By Soleil Cardenas
The Sexual Assault Awareness Violence Education team provides information to East Los Angeles College students focusing on both precaution and intervention of sexual violence in student’s lives.
As a measure to prevent sexual assault, awareness is being brought to students by the Sexual Assault Awareness Violence Education Team.
SAAVE is searching for members. They had a meeting over Zoom that welcomed anyone who wanted to join the team. The team consists of faculty, staff, administrators, students, and community professionals.
The team dedicates themselves to violence prevention and intervention. They want to spread awareness and provide resources to individuals.
SAAVE also educates the campus community on the different forms that violence can take.
SAAVE specializes in taking part in activities during April for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. They also prepare things for October for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. A main event they take part in during Fall is “Mujeres de Paz,” which is a march and vigil against domestic violence. Another main event they take part in during Spring is “Take Back the Night,” a march against sexual assault.
SAAVE has held many workshops and events that provide resources and valuable information to the campus community. In 2018, they held several Self Defense Workshops on campus that were made available to everyone. In 2020 and 2021, they held several meetings discussing sexual and reproductive health, human trafficking, trauma and healing and healthy relationships. There are plans for additional events that will take place in the fall.
On the East Los Angeles College website, SAAVE has many educational tabs. These include relationship violence, family violence, sexual assault, stalking and more for the campus community.
For students who have questions or concerns as to what SAAVE can provide they can contact: Eileen Le, ieef@elac.edu, or Andrea Owens, owensas@elac.edu. Students can also ask them for more information on joining the team.
SAAVE is not a crisis support team and urges anyone in a crisis to contact an emergency line. The following lines are available:
The East LA Women’s Center 24/7 hotline: 800-585-6231 or National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-4673.