On Feb. 10, it was announced that Oswego State won the 2019 SUNY’s Got Your Back Grant contest.
Back on March 5, 2019, the Oswego State Title IX office organized and put on its version of the SUNY’s Got Your Back event, where the Oswego community came together to assemble “comfort kits,” or bags of clothing and supplies for victims of sexual assault and other forms of violence.
After the bags were put together, DJ and activist Zeke Thomas spoke about how he survived rape and the trauma that followed, in order to inspire others. Elizabeth Brady, Director of SUNY’s Got Your Back, brought Thomas in to speak at the event.
SUNY’s Got Your Back announced they would give $2,019 to three SUNY campuses that earned the highest amount of “points” from the events they put on. Schools could earn these points through various activities, such as gaining followers, reposts and likes on social media platforms.
“[We are] so excited,” Lisa Evaneski said, Oswego State Title IX coordinator. “We are very proud of the work we are doing around prevention of sexual and interpersonal violence.”
The SUNY’s Got Your Back program scheduled over 30 spring events around SUNY campuses last spring, along with events organized in the fall. Due to a grant of almost $5 million, SUNY’s Got Your Back was able to fund almost all aspects of the programs, including purchasing the materials and bags along with the transportation of the bags to their destinations.
Although this is the first year the grant was offered to SUNY campuses, this is the third-time Oswego State has teamed up with SUNY’s Got Your Back, according to Evaneski.
The event began back in 2016, when the SUNY Title IX Coordinators Association, or STIXCA, met and came up with a new program idea.
“Our favorite lawyer in Albany and SUNY Oswego alum (‘02) Joe Storch had this wild idea: could all of the SUNY campuses help us fill 2,016 bags for victims of sexual and interpersonal violence in 2016?” Evaneski said. “I was the inaugural president of STIXCA, and it was really cool because at the meeting the campuses pledged to fill all 2,016 bags. Now, SUNY’s Got Your Back has filled out and distributed 100,000 bags.”
Although SUNY colleges ran individual programs in the past to make these care packages, SUNY’s Got Your Back has expanded that. Alongside the Office of Victim Services, the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, state police and the New York City Alliance, STIXCA and other partners have helped to put together these bags at each SUNY campus as well as at other events spread throughout New York State, according to their website.
Evaneski is not yet sure what the college will do with the $2,019 grant but will put it toward existing and potentially new programs.
“We will use it for prevention programming. It can be used for presenters, supplies, food, etc.,” she said.
Photo provided by Lisa Evaneski
