Through her work with the FSU MeasureUp program, social work doctoral candidate Annelise Mennicke along with Principle Investigator (PI) Rick Howell and fellow co-PI Kori Pruett received a $5,000 Avon Campus Grant to Activate Bystanders to Reduce Sexual Assault, Dating Abuse and Stalking from the Avon Foundation for Women through its Speak Out Against Domestic Violence initiative.

FSU MeasureUp campaign applies the Social Norms Approach to correct misperceptions held by students attending FSU about dating and sexual violence. The campaign’s broader goal is to change campus culture so that it is proactive in intervening in sexual assaults and to increase the number of sexual violence prevention interventions on campus. FSU MeasureUp teamed up with the FSU Victim Advocate Program, the Office of Health Promotion, the Office of Greek Life, Women’s Student Union, and Student Affairs to request these funds to help FSU develop a bystander intervention training to aid students in sexual violence prevention activities.“We are grateful to the Avon Foundation for Women for helping fund the development of research-informed, FSU specific, and timely sexual violence prevention programs. Through Bystander Intervention, our campus can come together to speak out against sexual violence and encourage responsible conduct,” Annelise said.

The Avon Foundation for Women awarded 30 grants totaling $150,000 to colleges nationwide to fund various programs that focus on prevention education on dating abuse and violence, sexual assault, stalking and the promotion of healthy relationships. This year FSU launched a new sexual violence prevention campaign kNOw MORE (knowmore.fsu.edu) that will house sexual violence information and resources for the FSU campus.  The Avon grant will allow an FSU team member to attend two trainings on sexual violence prevention and will aid in the creation of an FSU-specific bystander intervention training to be incorporated into the kNOw MORE campaign. The bystander intervention training is set to be made available to FSU students in the spring 2014 semester.

To learn more about FSU MeasureUp or the kNOw MORE campaigns, contact Annelise Mennicke at amm09n@my.fsu.edu.