Oregon State Victim Assistance Academy
Each year, the Advanced Academy offers training on a different topic or topics focusing on specific crimes or specific victim populations, advanced skills, or topics relating to sustainability sustainable advocacy, or capacity building for programs and advocates. Topics are selected based on feedback from advocates statewide.
Working Collaboratively to Improve Oregon’s Response to Hate and Bias Crimes
As hate and bias crimes and incident rates continue to increase across the United States and in Oregon, the legal landscape for victims in Oregon shifted with the adoption of Senate Bill 577. Over the past two years, advocates and attorneys throughout the state have begun defining effective practices to help victims navigate the new laws and services SB 577 introduced. On September 29, 2021, the National Crime Victim Law Institute’s Advanced Victim Assistance Academy partnered with panelists Rosemary Brewer from the Oregon Crime Victims Law Center, Johanna Costa and Fay Stetz-Waters from the Oregon Department of Justice, Erin Olson from the Law Office of Erin Olson, P.C., and BJ Park from the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, to provide an introduction to these new laws and services, facilitate discussions about their application, and begin to develop more intentional intake, screening, and service practices to ensure that these victims and their communities receive the advocacy they need.
This project is supported by Award No. 2018-V3-GX-0030 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Department of Justice and is funded by the Oregon Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice or the Crime Victim and Survivor Services Division, Oregon Department of Justice.