Violence Free Iowa

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Violence Free Iowa We are the Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence.

Our Mission: To lead and support a statewide movement addressing sexual and domestic violence through community and system transformation, training, and public policy change. Violence Free Iowa leads and supports a statewide coalition of 25 victim service provider organizations advancing sexual assault and domestic violence prevention efforts, crisis intervention, and long-term stability to ensure every Iowan has the opportunity to feel safe, heal, and thrive.

Closing out our Red Zone series: What to do if you or someone you know experiences sexual assault on campus.First and fo...
10/14/2026

Closing out our Red Zone series: What to do if you or someone you know experiences sexual assault on campus.

First and foremost, it is entirely the survivor’s choice what to do next. There is no “right” way to react in the immediate aftermath.

Violence Free Iowa’s legal program offers free, confidential guidance for students who have experienced sexual assault, domestic violence, or stalking.

Additional options include:
🏥 Seeking medical attention
🚨 Reporting to campus security or local police
🎓 Reporting to the college (Title IX officer, Student Conduct, or Judicial Affairs)
🫴 Reaching out to a therapist or counselor
❤️‍🩹 Leaning on trusted friends or family
📲 Using anonymous online reporting tools or apps like Seek Then Speak

Remember: Nothing must be decided right away. Support is available days, months, or years later. The assault may be over, but healing is ongoing.

Another important reminder: Campus sexual assault can happen any time of year – not just during the Red Zone.

Thank you for following along. If there are other sexual or domestic violence topics you’d like us to cover, drop them in the comments or DM us. And visit www.violencefreeiowa.org to connect with your local victim services providers.

We’re proud to lead and support 1 connected network of 25 local victim service provider organizations that serve all 99 ...
10/13/2026

We’re proud to lead and support 1 connected network of 25 local victim service provider organizations that serve all 99 Iowa counties.

These organizations offer services such as:
☎️ Confidential crisis response.
🏠 Emergency housing and safety planning.
👥 Medical and legal accompaniment.
🤲 Culturally specific support.

But these services don’t sustain themselves. They depend on reliable funding and smart public policies – and those decisions begin at the ballot box.

We don’t endorse candidates or political parties, but we need every elected official to understand how policy decisions affect their communities.

Prioritizing public safety and well-being means:
🗳 Stable, adequate funding for local victim services.
🗳 Public policies that remove barriers for survivors seeking help and safety.
🗳 Collaboration across systems to address the root causes of violence in our community.

Part 6 of our Red Zone series: The Campus Sexual Assault Response Team (C-SART).While Title IX provides a legal framewor...
10/10/2026

Part 6 of our Red Zone series: The Campus Sexual Assault Response Team (C-SART).

While Title IX provides a legal framework for institutional accountability, a C-SART is a collaborative response that delivers care to the survivor. ❤️‍🩹

A C-SART is a multidisciplinary group that creates, reviews, and updates campus-wide protocols for responding to reports of sexual assault. This team typically includes law enforcement, healthcare, advocacy, prosecution, and sometimes nonprofits and city or county government.

The school’s Title IX coordinator is usually on the team to ensure survivors can access supportive measures like changing dorm rooms or modifying class schedules.

If your college doesn’t have its own C-SART, it may be part of a local SART serving the broader community. If not, you have the power to suggest starting one.

The NSVRC has resources for building a team, and the It's On Us Campus Organizing Program offers guidance for student-led action. 👏

Part 7 (the final post) coming soon: What to do if assault happens.


(Sources in comments)

Survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse often face mental health struggles and safe housing challenges in the aft...
10/09/2026

Survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse often face mental health struggles and safe housing challenges in the aftermath of these traumatic events. Today, on World Mental Health Day and World Homeless Day, we’re talking about why those connections matter.

Abuse can keep the body and brain in a constant survival mode that includes fear, anxiety, and high-pressure planning and decision-making. Survivors may also mask their struggles in front of their children, at work, or in other situations. Long-term effects like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are normal reactions to abnormal circumstances – they are not weaknesses.

Finding and maintaining housing can be difficult as well. Financial abuse like a lack of access to accounts and credit score damage can make it hard to secure a place to live. Some landlords evict victims in connection to disturbances or damage, and complex paperwork and privacy challenges can add to the stress.

If you or someone you know is struggling with safe housing access or mental health concerns, we see you, we believe you, and we’re here to help. That’s victim services. 💜

www.violencefreeiowa.org/thatsvictimservices

Part 5 of our Red Zone series: If sexual assault happens on a college campus, what is the institution legally required t...
10/08/2026

Part 5 of our Red Zone series: If sexual assault happens on a college campus, what is the institution legally required to do? 🔍

Title IX is a civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education, including how schools handle sexual violence. For most types of sexual violence, schools must follow a formal grievance process once they receive a report.

Last week, federal regulations reverted back to rules developed in 2020. Key pieces to understand:

⚠️ For unwelcome sex-based conduct that is not sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking, the school must find it “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive” that it denies equal access to education. That’s a high bar that advocates have long warned narrows what gets investigated.

💔 Post-secondary schools must also provide a live hearing where each party’s advisor cross-examines — a process many survivors find re-traumatizing. At K-12 schools, this is optional.

We urge Iowa’s educational institutions to set higher standards: Establish trauma-informed, evidence-based practices that prioritize survivors’ safety and autonomy over procedural hurdles by investigating promptly, offering choices in how their case is handled, preventing re-traumatization, and ensuring accountability.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
Schools must publicly post their Title IX policies, training materials, and coordinator contact info — check your school’s website. We also recommend learning about The Clery Act’s Campus Sexual Assault Victims’ Bill of Rights, which guarantees specific actions regardless of how an incident is categorized.

An organization called Stop Sexual Assault in Schools also has a toolkit to help students understand their rights: www.stopsexualassaultinschools.org/know-your-rights-what-to-do-if-you-are-sexually-harassed-at-school

For help navigating your options locally, find a victim services provider near you at www.violencefreeiowa.org/survivorsupport.

In Part 6, we'll explain what a C-SART does. 🛡️

As we’ve said before — and will continue saying it until it stops being true — sexual violence is a pervasive and urgent...
10/07/2026

As we’ve said before — and will continue saying it until it stops being true — sexual violence is a pervasive and urgent public health crisis.

We will not minimize it. We will not accept it as inevitable. And we will not be silent.

In Iowa and across the country, powerful institutions continue protecting rapists and abusers while victims fight for survival and justice.

But we’ve also seen instances where collective outrage and demands for accountability have made a difference, so we must keep that pressure ON.

One opportunity is tomorrow’s National Day of Action.

While there aren’t in-person events in Iowa, there are ways to participate remotely:

☎️ Call a College – Phone banking to let Title IX and/or campus police offices know that we expect full transparency and timely action on cases of sexual assault on college campuses.

✊ Virtual Rally to Stop Sexual Violence - A national virtual gathering in solidarity with Jane Doe, Epstein survivors, campus sexual assault survivors, and every woman whose voice has been silenced, dismissed, blamed, or ignored after sexual violence.

🧑‍🩰 Making Space for Anger – A trauma-informed dance experience to make space for what all of this may bring up in our bodies.

💻 I Am Jane Doe and My Life Matters Too – A virtual presentation about women who are and have been affected, and the men and systems that allow it.

🚶‍♀️ Student Walk-Outs – Students across the country are walking out to demand justice for survivors and to demand that their schools invest in survivor resources and sexual violence prevention.

Learn more at www.womensmarch.com/stopsexualviolence and participate however you can tomorrow, October 8.

10/06/2026

Our Domestic Violence Homicide Report is officially out, and while it’s not an easy thing to read, we urge every single Iowan to do so.

At least 28 people lost their lives to domestic violence from October 2024 through September 2025.

For those 28 – and the 445 others we lost from 1995 to 2024 – we cannot look away.

💔 We must all sit with these numbers and remember that they were real people from our communities.

🚧 We must learn about the factors and barriers that allow this violence to persist so we can drive the changes needed to address them.

👉 And we must hold our leaders and systems accountable for their role in preventing and responding to violence with evidence-based, trauma-informed policies and practices.

Thank you to those who made this report possible – and to those who share it in remembrance and reflection.

Read the full report:https://www.violencefreeiowa.org/_files/ugd/88018b_9872346bf961485e805fb318746e48cd.pdf

Medicaid cuts and eligibility changes that took effect October 1 impact hundreds of thousands of Iowans — including many...
10/06/2026

Medicaid cuts and eligibility changes that took effect October 1 impact hundreds of thousands of Iowans — including many survivors of domestic and sexual violence who depend on Medicaid for their own and their children's care.

Among those affected:
👉 Around 235,000 children, including those with special needs
👉 Up to 180,000 people with disabilities
👉 About 104,000 seniors and nursing home residents
👉 More than 53,000 people in behavioral health treatment
👉 Approximately 10,000 pregnant people and newborns
👉 At least 2,000 people awaiting green card approval or those without a green card

If you or someone you know is affected, check out this free event Tuesday, October 13, in Des Moines.

Not in the area? Look for a similar event or resource in your area – Iowa Department of Health and Human Services is a good place to start.

It’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM), which means we’re shining a spotlight on this preventable public health c...
10/05/2026

It’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM), which means we’re shining a spotlight on this preventable public health crisis. We’ll be sharing stats and stories; factors and systems that affect survivors; and ways you can help ensure that victim services remain available in your community.

As part of DVAM, October 5 is the National Day of Unity, which includes:
💔 Mourning those who lost their lives to domestic violence.
❤️‍🩹 Celebrating the survivors who are healing after abuse.
🫶 Uniting allies, victim advocates, and other leaders to end violence in our communities.

www.violencefreeiowa.org/dvam

10/03/2026

At least 88 people in Iowa lost their lives to domestic violence from October 2021 through September 2024.

Domestic violence is a pervasive public health crisis. One of the most powerful ways we can all help prevent it is by refusing to look away – by paying attention and learning as much as possible to improve our services, systems, and public policies. ❤️‍🩹

From 1995 to 2021, the Iowa Attorney General’s office published domestic violence-related homicide information. Last year, we took up the charge with a fact sheet that covered 2021-2024.

This year, we’re releasing a more in-depth report for October 2024 through September 2025. It will be an annual project to honor the lives lost and the loved ones still carrying what happened — and to highlight the patterns, barriers, and gaps related to this preventable public health crisis.

The report drops on October 6. We encourage you to read it and share it widely. Research and reporting like this are essential for advancing safety and accountability in every Iowa community. 📑

Address

PO Box 41700
Clive, IA
50311

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8am - 4:30pm
Friday 8am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+5152448028

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