Programs & Services

We are serving domestic violence and sexual assault survivors in Rice County Minnesota. All of our services are free and confidential. We are available to talk through the next steps, safety planning, and options and help you begin your path to healing.

Help for Survivors/Victims of Sexual, Domestic Violence and Stalking

We intend to meet the self-identified needs of survivors at any and all points in their healing processes. We do this through supportive listening, emotional support, identification of strengths, and resources and expertise offered to victims and their families. HOPE Center advocates provide crisis intervention, supportive counseling, information about options, help with orders for protection and harassment restraining orders, assistance with systems, and referral to other resources for survivors and their loved ones. HOPE Center also provides emergency services, such connection to shelters across the state, emergency shelter options and accompaniment to forensic exams. We help talk through options and next steps.

Our Programs and Services

Legal Advocacy

Advocates provide information about law enforcement and court procedures; information about victim rights and reparations; assistance with court remedies such as Orders for Protection, Harassment Restraining Orders; and accompaniment to civil and criminal court hearings. HOPE Center maintains a close relationship with all law enforcement agencies in Rice County to ensure the needs and rights of survivors are respected.

Community & Professional Education

Free, specialized trainings are provided to employers, professionals, educators, and criminal justice professionals. General presentations about our services and/or the prevalence of sexual and domestic violence are made to church groups, service organizations, and any other interested forums.

Systems Change

With the goal of going beyond individual assistance toward community-wide solutions, HOPE Center regularly networks with such systems as social services, criminal justice agencies, and the medical community, and provides them with screening and assessment tools. We are also the host of two multidisciplinary teams that help make sure we adequately respond to victims of domestic and sexual violence.

Rice County SMART

The Sexual Assault Multidisciplinary Action Response Team (SMART) of Rice County began in mid-2004, creating and implementing an integrated, victim-centered response to sexual assault that includes all communities and promotes healing, justice, and accountability. Five disciplines are required to create a team: law enforcement, medical care, probation, prosecution, and advocacy. Other contributing member organizations involved in the response to sexual assault include mental health/counseling, human services, schools, and colleges. The HOPE Center administers the grant with the support and guidance of the Sexual Violence Justice Institute (SVJI).

Blueprint for Safety

Rice County adopted The Blueprint for Safety model in 2014 with the mission of implementing an interagency victim-centered response to domestic violence-related crimes. The Rice County Blueprint collaborates with practitioners from thirteen different agencies ranging from the 911 Center through law enforcement agencies, advocacy, attorneys’ offices, probation, and the court. The goal of Blueprint is to help ensure victim safety and to hold offenders accountable.

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