Marquette’s only sexual violence awareness program is looking for new funding resources after being denied a federal grant.

The application denied on Oct. 20 was the second request to continue funding. Helping Abuse and Violence End Now’s lost funding was due to a number of new colleges applying for the same grant money, as well as federal cutbacks due to current world events, according to Donna Schoenfeld, director of health education and promotion.

HAVEN was originally awarded a $335,000 grant over a two-year period starting in 2000 but due to setbacks in the awarding process HAVEN was able to stretch the grant through July 2003. HAVEN resubmitted two proposals to continue federal funding, the most recent of which was denied, Schoenfeld said.

The grant was used to pay the salary of an outreach coordinator, independent of the university, to do full-time outreach work. HAVEN employed two coordinators, Janine Arseneau and Shonda Johnson. Johnson took over after Arseneau was let go in July when the grant officially expired, according to Schoenfeld.

“Having a coordinator is a big help to us because all of the members of HAVEN are involved full time on campus in other capacities,” Schoenfeld said. “So it is difficult to do the outreach work a full-time coordinator could do.”

The last outreach work done by HAVEN was Sexual Violence Awareness week, Oct. 22 through Oct. 25.

The grant also paid for programming, training speakers, counseling center para-programming professional assistants and DVD facilities. HAVEN used the money to produce a DVD on the subject of sexual assault. The DVD will be available next semester for student use, according to Schoenfeld.

According to the Department of Public Safety, sexual assault is a major concern on campus.

“Surveys conducted on behalf of HAVEN indicate sexual assault, stalking and dating violence are issues that many of our students are facing,” DPS officer Sue Cooper said.

Schoenfeld said the group was valuable to students on campus.

“The point of HAVEN is to offer students a less intimidating way to vocalize if they’ve experienced sexual assault, violence in dating relationships or stalking,” Schoenfeld said.

Schoenfeld said HAVEN will begin investigating ways to find new funding.

“We are seeking advice from consultants on how to optimize our funding strategies,” she said. “We haven’t talked to anybody specifically about it yet, but this is an early stage in the process.”

Although HAVEN has lost its funding package, it has not stopped operations completely.

“We are working to establish a network of undergrad students who act as peer advocates,” said Cathy Coppolillo, a graduate student grant assistant. “They will be on call 24-7 so students who have been victims of violence have a direct contact, which is less threatening to go to than DPS or the Milwaukee police.”

Coppolillo also stressed the need to get funding as soon as possible.

“We think there are internal and external resources available to do what we want to and we are just beginning to explore them,” Coppolillo said.

The Health Fee Review Committee recently endorsed supporting HAVEN as an essential entity to the university in its budget proposal to the Board of Trustees.