Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault

08/17/2026

MNCASA staff are presenting at the National Sexual Assault Conference (NSAC) this week!

Victoria Pickering, Training & Technical Assistance Director, and Katey Page, MNSART Program Coordinator, are presenting Leading As We Heal: How to Build a Victim-Led Movement. This session examines what “victim-led” truly means and how survivors can lead authentically within the anti-violence movement. They will explore the unnecessary stigma to disclosure, healing through advocacy, and creating supportive workplaces. Participants will learn strategies to honor survivor-leaders and support staff who experience violence while working in advocacy.

Bree Theising, Program Coordinator, is co-presenting Beyond the Courtroom: Reimagining Justice with and for Survivors. Every minute someone in the U.S. is s*xually assaulted. Survivors define their own justice, which may include restorative options beyond traditional systems. They'll explore trauma-informed and healing-centered ways to involve survivors, directly or indirectly, through dialogue, mediation, or surrogacy, and provide tools to support and assess safe, survivor-centered participation.

08/04/2026

Join us for the 2026 MNSART All Teams Meeting!

Connect with multidisciplinary professionals from across Minnesota as we explore the power of collaboration in creating survivor-centered, trauma-informed responses. Hear from keynote speaker Danielle Leukam, learn from experienced SART Coordinators, and gain insights from Boyd Billman and Jarvis Paro on strengthening partnerships and supporting survivors.

Don't miss this opportunity to connect, learn, and grow alongside colleagues from across the state.

Register today and be part of building stronger responses for survivors!

https://mncasa.coalitionmanager.org/eventmanager/trainingevent/details/1318

08/04/2026

“'Erica Staab exemplifies what it means to be a visionary voice in the movement to end s*xual violence,' wrote ... the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault in [their] award nomination. 'What sets Erica apart is how she shows up for people. She brings presence and care to every interaction and holds deep respect for the humanity of those she encounters. Erica listens closely and asks thoughtful questions. Her leadership is human-centered, calm and grounded in values.'

Zen. Peacefulness. Steadiness. Integrity. Caring. Trustworthy. Focused. All words regularly used to describe with Staab, whose work often involves clients in crisis and constant pressure. Both [MNCSA] and Capt. Nathan Budin with the Rice County Sheriff’s Office say it’s because she prioritizes people and relationships."

Erica Staab, executive director of HOPE Center, has spent two decades being a port in the storm for Rice County’s victims of domestic and s*xual violence.

07/30/2026

State lawmakers passed various measures this legislative session to address domestic violence, including new laws around warrants, guns, and survivor support. We heard more about the changes from a domestic violence prevention expert.

07/28/2026

“There were some very hardworking advocates, very hardworking lawmakers who made this happen, and there were also a lot of victims and survivors at the center of this. [T]he people who have been impacted and harmed by this sort of technology facilitated abuse in the past have bravely come out and spoken about those experiences and advocated on their own behalf and on behalf of other victims and survivors in the state, and worked closely with lawmakers to ensure that something like this passes and goes into effect.”

MNCASA's Training & Technical Assistance Director, Victoria Pickering, was interviewed by KMSP yesterday to talk about the law that goes into effect on August 1 that makes it illegal to use AI to create n**e images of someone without their consent.

A new Minnesota law taking effect Aug. 1 makes it illegal to use artificial intelligence to create n**e images of someone without their consent. Victoria Pickering from Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault joins us to explain what the law covers, why it was passed, and what Minnesotans should....

07/22/2026

WoMen's Rural Advocacy Programs, Inc. (WRAP) aims to provide safety, advocacy, and assistance to anyone impacted by domestic violence, s*xual violence, and s*x trafficking with an emphasis on supporting high-risk youth. WRAP focuses on prevention and education to promote community awareness and social change.

This work through CPPP focuses on engaging communities in conversations about healthy relationships, boundaries, and technology safety. Based on the Plan.Post.Play workbook, WRAP aims to build skills and expand school-based prevention efforts and more accessible education that many youth share they have not had access to.

The Plan.Post.Play workbook was developed based on real experiences and feedback from youth. It helps provide young people with the tools needed to think critically about technology use, build healthy relationships, and recognize unsafe situations in their daily lives.

Get the workbook at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/plan-post-play-brittany-miller/1148579030

07/22/2026

Focusing in southern Saint Louis County, Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA) in Duluth centers on supporting survivors, educating the community and advocating for change, working to eliminate s*xual violence.

Slide 3: Through CPPP, PAVSA is working to expand prevention programming, specifically in the local middle and high school, and with youth-serving agencies. They also plan to enhance and sustain Pride and Joy Community Conversations, an outreach and engagement strategy at PRIDE events in northern MN.

07/22/2026

Central MN Sexual Assault Center (CMSAC) in St. Cloud works to provide equitable access to healing for all survivors and to reduce s*xual violence by creating systemic change. Serving Stearns, Benton, Sherburne, and Wright counties, they focus on increased education around the victimization of male-identifying and LGBTQIA+ community members, groups that are historically underrepresented in prevention initiatives.

Through CPPP, CMSAC plans to expand its primary prevention programming focused on male and LGBTQIA+ identifying community members. While addressing systemic factors contributing to violence, this project will work to promote healthy relationships, affirmative consent, bystander intervention, and respect for diverse identities, strengthening access to prevention education and community engagement.

07/22/2026

The Community Prevention Partnerships Program (CPPP) grant seeks to reduce the rates of s*xual violence victimization by increasing the number and effectiveness of community-level, primary prevention efforts in Minnesota. MNCASA is now funding it’s 6th cohort of the CPPP program of Member Programs to build their capacity for primary prevention programming.

In 2014, the Minnesota state legislature approved $300,000 in the Public Safety Budget to be directed towards grants to s*xual assault advocacy organizations, later specified, in 2015, to be for prevention. As the recipient of this grant, MNCASA selects 2-4 subgrantees each funding period to receive funds for their primary prevention programming.

We're excited to share more information about this cohort’s subgrantees throughout the day today:

Central MN Sexual Assault Center
PAVSA
WoMen's Rural Advocacy Programs, Inc.

07/21/2026

Victoria Pickering, the training and technical assistance director for the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said "the new standard places an additional layer of explanation on jurors in a criminal justice system that already struggles with differentiating the nature of s*xual and domestic violence from other types of crimes.

'The idea of a court or a jury of regular people walking down the street who are doing their civic duty having to decide what is the timeline of a single incident vs. multiple incidents, what does it mean for a single assault to include minutes if not hours between elements of the assaults?' Pickering said. 'These are complicated things and they turn what is a traumatic experience that is endured by a human being into an equation.'”

The ruling creates a new standard for jury instructions, which advocates say will have a “chilling effect” on s*xual assault victims.