Resilience
Donna Jacobson, MSW, currently serves as the Executive Director of Resilience, where responsibilities include leading staff and volunteers, developing fundraising strategies, and managing communications to support sexual violence survivors. Previously, Jacobson held the position of Executive Director at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership, promoting excellence in early childhood education. With a long-standing career at the Children's Home Society of California, Jacobson progressed from a social worker to various leadership roles, including President, and contributed to community education and endowment efforts. Early career experiences include roles at the Ray Graham Association, Sarah's Inn, Oak Leyden, and Hephzibah Children's Association. Educational credentials consist of degrees from the University of Illinois Chicago, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University.
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Resilience
Resilience (formerly RVA) is an Illinois not-for-profit organization made up of many individuals with two primary goals: to assure that survivors of sexual assault are treated with dignity and compassion; and to affect changes in the way the legal system, medical institutions and society as a whole respond to survivors. Resilience focuses on both social service and social change. Through our presence in Chicago area emergency rooms, we provide nonjudgmental emotional support to victims of sexual violence, enabling them to become survivors. By providing basic legal and medical information, and referrals to other service organizations, we help the survivor make informed decisions. We also offer survivors continued support through telephone follow-up and our staff of counselors and legal advocates. Through these services, we enable survivors to regain control over their lives as quickly as possible. Through our work with the Chicago Police Department, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office and other area institutions, we strive to improve the treatment of survivors as a group in our society. Resilience offers three distinct program areas: Counseling (individual and group), Advocacy (legal and medical) and Education & Training.