Victim Rights Law Center Inc.

The Victim Rights Law Center's short-term goals are:
1) Provide free, comprehensive legal assistance to rape and sexual assault victims to help them stay safely in their schools, jobs, and homes throughout Massachusetts and in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties, Oregon;
2) Recruit and train volunteer attorneys to assist VRLC staff attorneys in addressing the legal needs of rape and sexual assault victims;
3) Train attorneys, advocates, medical professionals, and other professionals on how to improve the response to sexual violence;
4) Increase media interviews to insert accurate information and bring awareness to sexual violence; and

Long-Term Goals
1) Train an extensive network of lawyers nationally to represent sexual assault survivors;
2) Host the only National Sexual Violence Law Conference; and
3) Conduct a strategic planning process for the organization to strengthen our foundation and framework effectively

VRLC will continue to seek federal funding as well as diverse private funding to sustain and hopefully grow legal services to rape and sexual assault victims in Massachusetts and Orgon. We are currently focusing fundraising efforts on capacity building, and sustaining our attorneys to keep up with the demand for our services. In order to increase our national trainings, VRLC is strategic about speaking at statewide conferences, national conferences and utilizing technology for webinars and interactive online trainings to reach attorneys and advocates in every corner of the country. VRLC will continue to promote a national movement committed to seeking justice for every rape and sexual assault victim by providing direct legal representation, training attorneys and advocates, addressing sexual assault on high school and college campuses and a commitment to leading a new response to sexual violence.

The Victim Rights Law Center is the first nonprofit law center in the country focused on the legal needs of rape and sexual assault victims. In 20 years of providing legal assistance to sexual assault victims, the VRLC has increased the number of victims represented, expanded the geographical location of services, engaged hundreds of volunteers, and replicated direct legal services to the second state of Oregon. VRLC's most important asset is its compassionate attorneys who are experts in sexual violence and focused on a comprehensive approach to representing victims. The United States Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women has continued to invest in the VRLC to sustain and expand victims' access to civil attorneys to help stabilize and rebuild lives following sexual violence. Increased media attention to the issue of sexual violence has allowed the VRLC to raise awareness about the issue and the organization. The VRLC has been quoted in the New York Times, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, and other reputable media outlets, such as features on The Today Show and CBS News. The VRLC has received the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance's Access to Justice Award and VRLC attorneys consistently receive awards every year for being top lawyers.

(1) VRLC is a U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) model on the civil legal interventions in rape cases;
(2) VRLC has successfully expanded its legal services to help children so that we can represent survivors or all ages;
(3) VRLC has trained administrators and other professionals at hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide to train them on how to improve their response to sexual violence;
(4) VRLC has successfully leveraged legal services by developing a vibrant pro bono attorney program, which allows us to help even more sexual assault survivors;
(5) VRLC has trained all the branches of the military on how to address the needs of sexual assault victims;
(6) VRLC has been featured on The Today Show, CBS Evening News, NPR, NBC, and FOX News, and quoted multiple times in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, Boston Herald, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, USA Today, and Inside Higher Education.