Registration Open for Walk for Change to Support Survivors of Sexual Assault

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley to speak at Boston Area Rape Crisis Center’s Virtual 15th Annual Walk for Change on Sunday, April 25 

Registration is now open for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) 15th Annual Walk for Change, which will take place virtually on Sunday, April 25. The Walk is the largest event in New England raising awareness of sexual assault, harassment, and abuse and offering visible community support for survivors. 

Kennedy Elsey, host of the Mix 104.1 Morning Show, who has emceed the Walk for Change since 2008, will kick off the one-hour virtual event at 10:00 a.m. Representative Ayanna Pressley, a longtime advocate for survivors who has worked to advance services and awareness for preventing sexual violence, will address attendees. Other speakers will be announced in coming weeks. The program will reflect this year’s theme, “Healing for Every Survivor,” with a particular focus on survivors who are too often overlooked, excluded, and face additional social barriers in being believed and getting support. 

In addition to providing an opportunity to celebrate community, healing, and hope, the Walk for Change also raises hundreds of thousands of dollars through peer-to-peer fundraising and sponsorships. These funds help make BARCC’s free, confidential services that survivors rely on—including the hotline, counseling, medical advocacy, legal advocacy, and assistance with health, housing, financial, and safety needs—possible. Funds raised at this year’s virtual Walk for Change will also help meet the pandemic-related needs of survivors who have suffered job loss and other hardships, such as food and housing insecurities. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on everyone. And for survivors who may struggle with feeling isolated, a common impact of experiencing sexual violence, this past year has been very long and trying,” said BARCC Executive Director Gina Scaramella. “Although we wish we were meeting in person for Walk for Change, our virtual Walk will be inspiring, inclusive, uplifting, and an amazing show of support with and for survivors and their loved ones.”

BARCC offers confidential services to survivors in crisis and long after as they navigate the health-care, criminal legal, social service, and school systems. BARCC maintains a 24-hour phone hotline as well as a web chat hotline and works with a wide range of organizations and communities, including high schools, colleges, health-care providers, and businesses, to advocate for change. BARCC also provides training in how to respond to survivors and create cultures that prevent sexual violence in the first place. 

Sponsors of this year’s Walk for Change and BARCC’s work include Encore Boston Harbor, Cummings Foundation, Sanofi Genzyme, Eastern Bank, Oliver Wyman, Delta Tau Delta Northeastern University, Cargo Ventures LLC, Eaton Vance, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Bentley University, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, BITS - Boston IT Services, Inc., Boston Medical Center, Boston Resiliency Fund, Commercial Construction Consulting, Inc., Direct Federal Credit Union, FMC Ice Sports, Sherin and Lodgen LLP, and Thomas & Mary DeSimone.

For more information and to register, visit barccwalk.org. Follow BARCC on social media: Twitter @barcc; Instagram @barccofficial; Facebook /barcc.org. And use the hashtags #BARCCWalk4Change and #HealingForEverySurvivor. 

Facts about sexual violence 

• Sexual violence is any form of sexual interaction without consent (or permission). Consent means that you want to be engaged in whatever sexual behavior is happening. If someone is feeling pressured, coerced, manipulated, or threatened, that is not consent. If someone is incapacitated due to drugs or alcohol, that is not consent.
• Sexual violence affects people of all genders, ages, races, religions, incomes, abilities, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. Survivors often know the person who assaulted them. Sexual violence, which is significantly underreported, also takes many forms, including rape or sexual assault; childhood sexual abuse and incest; sexual harassment; sexual exploitation and trafficking; unwanted sexual contact/touching; exposing one's genitals to others without consent; or masturbating in public.
• According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey 2017 Data Brief, in the United States, about one in three women and almost one in six men have experienced some form of contact sexual violence during their lifetime.
•  Almost one in two transgender people (47%) surveyed have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime, according to the U.S. Transgender Survey.
• One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
• People with a disability of any kind have an age-adjusted rate of rape or sexual assault that is more than twice the rate for people without disabilities, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey and the 2010 Massachusetts Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System.
• One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

About the Walk for Change

The Walk for Change supports the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, bringing awareness and raising funds to end sexual violence. The Walk for Change is held annually in April, during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Each year, the event brings together a variety of people—survivors, friends and loved ones, students from area high schools and universities, community members, local corporations, and others—from Greater Boston and beyond to walk in solidarity with survivors and as part of the movement to prevent sexual violence. It also helps raise necessary funds for BARCC’s free, confidential services. Use #BARCCWalk4Change and #HealingForEverySurvivor to show your support and spread the word.

About the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC)

Founded in 1973, the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center has a mission to end sexual violence through healing and social change. BARCC provides free, confidential support and services to all survivors of sexual violence ages 12 and up and their families and friends throughout Greater Boston. It works with survivors from the immediate crisis after sexual violence to years and decades later, and its goal is to empower survivors to heal and seek justice. BARCC also works with a wide range of organizations and communities, including schools, colleges, and police, to advocate for change. It provides training in how to respond to survivors and create cultures that prevent sexual violence. Follow BARCC on social media: Twitter @barcc; Instagram @barccofficial; Facebook /barcc.org.