With staggering percentages of young women being sexually assaulted, the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalition is working with girls at Park Avenue Alternative Learning Site to educate and help prevent them from becoming victims. According to Kay Swartzendruber, Nevada County Coordinator for Rape Aggression Defense Systems, one in four girls is sexually assaulted before the age of 18. DVSAC Prevention Advocate Stephanie Terrassa says the program at Park Avenue is four weeks of hands-on and classroom experiences.
Click here to listen to Stephanie Terrassa
Swartzendruber says the first part of the self-defense side of the training focuses on awareness and prevention.
Click here to listen to Kay Swartzendruber
From awareness and prevention strategies the women learn actual hand-to hand defensive maneuvers to deter an aggressor during an assault. Most sexual or domestic assaults occur in the home or within a mile of the home.
Terrassa and Swartzendruber focus on the young women at Park Avenue because they fall into the under 18 age demographic as well as face many other at-risk factors.