About the Conference

On March 26, 2008, New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA) will host its 3rd Sexual Violence Prevention Conference. This conference, Sexual Violence Prevention: Connecting the Dots, will emphasize the parallels between the risk and protective factors of sexual violence and specific fields. The specific fields highlighted in this conference are the disabled, child abuse, youth violence, gender norms and the media. Nearly 200 sexual violence and allied professionals, caregivers and other community members throughout the state of New Jersey and the surrounding area will be in attendance.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FEES:

Before 2/20/09
$65 (NJCASA Program Members)
$90 (Nonmembers)

After 2/20/09
$75 (NJCASA Program Members)
$100 (Nonmembers)

Keynote Speakers:

Cordelia Anderson, MA, over a 30 year career has counseled sex offenders, survivors, women in prostitution and families of missing and murdered children. She has conducted over 1,900 presentations nationwide on topics such as: prevention of child sexual exploitation, sexual health, bullying, and the impact of technology, restorative justice and compassion fatigue. She's on the Board of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and Chair's their National Coalition for Prevention of Child Sexual Exploitation. She is the recipient of various awards including most recently the 2006 Outstanding Professional Award from American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. She consults with programs locally and nationally and appeared on a variety of news and talk shows, including Oprah.
Ms. Anderson will present workshops in the Media and Child Abuse tracks.

Rus Ervin Funk, MSW, is an expert with over 25 years in the domestic and sexual violence fields. In that time, he has worked with women and men who have been victimized, with adult and adolescent men who have perpetrated, and with communities to organize to prevent sexual and domestic violence. He is co-founder of Men Can Stop Rape, Inc., the Baltimore Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse, Men for Gender Justice, and MensWork: Eliminating Violence Against Women, Inc. Mr. Funk currently serves on the Boards of the National Center on Sexual and Domestic Violence and the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. His most recent publication is Reaching Men: Strategies for Preventing Sexist Attitudes, Behaviors and Violence (Jist Publications, 2006). He is also an adjunct professor at the Kent School of Social work, University of Louisville.

Workshop Presenters:

Alan D. Berkowitz, Ph.D., is an expert in designing innovative programs that address issues of sexual assault, substance abuse, gender and diversity for colleges, universities and public health agencies. Over his 20 years in higher education, Dr. Berkowitz has been a trainer, psychologist, educator and counseling center director. He has been a central figure in the development of the Social Norms Theory and pioneered the use of social norms media to prevent men's violence. He has presented at the International Conference on Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Prevention and at CDC's National Sexual Assault Prevention Conferences. (Gender Norms Workshops)

Jackson Tay Bosley, Psy.D., currently administers for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey a statewide, community-based treatment program for high-risk adult sexual offenders under lifetime supervision by the State Parole Board. Over his 25 year career, Dr. Bosley has developed specialized treatment programs for adolescent and adult sexual offenders in prisons, hospitals and in the community. (Child Abuse Workshops)

Dorothy Edwards, Ph.D., is currently serving as the founding Director of University of Kentucky's Violence Intervention and Prevention Center. With a specialty in primary prevention, Dr. Edwards provides training, program development and consultation to universities, coalitions, professional associations and non-profit organizations across the country. She has worked in both counseling and teaching capacities in higher education at Appalachian State University and Texas Women's University as well as building the Community Education program at Denton County Friends of the Family, addressing sexual assault and relationship violence. She has developed and implemented professional training seminars on topics related to violence against women, diversity, and organizational capacity building. (Youth Violence and Gender Norms workshops)

Kristin Kenneavy, Ph.D., is currently a professor of Sociology at Ramapo College of New Jersey and at Drew University, taught courses on the sociology of inequality, criminology, and media and society. She conducted specialized research to explicate the relationship between sexual content in the media and adolescent sexual behavior for the Teen Media Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from which she received her doctorate degree. (Media workshop)

Juan Santiago is the Director of The Developmentally Disabled Offenders Program, a statewide advocacy program that has provided case management and monitoring services for over 200 clients who are currently on probation. For the past 7 years, Mr. Santiago has worked for the Arc of New Jersey and was the Special Needs Juvenile Coordinator in Union County. He is on the advisory committee to the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey's substance abuse treatment program for people with developmental disabilities and chairs the Partners In Justices committee. He is also partnering on a federal grant to accomplish systems change for survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence who have either developmental disabilities or mental illness. Mr. Santiago has conducted nationwide disabilities awareness training to criminal justice professionals and to service providers. (Developmental Disabilities Community workshops)

About NJCASA

Since 1981, the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA) has worked to promote compassionate and just treatment of survivors, their loved ones and significant others, foster collaborative relationships among community systems and to affect attitudinal and behavioral changes in society as we work toward the elimination of sexual violence against all people.

NJCASA is the statewide coalition representing the collective voice of sexual violence survivors and their loved ones, 22 Sexual Violence Programs from each county and Rutgers University, as well as individuals, students, organizations and corporations concerned about ending sexual violence. NJCASA advocates for comprehensive resources and policies to ensure the sufficient provision of and access to services for survivors, works to raise awareness and to prevent sexual violence in our communities statewide.

Even with scarce resources, NJCASA's impact has been significant in the lives of sexual violence survivors and their loved ones. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has recognized NJCASA's excellence in the prevention of sexual violence. The Federal Office on Violence Against Women has recognized NJCASA's excellence in its role in promoting advocacy, sexual violence services and sexual violence training in New Jersey. The sexual violence field has made a shift toward primary prevention, with NJCASA helping to lead the way. This conference is another example of NJCASA's leadership in this field.

For additional information please call (609) 631-4450 ext 230 or email conference09@njcasa.org. We look forward to seeing you there!