professional experience has often focused on working with underserved populations, including survivors of intimate partner violence, individuals experiencing homelessness, and pregnant and parenting youth. She is currently the Program Manager at the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Contact: advocacy@ccasa.org

• Kate Finn is an RPCV who worked in the Children, Youth and Families project in Costa Rica. Before becoming a PCV, Kate volunteered and organized projects to support children of prisoners. Kate is currently the Program Coordinator for the national model Victim Services Network at the Denver District Attorney's Office. The Victim Services Network is a collaborative network that connects and supports agencies and communities to provide innovative, seamless and integrated services to victims of crime in Denver, CO. Contact: Krf@denverda.org

• Meg Long is an RPCV who served in Kenya as a Public Health Volunteer. During her service, Meg wrote and provided a training on a Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault information manual. While completing her Master’s in Public Health, Meg worked as a Call Responder on a Crisis Assistance Listening Line. She currently works for the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Portland, OR as the Assistant House and Volunteer Manager. Contact: http://www.blogger.com/x98mlong@yahoo.com

• Jessica Smochek is an RPCV who served in Bangladesh in the Teaching English as a Second Language program where she taught at an all-girls middle school. After the Peace Corps, Jessica obtained her Master’s in International Health and worked in the data management sector of drug development (oncology studies). She is currently in Washington, DC pursuing her Master’s in Counseling. Contact: jess.smochek@gmail.com

• Katie Campbell is an RPCV who served in Tonga where she was a Community Educator. She currently resides in D.C. where she is a Public Policy Associate at the World Food Program USA. She is pursuing her Master’s in Public Health at The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs. Contact: http://www.blogger.com/katieanne.campbell@gmail.com
  

"Solidarity Not Sympathy"

Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, graduate student and all-around spectacular person AJ Kumar wrote an article for the site go.girl.magazine in acknowledgement of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. In this article, he mentions First Response Action as a way for people to engage in stemming the tide of sexual assault and rape by bringing solidarity and not just sympathy to the situation. A selection of AJ's article is below. You can find his whole piece here.

Given that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, I’m dedicating this month’s column to highlighting a few movements that address support for victims of sexual assault and ways for men to be a bigger part of the solution.

First Response Action

There are many ways to stand in solidarity against sexual violence. Perhaps one of the most important ways is to advocate for victims and provide them with the needed support and services. In the Peace Corps, the way each post responds to sexual assault and rape is not always uniform. To be clear, they are not ignoring the problem and do have some systems in place.

For example, in South Africa, the medical unit made it a point to talk about the need to get in touch with them immediately if one was ever raped so that they could get the victim on PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis), in order to minimize the risk of transmission of HIV. If taken within 72 hours, PEP can drastically reduce the chances of transmission and its something that more people should be aware of, even outside of SA.

Much of the support needed after an incident of rape or sexual assault though, is not related to bio-medicine, but rather to mental health. On this front, there are many ways that the situation could be improved in the Peace Corps and elsewhere.

During the two years I served in South Africa, there were multiple rapes of female PCVs and there were multiple incidences of sexual assault. Our post and our fellow PCVs responded to these in a sometimes haphazard way. Sometimes facts were distorted. Sometimes victims were blamed. Neither of these are acceptable. I think much of this was due to both our post and our PCVs not taking enough time to prepare a response to sexual assault and rape. Fortunately though, out of this chaos has emerged a movement within the Peace Corps community to do better.

First Response Action is an advocacy group headed by Casey Frazee, a fellow South Africa PCV, who was a victim both of sexual assault and of poor support from the post after the incident. Casey is trying to get the Peace Corps to adopt a 7 Point Plan to provide a more uniform and supportive response to the realities of sexual violence against volunteers. It is a cause not just for victims, but for all fellow volunteers, and friends and families of volunteers to stand together with those that have been victims of sexual violence.

To get the ear of a big government organization like the Peace Corps, we need all the support we can get. Please visit http://firstresponseaction.blogspot.com/ to find out more about the campaign and see how you can help. Of course, this response may be specific to Peace Corps, but the problem is not. It’s worthwhile looking into whatever organization you work for or travel with to see if they have a well thought out strategy to respond to incidents of sexual violence.

AJ Kumar, RPCV South Africa

In a recent post, here, I shared that the Peace Corps representatives I spoke with in March said that they are supportive of change. In fact, they already have momentum in the direction of a Survivor Bill of Rights being included in the Volunteer Handbook. Several of the other items on the 7-Point Plan are yet to be determined, but the First Response Action Coalition remains vigilant of progress, ultimately keeping survivors and current volunteers as the highest priority.

Peace.

Expanding First Response Action

Over the last several weeks, since the article I wrote for the National Peace Corps Association's publication WorldView was published, two members have joined the task force of the First Response Action Coalition.

I would like to extend my immense gratitude to Karen Moldovan and Katie Campbell. Both are RPCVs who served in Tonga. Both of them are passionate about reforming the way the current Peace Corps system works with survivors. They also feel strongly about advocating for Peace Corps to move away from the detrimental 'blame the victim' training that is administered in many countries where Peace Corps operates.

Katie, among her many talents, is a fantastic graphic designer. She created the new logo and color scheme for First Response Action which are now on this blog and also on all of the material we send out about this mission.

Karen has been an advocate for many underserved populations, including survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, over her career. She has been steadfast in her support of this mission and I am so thankful to both Karen and Katie that our paths have crossed!

A lot of our work is behind-the-scenes at this moment and I don't want to post any details until something more concrete happens. I will certainly post important updates on this blog as they happen - so keep checking back!

If you are reading this, thank you for finding First Response Action. I hope you feel compelled to support in another way. If you passed this link along to a friend, thank you. You have shared this mission. Thank you for your support!

Please email firstresponseaction@gmail.com if you are interested in supporting sexual assault policy reform or if you have a story to share regarding sexual assault and the Peace Corps community.

Peace.