STRUCTURE:
The North Coast Rape Crisis Team is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization with an all-volunteer Board of Directors, management structure and dedicated team of paid staff and volunteer advocates, counselors and prevention educators. See organizational chart above.
VALUES we strive to be led by and commit ourselves to:
–SURVIVOR CENTERED approaches include believing and trusting in the lived experience and knowledge of survivors to make their own choices and manifest their own healing. This is often referred to as being TRAUMA INFORMED.
–LISTENING – BELIEVING – SUPPORTING which includes listening well to the voices of survivors, believing them without judgement and supporting them as they move through the trauma they experienced.
–RESPECT, which includes respecting the choices each survivor makes and having an absolute knowledge that SURVIVORS MANIFEST THEIR OWN HEALING. Our effort is to create safe enough moments and spaces to support that which they manifest.
–CULTURAL HUMILITY which is the “ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented (or open to the other) in relation to aspects of cultural identity that are most important to the [person]. Cultural humility focuses on self-humility rather than achieving a state of knowledge or awareness.” As a team we strive to develop & promote this stance in ourselves & the communities we serve.
–PRO SOCIAL JUSTICE stance believing it is essential to address and support anti-white-supremacist racism as well as all other forms of anti-oppression work by not only understanding these as root causes of violence but committing ourselves to being ALLIES to individuals and organizations doing this important work.
–SUPPORT OF INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES AND SOVEREIGN NATIONS as they work to heal from inter-generation trauma imposed through colonization and continued negative messaging of the “dominant culture” and respecting that the counties we serve are on the ancestral and current lands of indigenous people.
–ENDING TRANSPHOBIA & HOMOPHOBIA & HETEROSEXISM as we understand and celebrate gender, sex and sexual identities existing on complex spectrums, committing ourselves to actively work as allies to LGBTQIA+ communities.
–INTERSECTIONAL ANALYSIS understanding that sexualized violence is both an outcome of and weapon of all forms of oppression, especially when one form of oppression is layered on another
–PRO-FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES acknowledging the limitations and flaws within the history of “feminist movements” while embracing a belief that ALL PEOPLE DESERVE JUSTICE & EQUITY.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND:
Please see Our Story for more about what makes us who we’ve been and hope to be.
Service Area: Del Norte County (Green dot) is the most northern coastal county in California with an approximate population of 28,628. Del Norte has within its borders important Tribal lands including Elk Valley Rancheria, Resighnini Rancheria, Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation and the Yurok Reservation. Humboldt County (Blue dot) is directly south of Del Norte with an approximate population of 134, 623 and Tribal lands including portions of the Yurok Reservation (upriver), Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, Big Lagoon Rancheria, Trinidad Rancheria, Table Bluff Reservation, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Wiyot Tribe and portions of Karuk Tribal lands. Both counties are on the ancestral lands of these and other indigenous people and we wish to honor the history and current lived experiences of each cultural group and sovereign nation. Del Norte and Humboldt Counties are remote, rural and geographically rugged with tourism, cannabis, logging and fishing as major industries. The county seat of Del Norte, Crescent City, is approximately 5.5 hours south of the nearest metropolitan city, Portland, OR. Humboldt’s county seat, Eureka, is approximately 5 hours north of the nearest metropolitan city, San Francisco, CA.
Believing in the importance of collaboration and supporting our communities, the North Coast Rape Crisis Team commits itself to partnerships across disciplines and communities. To those ends, we actively participate in these and other efforts:
Multidisciplinary Teams: The North Coast Rape Crisis Team is a founding and current member of the Del Norte Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), Humboldt County Sexual Assault Team (SART), Humboldt County Child Abuse Services Team (CAST) and Del Norte Child Abuse Services Team (CAST).
Collaborations: The North Coast Rape Crisis Team is also a member of important groups including the Humboldt Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) Task Force, Del Norte Domestic Violence Task Force, Humboldt County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, Del Norte Child Abuse Prevention Council, Humboldt County Child Abuse Prevention Coordinating Council, Del Norte Family Assistance Network, LatinoNet, Inter-Tribal Women’s Advocacy Network, Cal Poly Humboldt’s Sexual Assault Prevention Committee, Humboldt County Sexual Health Task Force, Humboldt County Suicide Prevention Network, Southern Humboldt Working Together Collaboration (SHWT), and many others.