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This grassroots effort was first organized as a Task Force on Sexual Assault to discuss and develop a response to the problem of rape. The goal was to initiate a comprehensive program for rape research, treatment and prevention.
PAAR is officially incorporated as a rape crisis center with a mission to provide services to sexual assault victims within Allegheny County. With no base or budget for operation, PAAR continued to build a reputation for compassionate care. PAAR initially offered community education, a crisis hotline and immediate crisis related services by an all-volunteer staff.
PAAR receives grant from Governor’s Justice Commission to encourage rape victims to prosecute their attackers, enabling staff to maintain 24-hour hotline and provide advocates for victims in hospitals, police stations and at court proceedings.
A growing need for counseling services for sexually abused children in Allegheny County is recognized. PAAR responds by offering counseling to children.
PAAR challenges the legal system and fights for the privacy rights of all rape victims when she refuses to turn over client records despite a judge’s threat of contempt. PAAR’s Executive Director is held in contempt of court and ordered to jail. On appeal, the case makes its way to the State Supreme Court, resulting in the Pennsylvania State Legislature passing the first law in the nation recognizing total confidentiality in communications between victims and rape crisis counselors.
PAAR was selected by the National Center for the Prevention and Control of Rape as one of nine exemplary rape crisis programs most worthy of emulation in the nation. PAAR offered technical assistance and training to centers from Alaska to Washington, D.C., as well as groups in India, Thailand, Germany and Japan.
PAAR also began to treat more clients who experience multiple personality disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder, both of which are common reactions of victims suffering on-going and sadistic sexual abuse.
PAAR introduces a comprehensive 30-hour training program to teach mental health therapists to work more effectively with victims of sexual abuse. Over the years hundreds of therapists from Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio have received training, enabling them to better serve their clients.
PAAR moves from their small Oakland office to an historic South Side structure, formerly a Baptist Church. After raising money through a capital campaign, PAAR was able to purchase and renovate a building that would foster healing, support, and safety for victims.
PAAR publishes Understanding Self-Injury: A Workbook for Adults; later translated into Norwegian in 1998. PAAR was subsequently recognized as a national expert in self-injury and staff members presented at conferences in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.
Surviving and Preventing Sexual and Domestic Violence is written by PAAR staffers, and was published by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape. In the four years following its publication, it was presented at numerous conferences locally and regionally.
PAAR provided more than 1,000 prevention and awareness education programs to approximately 15,000 children and adults in schools and groups throughout Allegheny County.
Child Advocacy started under the Victims of Juvenile Offenders Act. PAAR began advocating for victims who have been sexually assaulted by children under the age of 18 in the Allegheny County Juvenile Court system.
Training program for emergency room staff, residents, medical students and emergency medical services personnel was developed and presented throughout county emergency rooms.
Ann Hyman, a PAAR staffer for 25 years, won Pennsylvania's first award designated to "Outstanding Advocacy and Community Work in Ending Sexual Violence", which was presented by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center in April 2003
Children’s Mobile Therapy program is launched to reach child victims of sexual abuse who reside in out-of-home placement centers in Allegheny County.
PAAR convenes Allegheny County Sex Offender Management and Containment Task Force. It is the first-ever, county- wide task force with a victim-centered approach to sex offender management.
Pittsburgh Action Against Rape
81 South 19th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203
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