Maria Florencia Vidano

Founded in 1973, the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) is the only comprehensive rape crisis center in the Greater Boston area and the oldest and largest in New England. Our mission is to end sexual violence through healing and social change. BARCC provides free, confidential support and services to survivors of sexual violence ages 12 and up and their families and friends. We work with survivors of all genders, from the immediate crisis after to years and decades later. Our goal is to empower survivors to heal and seek justice in ways that are meaningful to them. We meet the needs of survivors in crisis and long after, and we assist survivors as they navigate the health-care, criminal justice, social service, and school systems. We take the knowledge we learn from survivors and current research out into the community. We work with a wide range of schools, campuses, community groups, and organizations. These include middle and high schools, colleges, police, health-care providers, businesses, and more. We advocate for change and work with them to help them make their environments safe and prevent sexual violence. We do this by offering training, on topics such as how to respond to survivor's disclosures. We provide concrete tools and technical assistance to help create policies and practices that prevent sexual violence. Our response and prevention programs are based on research and more than 45 years of direct service experience. We are frequently asked to provide expert testimony about potential policy and legislative solutions to preventing and responding to sexual violence. We also provide expert commentary in the media on these issues. BARCC assists thousands of survivors, their loved ones, and communities each year, regardless of sex, gender identity, race, physical/developmental disabilities, income, ethnicity, class, religion, or sexual orientation. We provide services in English and Spanish, as well as other languages upon request.