The North County Rape Crisis and Child Protection Center is a non-profit agency that provides education, resources, and crisis support for victims of sexual violence, and victims of domestic and child abuse. The North County Rape Crisis and Child Protection Center was originally established as the Lompoc Rape and Crisis Center in 1974, in order to provide support to survivors of sexual assault. In
1983, Lompoc Rape Crisis Center absorbed For Kids Sake, an all volunteer agency that had been operating a hotline in the area for five years providing child abuse intervention and parent support. It was then that the Lompoc Rape Crisis Center became the Lompoc Rape Crisis and Child Protection Center. The ChildSAFE Education program was also added during this period. In January 1987, the Center opened a branch office in Santa Maria to provide direct services to survivors of sexual assault and their families in the Santa Maria/Guadalupe communities. Santa Maria Rape Crisis provided these services as well as education and prevention programs to the general public. In January 1990, the Center absorbed the Child Protection Council of Santa Maria. With this addition, the Santa Maria branch office was able to offer the same services as the Lompoc office. In 1990, the North County Rape Crisis and Child Protection Center was born. The new name reflected the new services and identified the union between the Lompoc and Santa Maria branches. Currently, the Center offers education/prevention services, including ChildSAFE education programs, personal safety/self-defense classes, Good Touch/Bad Touch puppet shows, and in-service trainings for outside agencies. Various programs are also available to the community, and cover such topics as child abuse, sexual assault, dating violence, sexual harassment, and elder abuse. Additionally, the Center offers various means of intervention and direct services, including our 24-hour crisis hotline, accompaniments and advocacy, and counseling/support groups.
