A Strengths and Needs Assessment of Tohono Oodham Community Colleges Response to Gender-Based Violence and Victimization

This project proposes a new partnership between Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC) and researchers at the University of Nebraska, Omaha (UNO). The proposal is responsive to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grant (O-NIJ-2021-45008) as a planning grant to engage and confer with tribal nations/tribal entities on criminal and justice research and evaluation aimed to improve public safety in tribal communities and develop study designs using community-based participatory research principles that involve the tribal partner in all aspects of the research process. This project is consistent with a community-based participatory approach, has four specific aims, and two long-term aims (which will not be considered deliverables of the proposed project): (1) a TOCC Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Advisory Board will be established with representation from TOCC stakeholders (i.e., students, staff, and faculty). This GBV Advisory Board will work collaboratively with UNO researchers to (2) complete an organizational assessment of TOCC’s strengths and needs for the prevention of and response to gender-based violence (GBV) (i.e., domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking) on campus and among TOCC stakeholders, (3) identify areas for new partnerships or where partnerships may be strengthened to increase service capacity for GBV among TOCC stakeholders, and (4) develop a culturally centered campus climate survey instrument to assess TOCC stakeholders’ experiences with, knowledge of, and access to resources regarding GBV. These activities will support a (5) longer-term goal of applying for an Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) Campus Grant, which would provide TOCC funding to develop and strengthen culturally centered strategies to GBV and increase victim services and prevention education and awareness programs. Finally, the proposed collaboration will also (6) provide a replicable model for other tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) that are interested in enhancing prevention and intervention efforts for GBV among their own stakeholders. It is anticipated that the findings from the proposed project will lead to policy and procedural changes regarding TOCC’s response to its stakeholders’ health, wellbeing, and GBV experiences, and that the culturally centered campus climate survey will be used by TOCC in the future to identify areas of need and create necessary changes. The culturally centered campus climate survey instrument will also be shared freely with other TCUs through a TCU tribal training and technical assistance provider, Red Wind Consulting, and the UNO researchers will disseminate results through academic research articles, practitioner articles, webinars, and conferences.