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Lackawanna College received a grant award of $39,591 as part of Governor Tom Wolf’s 2022-23 It’s On Us Pennsylvania grant program.

This is the fourth time Lackawanna College received this grant and will join other institutions across the state to help address and respond effectively to sexual violence on campus.

“Lackawanna College is thrilled to receive the Its On Us grant and the Student Wellness program believes educating our students is imperative to the prevention of sexual violence,” Student Wellness Program Director Tierny Ulmer Cresswell said. “With the help of the It’s on Us grant from previous years, Lackawanna has worked to address and combat sexual misconduct – this grant allows us to keep moving forward with our initiatives to keep our college community safe.”

The funding from the grant will be used for student, faculty and staff training of Title XI procedures, self-defense classes, trauma awareness and a variety of sexual violence awareness events during the “Red Zone” of the new school year. The “Red Zone” is the first six weeks of the fall semester, a time when students, particularly freshmen, are most likely to experience sexual assault on college campuses.

“We will use this grant to provide enhanced sexual misconduct awareness and prevention education to students, faculty and staff with self-defense courses, anonymous reporting systems, on-campus training and a sexual violence prevention course,” Cresswell said. “Both the Student Wellness Program and Title IX team will utilize these funds to educate topics such as the importance of bystander intervention, reporting information, consent and how to access resources off and on campus.”

The program funding will educate, engage and serve Lackawanna College’s students, faculty and staff to build upon the college’s current successful sexual violence response plans.

“We want our students to realize that every single person has a role to play in keeping our campus safe, and we strongly encourage students to engage with us as we offer these programs to the college community,” Student Wellness Program Coordinator Lexi Karyanis said.

The It’s On Us PA campaign launched in 2016 aiming to support post-secondary institution’s efforts to create campus environments in which all community members work together to end sexual violence, become active bystanders and stay informed. Survivors are able to access the rights, resources and accommodations afforded to them through state and federal law.